Thinkpads Forum

I am curious if anyone has received a Vista pre load machine, does it come with CD's and/or a recovery partition? Not talking about an upgrade here, just one that was ordered and has Vista installed.
Thanks.

I received a T60 w/Vista Business pre-installed about a week ago (type 2007QPG, model UT0QPDK --> http://www5.pc.ibm.com/dk/products.nsf/ ... enDocument) and it came with the usual recovery partition. I made "my own" recovery media from this (one CD and one DVD). No physical recovery media was included with the shipment.

However, a Microsoft promotion-CD (or was it a DVD?) was included, containing some "upgrade-helping software" that tries to convince the new T60 owner to "upgrade" from Vista Business. Admittedly, I haven't checked what is precisely on this CD or DVD, but I guess that it would probably just open a browser, and point you to some commercial Microsoft Vista download-site, and then ask you for your credit card details. I'm almost certain that there's no free ride with Microsoft here; if choosing to "upgrade" from the pre-installed Vista Business, I'm convinced that you'll surely have to pay for it.

Updated info (after checking the actual contents on enclosed DVD): OK, so I inserted the enclosed Microsoft DVD, and as far as I can tell - without actually having installed it - it only contains Windows Anytime Upgrade, which will allow you to upgrade on-line from Vista Business to Vista Ultimate. This utility can also be downloaded directly from Microsoft.com, so nothing but yet another commercial!

What may be more interesting is, that IBM-support the other day told me, that as long as the PC is under warranty, the user is entitled to receive a set of (Vista) recovery CD's... at no cost!

Regards,

Johan

Johan wrote:What may be more interesting is, that IBM-support the other day told me, that as long as the PC is under warranty, the user is entitled to receive a set of (Vista) recovery CD's... at no cost!

Has that always been IBM's policy for European customers? I doubt they would do the same to us in North America.

Well that is true, but you do have to pay for the cost of media, media creation, shipping and handling.

Not sure about Europe, but I think it was between $30 and $45 USD. Of course if you have a major support issue, there may be ways to get it.

I recieved my T60 a couple of weeks ago and I called tech support for a set of recovery CD's. They gladly sent them to me with no charge.

Is there anyway to make our own recovery CD? I would like to create one recovery CD so that I can use it to covert my harddrive into factory default in case of Hard Disk failure or something?

Thanks

jlingo wrote:Is there anyway to make our own recovery CD? I would like to create one recovery CD so that I can use it to covert my harddrive into factory default in case of Hard Disk failure or something?

Thanks

If you have a recovery partition on your computer, then their should be a program in the Thinkvantage area on the start menu called "create recovery media". That program will let you make the discs. The best procedure is to give it a CD to make the bootdisc, and then a DVD (if you have a DVD burner) to make the second recovery disc.

Further, it's my understanding that this option goes away after you make a single recovery set (I have no idea why -- perhaps it frees up the hard drive space) so value that copy.

-darren

darrenf wrote:

Further, it's my understanding that this option goes away after you make a single recovery set (I have no idea why -- perhaps it frees up the hard drive space) so value that copy.

I've created recovery cds for loads of TPs, I think I've always seen it there, even after a recovery. But to be absolutely sure I'll give it a go tomorrow - I'll be back

FWIW, this behavior started with the T60.

-darren

jjesusfreak01 wrote:

jlingo wrote:Is there anyway to make our own recovery CD? I would like to create one recovery CD so that I can use it to covert my harddrive into factory default in case of Hard Disk failure or something?

Thanks

If you have a recovery partition on your computer, then their should be a program in the Thinkvantage area on the start menu called "create recovery media". That program will let you make the discs. The best procedure is to give it a CD to make the bootdisc, and then a DVD (if you have a DVD burner) to make the second recovery disc.

Thanks for the info, no wonder I missed it. I'm using Vista and the menu is no longer obvious like when I used to with T43.
May I know Why using CD is the best procedure? And how many CD would it require?
How about if using DVD? how many DVD in total it would require?

jlingo wrote:

jjesusfreak01 wrote:If you have a recovery partition on your computer, then their should be a program in the Thinkvantage area on the start menu called "create recovery media". That program will let you make the discs. The best procedure is to give it a CD to make the bootdisc, and then a DVD (if you have a DVD burner) to make the second recovery disc.

Thanks for the info, no wonder I missed it. I'm using Vista and the menu is no longer obvious like when I used to with T43.
May I know Why using CD is the best procedure? And how many CD would it require?
How about if using DVD? how many DVD in total it would require?

I have Vista Home Premium and it took a total of 8 CDs.

I wrote:

darrenf wrote:

Further, it's my understanding that this option goes away after you make a single recovery set (I have no idea why -- perhaps it frees up the hard drive space) so value that copy.

I've created recovery cds for loads of TPs, I think I've always seen it there, even after a recovery. But to be absolutely sure I'll give it a go tomorrow - I'll be back

You are absolutely correct on this point. When shutting down after creating the recoveries windows said "configuring updates". As the TP I used has never been on line and could't have received any windows updates, it had to be that it was reconfiguring something.
Lo and behold, after a new start the function to create recovery cds was disabled explaining that; the windows licence only allows for the creation of 1 set - as you so rightly said "value that copy"

Maybe you can use the recovery CDs to restore the system to its original factory state, then the option of "create recovery media" will come back. And you should be able to create another set of recovery CDs. It is just my guess.

How different is the Rescue and Recovery App from Acronis TrueImage or Norton Ghost?

R&R is kind of a backup software. It will make a backup of you partition to a hidden (not accessible) folder on your hdd or any external sources like usb-hdd or lan-drives.

Acronis and Ghost are hdd-cloning software. Which mean they will produce a 1-1 bit by bit clone of your hdd or partitions. The only drawback with this is that you can't easiliy exclued files or folders from beeing backuped.

arni wrote: . . .
Acronis and Ghost are hdd-cloning software. Which mean they will produce a 1-1 bit by bit clone of your hdd or partitions. The only drawback with this is that you can't easiliy exclued files or folders from beeing backuped.

Sorry but that is not correct, at least with respect to Acronis True Image (TI).

It is true that TI does offer the option of doing a bit by bit clone, but in addition, it also allows one to make compressed back up image files of whatever you want and to specify which files or folders should be excluded from the back up. It also allows one to make incremental back ups after the initial complete back up is made and to browse the backed up files. Simply put, Acronis True Image is a very complete back up solution for a stand alone pc or laptop and probably a lot more reliable than R&R.

After a recent update of Rescue and Recovery, I was urged to make another set of restoration discs, which I did.

And this time, I used one CD and one DVD, instead of one DVD and six CD's like last time. :oops: