T43 upgrading/warranty issues

[BoostedA4]

I've ordered a T43 2668-88U that should be here in 2 weeks or so...

I'm quite happy with everything, except the HD. 40GB is not much space, especially if it has that 4-5 GB "hidden partition" I've been trying to read about. I know little about computeres, but would like to remove this partiion, store on CD's, and re-install XP without anything on the computere.
#1. Is this possible/easy to do? If so, where can I read about how to do it?
#2. Will this void warranty by any reason?

Also, I would like to upgrade to the 60GB 7200rpm, am I able to do that? What if I add another 512 MB RAM. Will these also void the warranty?

Thanks!

[Leon]

1. yes, see this link http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=3827, make restore disks first

2. No

Easy to upgrade hard disk & memory, no effect on warranty.