upgrading HDD in R50

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ranchmom5 · #1 Post by **ranchmom5** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:35 pm

A wonderful friend sent a new, faster HDD for my son's R50 as a gift. He also sent many links to different places on this forum that address upgrading the HDD. I have read so much this morning my mind is swimming...but do have one simple question.

He hasn't had the R50 for long enough to have much on it that is crucial to clone.....a few school papers and a bit of music...but the other software he has can just be reloaded. SO....if I don't want to go through the entire cloning process, can I just switch the HDDs and then run the R&R disks? Will that reload the OS and get us going again?

Sharon

#2 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:46 pm

Yes, just make sure you have made a set of recovery discs and backed up any important data before retiring the old drive.

ranchmom5 · #3 Post by **ranchmom5** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:52 pm

make sure you have made a set of recovery discs

I have a set of R&R discs from IBM. Is that what you are referring to?

#4 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:54 pm

ranchmom5 wrote:
make sure you have made a set of recovery discs
I have a set of R&R discs from IBM. Is that what you are referring to?

Yes, you should be all set.

pianowizard · #5 Post by **pianowizard** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:58 pm

ranchmom5 wrote:can I just switch the HDDs and then run the R&R disks?

Yep, that's what I always do when installing a new hard drive. It's easier than cloning, and gets rid of junk files/programs that have accumulated over time. Just back up your personal documents onto a USB drive before removing the current hard drive, swap the hard drives, run the recovery discs, reinstall other programs, and copy the documents onto the new hard drive.

ranchmom5 · #6 Post by **ranchmom5** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 6:32 pm

I decided to go for it this evening and now I am not sure I should have. I swapped in the new HDD then started with the R&R discs. It went though them all, prompting for the next disc, etc. BUT...now that it is done - said it was finished - I can't get it to boot into the Windows OS. It starts up and immediately goes to Rescue and Recovery rather than opening XP.

I tried a firmware upgrade CD that I found information on and ran it but no firmware upgrade was needed.

Any thoughts on what to do next?

pianowizard · #7 Post by **pianowizard** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 6:56 pm

Did you follow these procedures?

ranchmom5 · #8 Post by **ranchmom5** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:05 pm

yes I did. I had that page - as well as the link from there to IBM site for older models - and followed them exactly. BUT....after all that, I realized that the R&R discs I had were not for the R50...but R51 and T42. I had seen the R5x and thought it would also work for the R50. I am guessing I was wrong.

This is what I have done now....

I removed the new HDD and put the old HDD back into the R50. I was going to make the R&R discs from this computer but when I try to follow the directions found here:

To create a set of Product Recovery Discs, do one of the following:

The old way was to go to: Start > All Programs > Access IBM > Create Recovery Discs.

The new way is to go to: Start > All Programs > ThinkVantage > Create Recovery Media, then click on radio button: "Create a set of Product Recovery discs now", and finally click on OK. You can also create the Rescue Media from this screen.

I don't have any of those options. When I go into IBM Access, under "protect and recover" I have the options "protect computer data" and then the choice of "Save configuration settings" or "define and create backups- IBM Rapid Restore Ultra". That sounded right , but when I click there, it opens up a setup screen for RR Ultra. I am stopped there right now....any suggestions or comments?

#9 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:13 pm

Once you run through all of the R&R discs you still have to go back into R&R and install XP. The discs just create the recovery partition, they do not install XP.

ranchmom5 · #10 Post by **ranchmom5** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:26 pm

so how do I do that? All of the R&R discs just say "disc # of 7" Then there is a R&R w/Rapid Restore.

Would those discs work with the R50? I guess I was assuming they wouldn't since it just says R51, T42, T42p

BTW....this forum is SO great. Always someone there to answer my questions.

#11 Post by **ryengineer** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:33 pm

ranchmom5 wrote:snip.....BUT...now that it is done - said it was finished - I can't get it to boot into the Windows OS. It starts up and immediately goes to Rescue and Recovery rather than opening XP.

Also, if you get stuck after step 9 with Rescue and Recovery keeps on booting in a loop and not entering Windows then all you need to do is:

GomJabbar wrote:While in Rescue and Recovery (with all CD's removed from your optical drive) you need to tell it to Restore Factory Contents. All the CD's really do is install Rescue and Recovery and the files needed to Restore Windows and the original Factory software.

FAQ "How to use Recovery CD Disc Set"

ranchmom5 · #12 Post by **ranchmom5** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:37 pm

ok....probably because I am trying to be the Supermom multi-tasker while doing this that I didn't read that correctly the first time!

Now I am kind of embarrassed....I will put the new HDD back in now and give that a try.

Thank you all for being so kind and helpful...AND patient!

ranchmom5 · #13 Post by **ranchmom5** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 8:06 pm

IT WORKED!!!!!! I always tell my kids to read the directions thoroughly!!

Thank you all so very much. My life has been blessed in so many ways since I stumbled onto this forum a few months ago.

upgrading HDD in R50

upgrading HDD in R50

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