Thank you "axur-delmeria" for your reply and suggestions
The Lenovo
Creating Recovery Media in Windows 7 link was very helpful, but was short on some details for me
-
(a first time experience I have been putting off for 5 months.
- like how many discs and of what type ?
- in another place number of discs suggested was
26x CD's or 3x DVDs ... WRONG!
- recovery to USB ThumbDrive felt too risky (they have a habit of failing when least expected, especially after a few years)
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INFO for other readers of this thread
I opted for
4x DVDs and glad I did because the recovery media process
used 4x DVDs
- Verbatim DVD+R 4.7GB, 16x, 120 mins -- did not skimp on good quality discs, they have to last several years in storage
- DVD-RAM is not suitable (especially for the
Boot Medium )
- the thought of 26x CDs was impractical, and from experience with the DVDs -- 26 CDs would have not been enough
The process took 75+ minutes (more than an hour)
- as I understand it we only get one chance to make Recovery Media , so this exercise was stressful for me. (I am 70)
Safest approach is to do nothing else on the PC while creating the Recovery media
The Lenovo looked like it was ready for "Sleep" mode, on several occasions, moving the mouse stopped that.
- in hindsight temporarily changing the
Power Options to never sleep might be a good idea
PC MUST be connected to reliable mains power
-
do not attempt Recovery process on Battery only
Followed the steps in Lenovo
Creating Recovery Media in Windows 7
- each disc took about 20 minutes plus
Disc #1 was Boot Medium -- subsequent Discs are created as Discs #1 to #3 ... very confusing
I labelled them all as ...
- 1. Boot medium
2.1.
2.2.
2.3.
- the verification process of each disc indicated 100% completed for up to 10 minutes,
at first I thought the process was hanging ... ! It was not.
- BE PATIENT -- DO NOT be tempted to Cancel or fiddle with the CD/DVD tray
This is not a fast process
- label each disc after each verification, label each disk not just the DVD jewel-boxes
SUCCESS ... a white knuckle ride for me