Anyone able to create rescue media?

Message

meanestfish · #1 Post by **meanestfish** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:38 am

Immediately upon receiving my 2007-49U, I booted up and tried to create rescue media. No dice, at the "Extracting Files" stage, it has an internal error and exits. So, since it was out of box new, I did a wipe and reset it to factory state. Still no dice. Reinstalled R&R fresh from the IBM site, no dice. Haven't called IBM support yet because I'm thinking this is a new problem which is yet to be addressed.

Has anyone with a T60 successfully made recovery media yet?

abisys · #2 Post by **abisys** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:57 am

I did recovery media with no errors. It created a bootable cd and a dvd.

serpico · #3 Post by **serpico** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:34 am

abisys wrote:I did recovery media with no errors. It created a bootable cd and a dvd.

ditto

wpwood3 · #4 Post by **wpwood3** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:03 pm

I found that you have to configure Win XP before you can create the recovery CD & DVD. There is no option to create recovery discs in the Thinkvantage predesktop environment.
Once Win XP was up and running I created the discs without issue. I also performed a total system recovery just to make sure it worked. It did but it took over 2 hours. The system was VERY slow to start up and shut down after the revovery but after a few reboots it seemed to return to normal.

dorin · #5 Post by **dorin** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 12:28 pm

why you complicate your lives with rescue media and all the things from ibm build for this wich will eat 4 gb of your sys and in the fastest way they recover/ restore in 1 hr?!?!

use acronis or norton ghost 2003!!! honeslty i prefer acronis for giving option for restoeing when booting!

with any of them one system partition of 8 gb is restored in ~10 min! an i have the insanely slow 4200rpm hdd! x40...the only minus

seriously!

you win 4 gb and 10 min vs 1-2 hrs....

ScotchDiver · #6 Post by **ScotchDiver** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:08 pm

It's a safety net.

I always do a clean XP install with new PC's, but I made a set of recovery disks before formatting mine as well. I'll probably put them in a drawer and toss em out in a few months, but having them took a lot of the worry away. You never know if you're gonna be missing a critical driver, or do something out of order, and have to go back to your starting point.

jobes · #7 Post by **jobes** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:28 pm

ScotchDiver

I've always done a fresh install after receiving a new puter. The last IBM laptop I blew out (X-Series) I also deleted the restore partition. Big mistate on my part. I had a heck of a time finding all the drivers. Did run much faster with all the garbage-ware gone although.

Maybe a question of off topic but can anyone provide the proper 10 step process to accomplish this properly?

ScotchDiver · #8 Post by **ScotchDiver** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:09 pm

Exactly my concern. I also wanted to free up that 4 gig recovery partition and clean out the garbage as well. As soon as I've got everything smoothed out the way I like it, I'll do a backup or ghost so I can go back if anything gets borked.

As for the 10 steps (looks like that should be a 12-step program), I didn't write down what I did, but here's what I remember plus a few of the gotchas:

1. Download every driver from IBM's web site for your model and put them on CD.
2. Copy the DRIVERS folder from the C: drive to CD (important).
3. Copy the IBMTOOLS folder from C: to someplace safe (its too big to fit on CD, I put it on a DVD).
4. Using a USB floppy drive, copy the SATA drivers to a diskette (AFAIK, this is the only way to get XP to see the SATA drive, a jump drive won't work).
5. Make a set of recovery CD's from the R&R applet (6 total) just in case.
6. Boot XP install and hit F6 to specify RAID/SCSI.
7. Select the Mobile SATA chipset (only 1 of the 4 is mobile).
8. Delete any existing partitions (Note: only do this if you don't want IBM's recovery features, the bios recovery center will still work but you can only go back to factory state with the CD's you made in step 5).
9. Create your new partition(s) and install XP as normal.
10. Open the Device Manager and install drivers by right-clicking on unknown devices and selecting Update Driver (this puts fewer items in the Add/Remove Programs list than running the setup.exe files, which I prefer). You'll have to figure out which driver goes with each device, but it's not too tricky. This will get you down to one unknown "PCI Device", and your modem and audio won't work. Do an Update Driver and point to the "DRIVERS/OTHER3" folder you copied in step 2.
11. Install any ThinkVantage type apps you want that you downloaded from IBM and from the IBMTOOLS folder you copied in step 3 (Note: some apps like WinDVD can't be downloaded so you have to use the saved copy).
12. Have a stiff drink. My 12th step is a little different than in that other program.

Enjoy.

