install recovery partition, and two hdd questions - SOLVED

[papirbit]

Hi

Just got my Thinkpad T61 with Vista Home Premium 32bits pre-loaded.
I'm planning to install Slackware on it but want to keep the vista in backup so I've used the thinkvintage tools to create the 3 dvd set.

Now I've read that the lilo boot loader while writing to the mbr will disable the possibility to run the recovery partition from bios/boot.
Hence I needed to create the recovery dvd's and not rely only on the recovery partition.
So I don't need to bother keeping that partition since I can't use it anyway after installing slackware with lilo bootloader on the mbr.
Anyone can confirm this?

If that's the case, will the recovery media I've created re-create the recovery partition as well? Or do I loos any other usefull utilities stored on that space?
And what's on it? Besides the 3 recovery dvd images. Is there a way to back it up?

Other folders/files I should backup manually from the hdd before erasing it?

Also I've searched this and other forums and tried to figure out why the hdd keeps working for around 4-5 minutes after it present me with the windows desktop.
It also runs when the laptop is idle (when the screensaver is active)
Figured out it must be some sort of indexing. I've tried to turn all that off, but still it keeps working.
Anyone know what this is and how to turn it off after I've re-installed my system?

And I don't know why, but from my 100GB hdd, minus the recovery partition, I'm down at around 45GB free space.
Is this normal? Anything I can remove to free up some space?
Disk cleanup tells me it can give me 1.9GB in total. Any other hidden "bacukps" of some sort?

Thank you

[DranK]

here is a helpful thread

check your shadow storage size thats most likely the reason you are running out of space

vssadmin list shadowstorage

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=c: /on=c: /maxsize=XGB

[papirbit]

Thank you.

vssadmin is using 2.8GB, allocated 3.3GB and maximum shadow copy storage space is 12.985GB

If almost 13GB is shown on my hdd as "used" by this, and not the actual 3.3GB allocated I can see why I need to reset this to a more sane value. But still there is much more used space then I can see actually used by visible files. (and hidden systemfiles in explorer)

I also read that link and the blog post link in it.
Very usefull info but didn't answer my question - does the recovery dvd's rebuild the recovery partition.

But thank you for helping me out here.

[bill bolton]

Also I've searched this and other forums and tried to figure out why the hdd keeps working for around 4-5 minutes after it present me with the windows desktop.

A lot of it is probably Vista updating the disk indexing for the whole disk for search purposes. Try disabling indexing and see what happens.

You can enable index on a more selective basis that the whole disk, if you find it useful. Look at the options in the Vista Control Panel.

If you have less than 2GB of memory installed, some disk thrashing may arise for pagefile activity.

will the recovery media I've created re-create the recovery partition as well?.

It will take you back to ex-factory state.... so yes, it will recreate the recovery partition.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[ryengineer]

1. Yes, Product Recovery disks recreate the hidden service partition. Consider looking at this.

2. Turning off indexing:

The fasted way is to simply disable the Windows Search service. Run Services (just type “Services” at the Start Search bar), right click on the Windows Search service and select “Properties”. Then choose “Disabled” for the start type. Afterwards, you have to stop this service by right clicking on it and selecting “Stop".

3. why my available HDD under Vista is decreasing.

[deeastman]

Anything I can remove to free up some space?

You might find some helpful hints/answers in this thread.

[papirbit]

Hi

I see that my search terms could have been better since this already got so much attention in other threads. But thank you for pointing them out for me.

So far I can tell the used hdd space I can't calculate based on files and folders is due to the R&R tool creating a backup of my live system at any time.
This is to say at least an annoying feature which consumes battery due to hdd constant working and slowing it down (I'm glad I got the 7200rpm disk). I'll try to see if it's possible to turn this off like the indexing services.

Well, that's two problem solved :)

EDIT:

I found a note about the recovery partition being written back to the hdd from the recovery dvd set. It was hidden on the thinkwiki page :)

So, then all my questions are answered.