R40 2897-B4U: 100GB HDD upgrade, recovery cds needed ?

[skript]

Hello... I'm planning to upgrade the primary hard drive of my R40 Thinkpad and swap the default 40gb one with a new 100gb hdd... I will obviously need to reinstall the system, but I don't have the original recovery cds... so here are a few questions:

a) will IBM send me the recovery cds automatically (along with the new drive) or will I have to make an additional purchace of the recovery cds ?

b) is it possible to order recovery cds if my system is out of warranty ? (lenovo site claims that it is only possible for systems still on warranty)

c) when ordering the recovery cds, do I have to explicitly state that I want to recreate the hidden service partition ? (I read on the forum that some sets of recovery cds don't have this option at all)

is there anything I missed ? I would gladly hear from ppl who have already (and successfully ) upgraded their hdds...

[LtTPfan]

I just upgraded my HDD today. Does that qualify me to respond to your questions?

a) No
b) Yes, for about $45
c) No

Do you have a CD or DVD burner? If so and you still have the recovery partition on your old HDD you may be able to create the rescue CDs yourself, providing someone else hasn't already done that as you can only make one set. If not, you can just back up your old HDD onto CD/DVD and restore to your new HDD. That's what I did--worked like a charm. If you don't have a CD/DVD burner you can buy the rescue CDs from IBM for about $45. Alternatively you might consider buying a CD/DVD burner or a 2nd HDD adapter. The 2nd HDD adapter goes into your UltraBay (with your new drive inside it) and you can use Ghost or Acronis, etc. to mirror your image onto the new drive. That's the fastest and easiest way. (That's what I would have done but I wasn't patient enough to wait till my 2nd HDD adapter arrives tomorrow. )

[skript]

I just upgraded my HDD today. Does that qualify me to respond to your questions?

Most definitely !
And thanks for the most precise and 'to the point' reply I have ever received on any forum !

Do you have a CD or DVD burner? If so and you still have the recovery partition on your old HDD you may be able to create the rescue CDs yourself...

Yes I have a built-in CD burner, the recovery partition is intact and no one else has made a set of recovery cds out of this partition... still, I was under an impression that making your own recovery CDs based on the hidden recovery partition will create a recovery set that is a snapshot of the current system setup (along with all the additional software that I've install)... strange as it may seem, I don't want that, I want a set of CDs that will restore my thinkpad to the default factory settings (ie. just like when it shipped)... so, will it create recovery cds based on the default factory settings, or the current system setup ? and how do I actually get them done: in Predesktop Area, right after hitting 'Acccess IBM' on startup, or after booting XP and using Rescue and Recovery ?

If not, you can just back up your old HDD onto CD/DVD and restore to your new HDD

and to do that I would have to use Rescue and Recovery, and also make my hidden partition visible by the BIOS, right ?

and you can use Ghost or Acronis, etc. to mirror your image onto the new drive.

well, I considered doing this, but then I thought that when I would mirror a 40gb drive to 100gb drive, then it would go something like this: 35gb windows partition, 5gb hidden partition, 60gb left... therefore I would not have continuous space for one single ntfs partition... or am I getting something wrong here ?

Sorry to drag on like this, but your last reply actually encouraged me to ask more questions (right... now I'm blaming you for the length of my post ..heh)... thanks again !

[LtTPfan]

And thanks for the most precise and 'to the point' reply I have ever received on any forum !

You're most welcome. This is the friendliest, most knowledgeable forum I've ever been on.

I was under an impression that making your own recovery CDs based on the hidden recovery partition will create a recovery set that is a snapshot of the current system setup (along with all the additional software that I've install)

Nope, it makes a factory set like you buy from IBM but cheaper (although your media will not be as good as theirs so keep them safe and store them well).

and how do I actually get them done: in Predesktop Area, right after hitting 'Acccess IBM' on startup, or after booting XP and using Rescue and Recovery ?

From Windows, go to the Thinkvantage folder in your start menu and use "Create Recovery Media," check the "Create a set of Product Recovery disks now" radio button.

and to do that I would have to use Rescue and Recovery, and also make my hidden partition visible by the BIOS, right ?

