How do you reinstall Service Paritition on new hard drive?

[TikaC]

I'm thinking of buying a bigger primary hard drive for my laptop (I saw a couple on Lenovo's site that I liked). I assume that the drives do not come with that hidden "service" partition? I have used a Knoppix Live CD to boot up and then copied the files from the hidden partition to my networked computer, then from there burned the files onto two DVDs for backup. So I have all the files.

I just wonder what is the procedure to recreate the service partition on a new hard drive so I can copy the files back to it. I would like to do this so the blue ThinkVantage button will still work. Then I assume I can install Vista Home Premium from there?

Anyone know the procedure to do all this?

BTW, I've searched the forums and found about 600+ threads of things not even related to what I was searching for. Also I read the HOWTO on cloning a hard drive but this isn't what I am trying to do. I am trying to take a different approach and do a clean install.

[CYoung234]

I'm thinking of buying a bigger primary hard drive for my laptop (I saw a couple on Lenovo's site that I liked). I assume that the drives do not come with that hidden "service" partition? I have used a Knoppix Live CD to boot up and then copied the files from the hidden partition to my networked computer, then from there burned the files onto two DVDs for backup. So I have all the files.

I just wonder what is the procedure to recreate the service partition on a new hard drive so I can copy the files back to it. I would like to do this so the blue ThinkVantage button will still work. Then I assume I can install Vista Home Premium from there?

Anyone know the procedure to do all this?

BTW, I've searched the forums and found about 600+ threads of things not even related to what I was searching for. Also I read the HOWTO on cloning a hard drive but this isn't what I am trying to do. I am trying to take a different approach and do a clean install.

If you want the recovery partition, simply make the recovery CDs from the ThinkVantage menu. When you use these on your new HD, they will not only create your C partition and install XP or Vista, but they will also create the SERVICE partition.

[pae77]

All correct, except that procedure won't provide what people normally mean when they say "clean install." Usually, a clean install means installing the OS without all the vendor utilities (some would say bloatware) and modifications, such as the recovery or service partition.

But it seems likely the OP doesn't really want a "clean install" but rather wants a full factory recovery which is what the process detailed in the previous post will yield.

[TikaC]

CYoung243 - Thank You. When I first got my computer, the FIRST thing I did was create a backup set using the ThinkVantage program to make a backup of the hard drive. But later on Lenovo had downloaded and installed updates and at one point it said to throw out all old backups because they won't work with the new backup and recovery program. I don't know what that means. Would I still be able to boot the restore discs I made and recover the entire system to the new hard drive? I'm rather confused.

pae77 - Yes, that's what I was meaning to say - a Factory Default Install. I guess I thought of that as a "clean" install. Sorry about the misunderstanding. You got it right.

[hart22]

When I first got my computer, the FIRST thing I did was create a backup set using the ThinkVantage program to make a backup of the hard drive. But later on Lenovo had downloaded and installed updates and at one point it said to throw out all old backups because they won't work with the new backup and recovery program. I don't know what that means. Would I still be able to boot the restore discs I made and recover the entire system to the new hard drive? I'm rather confused.

If you created the recovery discs using the program specifically designed to create factory restore media (Start Menu --> ThinkVantage --> Create Recovery Media), then no matter what software changes you have made to the machine you will be able to do a factory restore, which re-installs the OS with factory partition intact. Simply load disc one of the recovery discs and boot from your CD/DVD ROM drive, and follow the instructions.

However, if you used Rescue & Recovery (which is different from Create Recovery Media) to make a system backup, then those backups will not work with major updates of Rescue & Recovery. These backups must be loaded from Rescue & Recovery itself. From what you are describing this is what you have done.

Be sure you've made the recovery media and you're all set.

[TikaC]

I think that is what I did - Create Recovery Media. The set has a startup disc that is bootable. Then 15 more CD-ROMs (I don't have a DVD burner on my laptop). Does that sound about right? I looked at the Startup disc and it looks like the files on it are some of the same ones I just backed up to DVD.

I suppose if it doesn't work, I can put the old drive back in and try again to make a Recovery Media set. Can that be done anytime or is it too late now that I've been using Windows for so long? (IOW, will it create the factory-default recovery media or just ghost what is on my hard drive, OS and my apps, etc?)

[Ken Fox]

There are all sorts of things you can do given a little bit of experience with imaging and cloning programs. I have, for example, taken a thinkpad that was originally an XP machine, "upgraded" it to Vista, and used a clone of the recovery partition of another Vista machine to serve as its recovery partition, giving me a combination of one machine's OS partition and the recovery partition of another. This is not the first and only time I've done something similar, i.e. to basically graft the operating system partition of one machine onto a disk with the service partition of another.

