Rescue Disc Vs Install Disc

[finster]

Hi all,

Just a quick question - I am about to purchase a thinkpad R51. I believe that this comes with a Windows XP "Recovery Disc". What is the difference between this and a "Install Disc" (as I am used to)?

I have seen other threads discussing making an "Install Disc" from a "Rescue Disc". What are the advantages of doing this and then installing?

Is it better to have an "Install" or "Rescue"? (can you even get thinkpads with install discs???)

Thanks.

[Leon]

Rescue Disk is a compressed factory restore image, as opposed to an XP install disk (which IBM does not supply).