R&R will take care of the partition for you, you don't have to worry about it, just run R&R from the Thinkvantage folder in your start menu.

well, I considered doing this, but then I thought that when I would mirror a 40gb drive to 100gb drive, then it would go something like this: 35gb windows partition, 5gb hidden partition, 60gb left... therefore I would not have continuous space for one single ntfs partition... or am I getting something wrong here ?

I'm not certain but believe new versions of Ghost will let you partition as you like, i.e. copy your existing partition to whatever size on your new drive. That's just going from what I think I've read.

Sorry to drag on like this, but your last reply actually encouraged me to ask more questions (right... now I'm blaming you for the length of my post ..heh)... thanks again !

[skript]

well... what can I say, thanks again for the reply !

Nope, it makes a factory set like you buy from IBM but cheaper (although your media will not be as good as theirs so keep them safe and store them well).

great... factory settings, just like I want ... as far as the quality of the media, I've read on the forum that IBM is now in the practice of sending regular burned CDRs instead of pressed quality CDs... if that is so, then a good quality Verbatims should do ...

From Windows, go to the Thinkvantage folder in your start menu and use "Create Recovery Media,"

hmmm... the problem is I don't have this folder... still, I've update myself quite a bit from reading this forum, and some people point to another folder: Start -> All programs -> Access IBM -> Create recovery CDs, while others insist that recovery Cds can be created after hitting 'Acces IBM' during boot.... my thinkpad was purchased 2 years ago, so it may be possible that Thinkvantage Rescue & Recovery wasn't preinstalled, and some other solution was used (I'll just have to find out what it is )... thanks for reassuring me that creating my own recovery cds is possible...

[skript]

a short follow-up... according to this thread (nevermind that it's called R+R factory reinstall nightmare), I just have a slightly older version of software that creates the recovery cds:

You have to burn these (6-7) CD's using 'Create Recovery Discs' found in Start > All Programs > Access IBM, or (I believe it's called) 'Create Recovery Media' found in Start > ThinkVantage. The two varying names and locations all depend on how new your sytem is, but the result is the same.

so I guess this answers my initial questions.. this thread can now be officialy closed ... thanks again to LtTPfan for clearing me up on the ThinkVantage/R&R solution that turns out was right (only named diffrently on my thinkpad)...

[skript]

right... this explains a lot:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-57556

the 'Access IBM' button that has been swapped with 'ThinkVantage' button on newer systems... oh great! what will they think of next ?

[LtTPfan]

My system was purchased used without the preinstalled software so all the IBM programs I have were downloaded with IBM's Software Installer. That can also account for differences in software locations/names.

I forgot to mention one thing about my migration experience. I had made a full backup only a week before but had added more software as well as new work product so I tried to do an incremental backup but I couldn't get R&R to do it. I don't know why other than my backup was to CD rather than HDD, which R&R talks about doing incremental backups to. Anyway, since I couldn't seem to do an incermental backup, I did another full backup but this time rather than to CD I backed up to DVD. When I went to retore to my new HDD, the startup DVD wouldn't boot. I don't know why unless something happened to the disk or there is an issue booting from DVD. Luckily I was able to boot from my original CD backup startup disk then restore from the rest of the backup DVDs.

[skript]

My system was purchased used without the preinstalled software so all the IBM programs I have were downloaded with IBM's Software Installer. That can also account for differences in software locations/names.

This is very good to know, because as it turns out my thinkpad doesn't have *any* of the options for creating recovery cds under the 'Access IBM' submenu... the reason for this is quite simple - I hardly made any updates to IBM software, I just used the versions that shipped with my thinkpad... but seeing how you managed to get those options active, I guess they should show up as soon as I update my system.... thanks again for all the insightfull info ...

[LtTPfan]

If you use IBM's Software Intaller it will automatically download and install all the latest software and drivers without much interaction from you. It won't install all of the sofware that originally shipped, however. There is stuff like DVD playing s/w and other apps you can't download but you will get all the Thinkvantage stuff.