This sort of thing is not for the feint of heart, and probably should not be recommended as something to do, but I have done it and it can be made to work. Obviously, these things need to be tested to be sure that they actually work once they are assembled.

If I understand what you are trying to do, then what I would do faced with that intent, is to do a clean installation of my OS on a Thinkpad, image the OS partition with a program like True Image, then take an old image of the original drive (including the boot sector and service partition) and put that back on the drive. Then, I would overwrite the OS partition (ONLY) with the image I had taken of my clean install of the OS.

This sort of thing takes time and effort and the willingness to do it all over again if it fails, but it can be made to work and I have made it work on more than one occasion. Once you are sure that you have accomplished what you set out to do, it is imperative to get a good image of the whole disk, so that if disaster strikes you don't have to repeat the whole process, once again.

[bill bolton]

Anyone know the procedure to do all this?

The minimum fuss solution is to:

• Buy a copy of Acronis True Image
  
  Install True image and fire it up
  
  Burn a copy of the True Image boot CD from within True Image
  
  Use True Image to backup your entire system image (all-partitions) across your network to your preferred backup location
  
  Remove your existing drive
  
  Install the new drive
  
  Boot off the True Image boot CD
  
  Use the copy of True Image on the CD to restore your all-partitions system image across the network to the new drive.
  
  Boot off the new drive.

This will give effectively give you clone of your existing disk, including the Service partition, onto the new disk. You can then resize your OS partition using your favourite disk partition management tool (I use Acronis Disk Director).

There are certainly other ways to achieve what you want to do but none as straightforward, and True Image is a top class backup solution for a whole bunch of purposes, so you have an additional generally useful tool available in your system.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[TikaC]

This is getting to sounding way too difficult.

First, no recovery CDs came with my computer. It only came with the OS installed on the Hard Drive. So I backed up the hard drive using the ThinkVantage (It said hard drive backup, I believe, and took a long time, but I thought I was sure I selected to create recovery media). So I have a set of these discs.

Secondly, My WinXP seems a bit odd now and I been wanting to reinstall it anyway. My USB ports won't read new USB flash drives now (still can't get any answers/ideas on that issue). MSInfo no longer works and Lenovo Update no longer works unless I do something at the command line to give it permissions. Then if I do that and reboot, the hard drive is being accessed continuously, and my cursor is constantly going from normal to busy every second. So I have to do what I need to and then undo the thing at the command line for permissions and reboot to get the cursor back to normal and the hard drive to calm down. So I been wanting to reinstall.

And I figured maybe I could upgrade the hard drive while I'm at it.

I use this computer most, for work, play, etc. I have two other computers so I might put everything over to the better machine so I can still do things, and then maybe try some stuff on this one. I don't want to get stuck without the OS though. :/ That's a lot of money to buy another Vista and then have to install drivers, etc. And Lenovo seems like they won't talk to anyone without big $$$.

So what I need to do is a reinstall or install on a new hard drive (perferably new larger drive) to get back to factory defaults. Original drivers and all.

[Ken Fox]

I believe you said before that you had the original drive, and I believe that you indicated it still worked. If you put it back into the machine, on boot up you can touch the blue button and go into rescue and recovery. Select "advanced recovery."

Then select "restore my system," to original factory contents.

Once this is accomplished which will take a couple of hours, you will be able to boot up again into windows You can then "create recovery media" all over again from the Thinkvantage menu, and use the set of disks to restore the system onto your new hard disk after you put it into the machine.

It is very unlikely that you will end up with TWO sets of recovery media that don't work.

[pae77]

This is getting to sounding way too difficult.

First, no recovery CDs came with my computer. It only came with the OS installed on the Hard Drive. So I backed up the hard drive using the ThinkVantage (It said hard drive backup, I believe, and took a long time, but I thought I was sure I selected to create recovery media). So I have a set of these discs.

I don't think backing up is the same as creating the recovery disks even though there is recovery media included to enable you to restore your back up.

The recovery media you need to create is not a back up of your hard drive. Rather it is a set of disks that will enable you to restore your machine to the state it was when you first received it. Unfortunately, rescue and recovery uses confusing terminology which makes it easy to confuse the two different sets of disks.

[bill bolton]

First, no recovery CDs came with my computer. It only came with the OS installed on the Hard Drive.

You can burn one factory recovery disk set from your system. This was indicated in the welcome material.

So I been wanting to reinstall.

And I figured maybe I could upgrade the hard drive while I'm at it.

So burn yourself a set of factory recovery disks and do a factory install to your new hard disk

Cheers,

Bill B.