ScotchDiver

jobes · #9 Post by **jobes** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 5:38 pm

ScotchDiver

Thanks for the great info. That will be very handy indeed.

bibo · #10 Post by **bibo** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:40 pm

ScotchDiver wrote:Exactly my concern. I also wanted to free up that 4 gig recovery partition and clean out the garbage as well. As soon as I've got everything smoothed out the way I like it, I'll do a backup or ghost so I can go back if anything gets borked.

As for the 10 steps (looks like that should be a 12-step program), I didn't write down what I did, but here's what I remember plus a few of the gotchas:

1. Download every driver from IBM's web site for your model and put them on CD.
2. Copy the DRIVERS folder from the C: drive to CD (important).
3. Copy the IBMTOOLS folder from C: to someplace safe (its too big to fit on CD, I put it on a DVD).
4. Using a USB floppy drive, copy the SATA drivers to a diskette (AFAIK, this is the only way to get XP to see the SATA drive, a jump drive won't work).
5. Make a set of recovery CD's from the R&R applet (6 total) just in case.
6. Boot XP install and hit F6 to specify RAID/SCSI.
7. Select the Mobile SATA chipset (only 1 of the 4 is mobile).
8. Delete any existing partitions (Note: only do this if you don't want IBM's recovery features, the bios recovery center will still work but you can only go back to factory state with the CD's you made in step 5).
9. Create your new partition(s) and install XP as normal.
10. Open the Device Manager and install drivers by right-clicking on unknown devices and selecting Update Driver (this puts fewer items in the Add/Remove Programs list than running the setup.exe files, which I prefer). You'll have to figure out which driver goes with each device, but it's not too tricky. This will get you down to one unknown "PCI Device", and your modem and audio won't work. Do an Update Driver and point to the "DRIVERS/OTHER3" folder you copied in step 2.
11. Install any ThinkVantage type apps you want that you downloaded from IBM and from the IBMTOOLS folder you copied in step 3 (Note: some apps like WinDVD can't be downloaded so you have to use the saved copy).
12. Have a stiff drink. My 12th step is a little different than in that other program.

Enjoy.

ScotchDiver

where are the SATA drivers?

mattster · #11 Post by **mattster** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:36 pm

Instead of downloading all of the drivers by hand, why don't you use this?

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... E.html#DLP

Software Installer .....

It will check to see what you have on your system. For clean installs, it will pull every single driver that you need. You can even unselect the stuff you don't want (Rescue and Recovery, etc.). This way you get the latest drivers for you system right from the beginning. It goes according to what is listed on the website ......

My .02
Matt

ScotchDiver · #12 Post by **ScotchDiver** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:04 pm

I forgot about that. Unfortunately for me I didn't install it till I was almost done, so I guess I did it the hard way.

That'd be a big timesaver for some of the drivers and ThinkVantage stuff. You'll still have to do the manual driver install in step 10 though, Software Installer won't find the problem audio driver.

Also, Serpico did a similar write up with a very different procedure here:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=22225

meanestfish · #13 Post by **meanestfish** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:39 pm

The most reliable way of doing this I've found is do a factory fresh reinstall, and right as soon as it boots into windows, jump into the C drive and delete all of the bloatware apps before it has a chance to install them. Easiest way of doing it, in my opinion.

meanestfish · #14 Post by **meanestfish** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 8:10 pm

Turns out my T60 shipped with a bad HD.

beeblebrox · #15 Post by **beeblebrox** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:44 pm

dorin wrote:why you complicate your lives with rescue media and all the things from ibm build for this wich will eat 4 gb of your sys and in the fastest way they recover/ restore in 1 hr?!?!

use acronis or norton ghost 2003!!! honeslty i prefer acronis for giving option for restoeing when booting!

with any of them one system partition of 8 gb is restored in ~10 min! an i have the insanely slow 4200rpm hdd! x40...the only minus

seriously!

you win 4 gb and 10 min vs 1-2 hrs....

