PartitionMagic and Rapid Restore

[thinkpaper]

I'd like to thank everyone, particularly Conmee and Mofongo, for the information about Thinkpad. I am happy to get a 23733xu (15" SXGA+). Its size and weight are good for me since I switched from 7.5 lbs Dell and Toshiba.

I would like to divide up the 32.3 GB HD space (after the IBM_SERVICE) into two NTFS partitions (C: and D: drive) using Partition Magic. I have seen various messages, the worst type of which is that PartitionMagic and Rapid Restore conflci and may crash the system. But Mofongo's recent message and webpage seem to indicate this would work.

In addition, it seems to me that the IBM_SERVICE partition has both the restore and recovery files AND the backup from RRU. But how? Would the size of this partitino change if I backup. say, 20 GB stuff?

Specifically, I would like to keep the restore and recovery files on HD. Use PartitionMagic to split the 32.3 GB into NTFS C: (for system and commercial programs) and D: (for data). The advantage (from my own experience) is that in the case of system failure I need only reformat C and restore C while the data on D are safe. I will then back up the data from D to CD or external HD. Now if the RRU can work for both C and D and will not resize the C and D partitions by PartitonMagic, I will use RRU as an additional backup. If they conflict, I may choose not to run RRU or remove it. I uunderstand that I cannot remove the SERVICE partion if I want to keep the resore files. Another way to run RRU is not to do a drive image but just to backup the data files. I assume this would allow me to restore the data files (into D for example) but will not rezise the partitions.

Thanks again for your help in advance.

Thinkpaper

[Mofongo]

I don't really understand how RRU works, either. I, too, saw things in the documentation that alluded to information about backups being stored in the IBM_SERVICE partition, but I assumed that it could not be the data itself, since that would severly limit the amount you could backup.

My guess is that it stores a log of backups in the IBM_SERVICE partition. This way, if you need to restore your hard drive, it already knows what backups you have performed and it can prompt you from there.

If I were you, I would burn the recovery CDs just to be safe, then go ahead and use PartitionMagic to shrink the C: drive and make a D: partition. The only thing you have to watch out for is that it keeps the location of the IBM_SERVICE partition exactly the same, since you might not be able to boot into the IBM_SERVICE partition (by hitting the "Access IBM" button during boot) if the location of the boot image changes.

I would also make extra sure that once you have partitioned and started backing up that RRU is OK with the new partition setup as far as restoring your backups. I have seen notices in the documentation that say RRU has to be "reinstalled" (whatever that means) if the partition table changes.

Mofongo

[pipspeak]

I did exactly what you describe with Partition Magic (8.1) on a T40. Simply left C as it was (same physical place, bootable etc.) but broke off a 20GB chunk to create D, also NTFS. I also made sure to get the recovery disks just in case.

I did all this totally oblivious to all the warnings about conflicts etc. It took five minutes. In the six months since then I've had no problems at all, although I've never tried using the Rapid Restore feature (and probably never would now I have the recovery CDs).

One day I'd like to delete the Service partition if it's possible.

P