[TikaC]

Ken Fox - I haven't bought a new drive yet. I'm thinking about it. I am still using the factory drive which came with the computer. Never removed it yet. I'm just trying to find out what to do. Also I did explore the area by pressing the Blue ThinkVantage button during bootup. The option was only to restore from a backup disc set (which since Lenovo updated, it said that the old ones are no longer compatible with the new software). It didn't have any option for "factory default". Not that I could see.


Bill - I think I did burn one factory set from the Create Recovery Media but when I did it I remember it was backing up my drive I think it said. So that is why I wondered if things would work since Lenovo updated stuff.

Lenovo sure makes things difficult to understand. So what I'll do is back things up and just wait and get the new drive, and try the install on that, and not do anything with the old one just in case.

Meanwhile I'll continue to poke around and read their rather meager and vague help files. :/

[Ken Fox]

Ken Fox - I haven't bought a new drive yet. I'm thinking about it. I am still using the factory drive which came with the computer. Never removed it yet. I'm just trying to find out what to do. Also I did explore the area by pressing the Blue ThinkVantage button during bootup. The option was only to restore from a backup disc set (which since Lenovo updated, it said that the old ones are no longer compatible with the new software). It didn't have any option for "factory default". Not that I could see.

This would not be true of the recovery options offered on any of my (many) thinkpads, which date from an X32 through an X60 tablet and T60 which came preinstalled with Vista. I respectfully submit that you have missed the option to which I refer. You need to click on the option for "advanced rescue and restore" and then one of the options on the left hand side will be to restore your system. You will then have 3 choices, which include (1) to factory contents; (2) to preserve files created since the factory installation, and a (3rd) option which I forget.

Restoring your computer from a backup set is a whole other option and not based up on the choice that I suggest. I have guests coming over for dinner right now so I don't have time to review this again on one of my systems, but you are without question overlooking the option I have suggested.

[TikaC]

I respectfully submit that you have missed the option to which I refer. You need to click on the option for "advanced rescue and restore" and then one of the options on the left hand side will be to restore your system.

And I respectfully submit my apologies. I just now took a look following your steps and you are 100% correct. I think what happened was I didn't dig deep enough for the info.

In the course of things, I also tried to make a recovery set again using the ThinkVantage/Create Recovery Media. I selected the option to make recovery media to restore to factory defaults and then clicked "OK". The window went away and then nothing else came up. Nothing. Just disappeared.

So I called Lenovo's tech support and the lady said she's sending me a recovery disc set to arrive in a few days since I tried to make a set and it didn't work.

I'm glad now that I'll have a set to use for when I can get a new larger drive. And in the mean time, I'll back up what I have here and try a factory restore to get my Vista working better (hopefully). It'll be awhile before I can afford the new drive (I have to get a replacement car first). But at least now I know how to go about things.

Thanks to all that replied. I do believe my situation is resolved. Especially thanks to Ken for pointing out where things were.

[Paul Unger]

I respectfully submit that you have missed the option to which I refer. You need to click on the option for "advanced rescue and restore" and then one of the options on the left hand side will be to restore your system. You will then have 3 choices, which include (1) to factory contents; (2) to preserve files created since the factory installation, and a (3rd) option which I forget.

Restoring your computer from a backup set is a whole other option and not based up on the choice that I suggest.

I respectfully request where you find the option for "advanced rescue and restore"? I've just gone through the whole thing again, using the Rescue and Recovery Startup Disc that I created. It loads R&R 4 (after about 7 minutes) and presents the following options on the left hand side (I've only included what I think are the relevant sub-menus):

Introduction
Rescue and Restore
- Recovery overview
- Rescue files
- Restore your system
Configure
Communicate
Troubleshoot

I selected "Restore your system" which opened a window with the numbers 1 through 6 across the top. Step 1 was "Choose what you would like to do:"
- Restore entire hd, including all personal data and settings from a backup
- Restore only the Windows operating system and applications from a backup
I selected the first option, which brought me to Step 2: "Choose the backup to restore from:" From the drop-down menu I selected CD / DVD, but didn't feel comfortable with the dire warnings concerning ensuring that I had a valid backup from which to restore. So, if someone could point me to the "advanced rescue and restore" option, I'd be much obliged.

[TikaC]

Paul - Don't use the backup discs. It appears that the factory restore won't be on them. Instead, reboot the computer and while the logo appears, press the blue ThinkVantage button on the computer. Then it will load the programs.

From there, you need to click on the link for *Advanced* options (it's on the lower left of the screen). From there you just follow Ken's instructions and it will take you to the 3 options including restoring to factory defaults.