Could you please explain, how you did it?
I am using Acronis True Image 7. Backing up the drive is quite fast. app 3h for 60GB. However, I had to reconstruct my HDD once and Acronis need 15-17h (!!) to write back those 60GB from the external drive. I checked with Google and saw, that Acronis uses a Linux system that does not support DMA, causing the painfully slow CPU transfer.
I checked with the Rescue manager and the rescue disk. Same duration both times, 15-17h for just 60GB. Ridiculous, therefore I thought trying IBMs RnR. What do you think?

dorin · #16 Post by **dorin** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:47 pm

ok, now its up to you if you back up 60gb or only 7 or how much you need for the system partition. with acronis if you set it for normal compresion i get max 10 min for 7gb, which comparing with almost 2 hrs from RnR...maxes the second one totally to be blown away.

make a backup with acronis or RnR only to the system, cause that;s the most important (to be fast i mean) the datas you normally save them on dvd or other hdd's (at least thats what i do)

any other questions, please shoot!

have a nice day,

Dorin

brooklynboy · #17 Post by **brooklynboy** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:56 am

Are the recovery disks created from the hidden paritition absolutely IDENTICAL to those orderable from IBM/Lenovo? Is there, therefore, any reason to order the factory disks? If so, are they still free within 30 days of system purchase?

collector_edi · #18 Post by **collector_edi** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:21 pm

I just downloaded the trial version of Acronis True Image 9.1 for workstations. I am executing the backup wizard and noticed the hidden 4.7gb partition. Should I select this when performing an image of the hard disk or is this not necessary? Is this 4.7 gb contain the rescue and recovery information that is needed for Lenovo's solution? If so would it not be necessary to include in the image if Acronis will be utilized? Sorry...very new to imaging in general.

dorin wrote:ok, now its up to you if you back up 60gb or only 7 or how much you need for the system partition. with acronis if you set it for normal compresion i get max 10 min for 7gb, which comparing with almost 2 hrs from RnR...maxes the second one totally to be blown away.

make a backup with acronis or RnR only to the system, cause that;s the most important (to be fast i mean) the datas you normally save them on dvd or other hdd's (at least thats what i do)

any other questions, please shoot!

have a nice day,

Dorin

dorin · #19 Post by **dorin** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 5:29 pm

hi,

first of all is to recover from RnR, to have a clean imige, than install all you personal aplications, configure your laptop how you like and then run the acronis! (its really worht the money)

before you run acronis, i recomend to partition your hdd in system partition(mine is 7.5 gb) and personal data(or whatever many pers partitions you want)

in this way system is system and pers data are safe for future recovery,formatting bla bla bla. note: bofore partitioning run a defrag (perfdisk is really great)

make your image with acronis -only to system partition-(i can give you instructions in how to make a bootable dvd with it) and then its more than safely to delete the hidden partition (you;ll have all it contains in the new image plus your pers settings and programs)

on slowly 4200hdd the 7 gb as i said are backed up/ restored in max 10 min!

anything else just ask!

dorin

collector_edi · #20 Post by **collector_edi** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:26 pm

Dorin,

Just so that I am clear on this new and exciting suggestion that you bring. I have one partition and an IBM partition that appears to be hidden.

[first of all is to recover from RnR, to have a clean imige, than install all you personal aplications, configure your laptop how you like and then run the acronis! (its really worht the money)] 1

[1]The ibm partition was created when I ran RnR? Or was it created at build? Did RnR make a image of the C partition and create this hidden image to recover from? If so does this serve as a backup copy to that of what was copied to the several CD's?

[before you run acronis, i recomend to partition your hdd in system partition(mine is 7.5 gb) and personal data(or whatever many pers partitions you want)
in this way system is system and pers data are safe for future recovery,formatting bla bla bla.]2

[2] What did you use to partition your harddrive? I have a 100Gb drive. Did you use partition magic or does XP Pro SP2 come with something? Are you suggesting that I only image the one partition to save time and install all applications on this one partition. Is it also safe to derive any data written to the other partitions should be backed up under more traditional methods so I am not imaging a 100Gb drive. If I did not partition the drive and I have only 14 Gb written I assume early on the imaging would not be a time consuming problem.

[make your image with acronis -only to system partition-(i can give you instructions in how to make a bootable dvd with it) and then its more than safely to delete the hidden partition (you;ll have all it contains in the new image plus your pers settings and programs)] 3

[3] Okay I get this part I think. Are you suggesting I image the system partition represented by c volume and hidden partition. Next image the disk. Next delete hidden partition using acronis? I would love to see your documentation if you don't mind.

