Restore factory state using Recovery CDs from another system

[aranyak]

My first post on this forum.
I have an IBM R51, came preinstalled with WinXP Pro and SP1a. I find the 4.2 GB occupied by the service partition on my (small) 30 GB drive rather unacceptable (I'm left with 23.6 GB for everything including windows). I cannot create a set of product recovery CDs as I have only a DVD ROM drive on my laptop. I want to reclaim the service partition still keeping an option to get back to 'factory state'.
I will be using this guide to wipe out the service partition http://www.4saad.com/WhatsNew/Fresh_XP_ ... /index.htm

I am unwilling to pay for IBM to ship me a set of product recovery CDs

Q1. Is it possible for me to use product recovery CDs created by an IBM R51 other than mine (my friend burned a set on her R51), and use my WinXP Pro serial number with it, or do the burned CDs work 'ONLY' for the system that burnt them?
In other words, are the burned IBM Recovery CDs unique to that system or can I use them too?
Q2. Is there some way to copy the HPA to my desktop and put it on a DVD/CDs, make it bootable etc so I can have my own recovery disks?

Thanks

[Zeitgeist]

I cannot create a set of product recovery CDs as I have only a DVD ROM drive on my laptop. I want to reclaim the service partition still keeping an option to get back to 'factory state'.
I will be using this guide to wipe out the service partition http://www.4saad.com/WhatsNew/Fresh_XP_ ... /index.htm

I am unwilling to pay for IBM to ship me a set of product recovery CDs

Q1. Is it possible for me to use product recovery CDs created by an IBM R51 other than mine (my friend burned a set on her R51), and use my WinXP Pro serial number with it, or do the burned CDs work 'ONLY' for the system that burnt them?
In other words, are the burned IBM Recovery CDs unique to that system or can I use them too?
Q2. Is there some way to copy the HPA to my desktop and put it on a DVD/CDs, make it bootable etc so I can have my own recovery disks?

If you don´t have a CD/DVD burner the cited guide would not solve your problem to create recovery CD or a winxp cd.

a1: you can use your friend´s CDs.
a2: with R&R, again you need a CD/DVD recorder.

[smugiri]

You can use disks created with any R51. I would want to argue that you could use R50 disks ( in the same way that you can use T40 disks on a T41 and some T42s ) but I am not sure that this is the case. You will definitely not need your Win XP key. The key is built into the image on the disk and the install simply skips over the step where you would normally be asked to enter the key. The key on the back of your Thinkpad is thus ( from an install perspective ) just there for decoration.

You cannot just copy the HPA: there are more than 7 service areas in that partion and anything less than a byte by byte copy is guranteed to miss something. Many have tried this and trashed their hard drives.

You could potentially use R&R with an external USB drive but again, the assumption is that you have one.

Seeing how IBM sells the Recovery Disks for about $48 ( I called and asked when I got my machine ), the best way to go on this would be to buy a CD RW/DVD for about $30 then buy 5 blanks for $6 and burn those puppies yourself ( Start -> Programs -> Access IBM -> Create Recovery Disks )> If your friend with the Thinkpad has a CDRW, you could probably borrow that, swap it out with your DVD temporarily and save yourself $30. ( do R51 have fixed optical drives? If so, bummer )

Anyone else with some other ideas?

[craiger862]

I have two T43s here, an 1875DMU and a 2686DHU. Would the R&R CDs that I can create burn onto 6 CDs be the same for both? Mind you, one of these was bought at retail from Office Depot with Intel video hardware and the other was bought from IBM direct, included OEM Office 2003, and has ATI video hardware. I'm just wondering if the R&R CDs are the same for both, IE, do they sneak the OEM Office installation onto the R&R image of the one system or is that separate (I do have the OEM office CD so it's not a problem).

Also, if I wanted to reconstruct the partition table completely on one of these systems, should I first remove all partitions using fdisk from some other boot disk? Anything else like fdisk /MBR necessary as well?

[smugiri]

i have no idea about OEM software like Office: anyone out there have any experience with this?

[craiger862]

Well, I went ahead and tried it and the answer is that the image did not include the OEM Office 2003 software. I guess this was loaded some other way at the factory, but I do have the CDs so all is well.

It appears that everything was written back to the system partition. However, I don't believe the disk was reparatitioned as the recovery partition type is still set to FAT32 (which I did from Knoppix fdisk) and it is now visible in Windows. I may wipe the disk and ship it back to depot just to see what they do with it.

I keep reading posts where people elude to the fact that the recovery disks you create by burning your own with the system tool are similar to those you would get from IBM. Are they similar, or are they identical? If similar, what is different?

[SeanM]

You can use disks created with any R51.

You cannot count on that. There are several different lines of R51, and the CDs are sometimes the same, sometimes different.

Why don't you borrow your friend's burner, put it in your machine, and make your own recovery CDs?

[smugiri]

I realize that they are different but I do not think that it matters that much. Worst case scenario will be missing drivers, a problem easily fixed with Package Manager or a connection to the Internet and some time with the driver matrix at IBM.com.

OS will install perfectly though.

[tfflivemb2]

I agree with SeanM, why not just borrow the burner from your friend and create your own set that should work flawlessly?