Problems re Recovery discs created with R&R on XP R61

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gcyc · #1 Post by **gcyc** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:19 pm

The first thing I did when I received my R61 was to use the create recovery media which produced 2 DVD's; one 540MB in size and the other 3.6GB.

Now, I've had to restore from these DVDs, so I inserted the bootable (540MB) DVD in the drive and re-booted. Once I got into the R&R workspace I selected restore my system, and once there proceeded to format the hard disk and reboot, asking me to power down and have my recovery DVD ready. I switched the notebook off, turned it back on and inserted the second DVD.

I go back into 'Restore your system' and it gives me 2 options: Restore my entire hard drive; Restore only the Windows OS & apps. I select the 1st option and it asks to choose the source of the backup, which in my case is DVD. After selecting DVD, the following dialog box appears:

'To restore a backup made to CD/DVD, please insert the disc labeled "Final C". To restore from a backup copied to CD/DVD, insert the last disc of the backup set. After inserting the correct disc, reselect CD/DVD in the location dropdown box.'

This is where I get stuck - I only have one backup DVD!! I've retried countless times with both DVDs created at the beginning; there's no option to restore to factory settings; I've also tried copying the contents of the 2nd DVD to a USB hard drive and choosing USB as a source but no joy.

Any ideas?

#2 Post by **ryengineer** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:19 am

gcyc wrote:snip....Any ideas?

Anytime you want to put back your thinkpad to factory state through Product Recovery disks, always first format the HDD. The reason you're facing this issue is because Rescue and Recovery becomes unstable when you try to overlap already installed version of R n R with another one from the disks.

You can use GParted or Cute Partition Manager to format the partitions from your drive or find tools similar to the following from your HDD manufacturer:

Hard drive utility links.

Whatever method you choose, your aim is to format your drive.

gcyc · #3 Post by **gcyc** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:43 am

After formatting the drive myself I was able to proceed with the full recovery process.. Thanks for your help!

GLevine · #4 Post by **GLevine** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 1:00 pm

I am having the very same problem. But in my case, formatting the HD did not help. I formatted via Windows Setup and also using an external utility. But I'm still having the problem. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance for your help.

Gary

Website · #5 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 4:43 pm

GLevine wrote:I am having the very same problem. But in my case, formatting the HD did not help. I formatted via Windows Setup and also using an external utility. But I'm still having the problem. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance for your help.

Gary

Hi Gary, welcome to the forum!

I have seen on more than one occassion with older Thinkpads, that I have had to format more than one to get it to work right. Just try it again.

What external utility are you using?

GLevine · #6 Post by **GLevine** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 5:46 pm

I booted my machine using BartPE (Bart Preinstalled Environment), and then used the "format" command at the command-line prompt.

Perhaps I should try one of the utilities you mentioned earlier in this post.

Gary

GLevine · #7 Post by **GLevine** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:22 pm

I created a bootable CD of PC Doctor. I'll try formatting using it. There are 2 partitions on the drive now.. a large one that I presume is still empty, and a smaller one which I believe is the Rescue and Recovery partition. I'm erasing the R&R now. Do I need to do the large one also? Thanks!

Gary

Website · #8 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:51 pm

In the past, I used a Win98se CD to completely fdisk and then format the entire drive. Lately, I have been using ActiveKillDisk, which is one utility on an awesome disk that you can create from UltimateBootCD.com

#9 Post by **ryengineer** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 10:10 pm

GLevine wrote:I am having the very same problem. But in my case, formatting the HD did not help. I formatted via Windows Setup and also using an external utility. But I'm still having the problem. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance for your help.....snip

The problem here is you aren't formatting your HDD but only one portion of your drive i.e. the primary partition.

Windows setup doesn't format all partitions unless you instruct it specially to do so, had you formatted your entire HDD you would've ended up with only 1 partition as contrary to two partitions mentioned in your next post.

GLevine · #10 Post by **GLevine** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 11:54 am

Thank you very much for your assistance, however I was never able to get the recovery disks to work, even after repartitioning and formating the entire HD. Rather than spend any more time with it, I just did a fresh install of XP. Much obliged for your help though.

Gary

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