Rescue and recovery discs for R51e

[alanr51e]

Hello,

After about 12 hours paging thru topics and posts, I admit to being more confused than when I began.

Task was to upgrade an R51e HDD to better than its current 40 Gb (I would like to get to 250GB - is there an upper limit?) by replacing the HDD.

The TP is one I inherited from my late father who bought it at a swapmeet a couple of years back and then put it on the shelf because he didn't like XP pro, preferring Win98!

The manual doesn't say anything about making recovery CDs, but I deduce from one post that this is a one off activity, and may have been done by the original owner, but the discs did not come with the TP.

I've used the on board R&R to get back to the original "as delivered" software to remove some software based PWs and now the TP is ready for the upgrade. On board RAM has been increased to 2Gb but I'm stuck with the HDD bit. I want to reinstate the factory installed "hidden " partition so the TP is "as delivered" so far as the software is concerned. It will allow me to get back to original software specs easily, ie without the need for external hardware.

In one post I viewed I'm sure I saw a link to a bit torrent site that had an appropriate set of disks available, but I'm darned if I can relocate it.

The TP is equipped with a DVD writer and I have a 160 GB USB drive available to use on a cloning activity. I also have a 250 GB 2.5 IDE drive (WD) I am planning to use for the upgrade.

Any advice is appreciated as to a process. If there is some trick available to allow me to make a set of R&R discs from the "hidden" partition, then that seems to be the quickest (and least expensive ) way to go.

Thanks for any advice that may be forthcoming

[schen]

Hello,
Task was to upgrade an R51e HDD to better than its current 40 Gb (I would like to get to 250GB - is there an upper limit?) by replacing the HDD.

The manual doesn't say anything about making recovery CDs, but I deduce from one post that this is a one off activity, and may have been done by the original owner, but the discs did not come with the TP.

I've used the on board R&R to get back to the original "as delivered" software to remove some software based PWs and now the TP is ready for the upgrade. On board RAM has been increased to 2Gb but I'm stuck with the HDD bit. I want to reinstate the factory installed "hidden " partition so the TP is "as delivered" so far as the software is concerned. It will allow me to get back to original software specs easily, ie without the need for external hardware.

The TP is equipped with a DVD writer and I have a 160 GB USB drive available to use on a cloning activity. I also have a 250 GB 2.5 IDE drive (WD) I am planning to use for the upgrade.

Any advice is appreciated as to a process. If there is some trick available to allow me to make a set of R&R discs from the "hidden" partition, then that seems to be the quickest (and least expensive ) way to go.

It sounds like you have a decent machine on which you've already gotten off to a good start upgrading. I've just upgraded a R51 with the very same WD 250Gb PATA drive on my wife's "new" machine.

As far as the "factory" partition is concerned; if your machine has that eliminated, and you want it back, you'll have to get a set of physical restore disks and run it. There is no trick to making them from the R&R software that I know of: if it's not there any more, the software can't recreate it. You can often find those by putting a post in the Markplace conference and see if someone will sell you a set or be kind enough to make you a set. Often, these disks are interchangeable between more than one model (dependent on the chipsets and drivers used of course). One very experienced member of this forum uses R40 disks to restore his R5x machines, so you never know.

If it turns out that, that is more trouble than it's worth, then you can simply clone the HDD that you have onto the new WD HDD that you intend on using. Different members have had success using a variety of software to do this, but quite a few (including myself) have had good luck using Acronis TrueImage. You can even download a free trail version that can be used for a month or so. I liked it so much, I bought a full package.

I hope this helps.

[ms5133]

YGPM

So that others can possibly assist..what is your machine type ..should be something like 1834-xxx.

[alanr51e]

Thanks ms5133, Thanks schen,

I see that another poster is grappling with a similar problem. (two posts up?)

To clear up what I think might be a misunderstanding, I have a functional "Thinkvantage" page accessible from the "Access IBM" button during startup. This page is also available after a normal boot using the "Thinkvantage" icon on the desktop. But nowhere on either page does there appear to be a "create recovery discs" option either in bold or grayed out.

I have used the recovery to factory defaults via the "interupt normal start up" using the "Access IBM" button during startup once to overcome some forgotten passwords. This wasn't a problem as my dad had not loaded any software and I was looking for a default condition, so I'm confident that this partition is present.

But I suspect that recovery CDs may have been generated by the first owner and were not included in the sale. I understand they can only be generated once?

The TP is coded as a Type 1843-4ZM.

So if anyone can provide advise I'll be most grateful.

In the meantime I'll look in the "for sale" forum.

Thanks again

Alan

[fasterbybike]

If you get the option "Recover to a factory contents" when you press the blue Access IBM key, then you have the IBM Hidden Protected Area (HPA) on your disk. If you get an 1810 "Hard disk partition layout error" then the recovery partition does not exist.

This document details what the HPA is and how to go about transferring it to another disk. Here's an interesting pageshowing how to do this with Linux.

Or as another poster has said, you can use True Image or similar to clone your existing disk and then proceed from there.