make own recovery partition

[Rwang]

How do you replace the factory recovery partition with your own? I want to do that because (1) I ordered XP home and will replace it with XP Pro, and (2) I'd like to have an image with as few apps as needed. That way, if something goes wrong, I can restore to what I want.

Can I do the following? Wipe the drive entirely leaving the hidden recovery partition alone.

Install a clean xp, selectively install lenovo apps, then capture the new installation with some kind of image-writing programs. and capture it to a size that mimics the recovery partition. And then somehow write the image to the recovery partition?

These all sound possible to me. But I just don't know what programs to use and whether T60 allows you to do that.

[Ken Fox]

How do you replace the factory recovery partition with your own? I want to do that because (1) I ordered XP home and will replace it with XP Pro, and (2) I'd like to have an image with as few apps as needed. That way, if something goes wrong, I can restore to what I want.

Can I do the following? Wipe the drive entirely leaving the hidden recovery partition alone.

Install a clean xp, selectively install lenovo apps, then capture the new installation with some kind of image-writing programs. and capture it to a size that mimics the recovery partition. And then somehow write the image to the recovery partition?

These all sound possible to me. But I just don't know what programs to use and whether T60 allows you to do that.

I think you are asking too much. Probably there is someone out there who could write their own code to do this, but this is not something that would be easy to do or that someone would do and give you for free on this forum!

[GomJabbar]

There is some information on doing that in the ThinkVantage Technologies Deployment Guide. You are on your own though...

[gpgofast]

Acronis True Image does everything you want and more. You can download a 15 day demo off their website of their newest version. Has the ability to create a "Secure Zone" partition on your hardrive which is bootable on it's own with an "F11" at boot. I've been using it for years with great results. It costs about $30 off of newegg.com . GP