Thanks for taking the time Dorin.

collector_edi · #21 Post by **collector_edi** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 6:06 pm

Dorin,

I think I am going to try Acronis partition manager as well. I have vmware workstation installed so I will try to do this on a virtual xp client just for practice.

dorin · #22 Post by **dorin** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 3:59 am

hi edi!

so, documentation...help files of the programs, but here i am writting a full step by step procedure! ok?!

my advice is to have a separate partition for system. why? lets say in case of format, emergency recovery, sudden system crash, its safer to have the personal data on a different partition than system one

1. 100gb its more than enough! so, what should you do, first defrag your hdd (use perfdisk, or even windows for this is still ok, being a basic rearrangement of files) so after devide the main partition (if you have only one in 2) so in the end it should look like c: sys d: pers e: RnR hidden partition

the best way would be to make it with partition magic.

save program kits and pers data on d:

2. RnR process contains the preloaded version of windows. so it takes the data from hidden partition and copies them into c.
so run RnR, have a clean windoes instalation

3. run software installer and fully update your comp. reboot

4. uninstall all the programs you dont need, which comes preloaded with RnR

5. install a registry cleaner (i use ashampoo for ex) to clean all the dead registry. reboot

6. install your programs and configure your comp exctly the way you want/need it

7. start acronis. backup only partition c: ! save it on d:! (if you want to make after a bootable dvd follow the instructions from http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=48186

looks complicated at first sight, but once done its piece of cake to repeat it. i upload the final files resulted from the tutuorial on the link mentioned, at my web www.bocanila.ro/util/dvd

8. now you can safely delete ibm partition

why i prefer acronis over norton ghost? acronis gives you the possibility to activate the boot manager. once my windows just crashed, it needed like 20 min to start, and i hadnt with me the doking station nor the recovery dvd made with norton so practicly for 2 days i couldnt use the laptop till i arrived home and restored it. with acronis you keep a copy of the recovery file on hdd, and in case of wndows failure, at boot you have the option to start acronis manager (same kind of RnR which starts in dos)

if you have any other quiestions fire away, i'll be online almost all day long.

or pm me at yahoo msg dorin_boca

dorin

collector_edi · #23 Post by **collector_edi** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:43 pm

Dorin:

Sorry I did not respond sooner. I just got back into town. It would've been nice to have the WWAN activated but that should take place in a few days. Nonetheless, thank you for the elaborate reponse. I will give it a go and let you know how I fair!

Mattser:
Thanks for the tip regarding software and driver packages install utility.

collector_edi · #24 Post by **collector_edi** » Tue May 02, 2006 9:50 pm

dorin wrote:hi edi!

so, documentation...help files of the programs, but here i am writting a full step by step procedure! ok?!

my advice is to have a separate partition for system. why? lets say in case of format, emergency recovery, sudden system crash, its safer to have the personal data on a different partition than system one

1. 100gb its more than enough! so, what should you do, first defrag your hdd (use perfdisk, or even windows for this is still ok, being a basic rearrangement of files) so after devide the main partition (if you have only one in 2) so in the end it should look like c: sys d: pers e: RnR hidden partition

the best way would be to make it with partition magic.

save program kits and pers data on d:

2. RnR process contains the preloaded version of windows. so it takes the data from hidden partition and copies them into c.
so run RnR, have a clean windoes instalation

3. run software installer and fully update your comp. reboot

4. uninstall all the programs you dont need, which comes preloaded with RnR

5. install a registry cleaner (i use ashampoo for ex) to clean all the dead registry. reboot

6. install your programs and configure your comp exctly the way you want/need it

7. start acronis. backup only partition c: ! save it on d:! (if you want to make after a bootable dvd follow the instructions from http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=48186

looks complicated at first sight, but once done its piece of cake to repeat it. i upload the final files resulted from the tutuorial on the link mentioned, at my web www.bocanila.ro/util/dvd

8. now you can safely delete ibm partition

why i prefer acronis over norton ghost? acronis gives you the possibility to activate the boot manager. once my windows just crashed, it needed like 20 min to start, and i hadnt with me the doking station nor the recovery dvd made with norton so practicly for 2 days i couldnt use the laptop till i arrived home and restored it. with acronis you keep a copy of the recovery file on hdd, and in case of wndows failure, at boot you have the option to start acronis manager (same kind of RnR which starts in dos)

if you have any other quiestions fire away, i'll be online almost all day long.

or pm me at yahoo msg dorin_boca

dorin

I finally received funding to purchase Acronis Disk Director and True Image. I followed your recommendation and lord and behold you were right. I like utilizing Acronis as my recovery option vs. the rescue and recovery that IBM provides.

I did notice once you activate Acronis SecureZone you no longer have the option to boot into IBM's rescue and recovery so you might as well delete that hidden partition. Of course make the rescue and recovery media [thinkvantage] prior to doing so.

Anyone able to create rescue media?

Anyone able to create rescue media?

Yes

Re: Yes

why you complicate your lives?!?!

Much easier solution .....

Re: why you complicate your lives?!?!

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