Reaalllllyyyyyyy slow

[jeffjune]

I am a medical student and we've installed a lot of powerpoints, audio files, programs, etc. in our first year. Now that I'm starting 2nd year, I see I only have 7 out of my 40GB available. I suppose this is part of the reason why my T42 is running slow. I took it to COMPUSA and they wanted my original Windows CDs which I don't have along with $200 to upgrade and transfer my files to a 80GB harddrive. I thought this was a good deal considering I don't know how to transfer my files to the new one, but I dont have the windows CDs. Can anybody help me find a solution to upgrading?

Thanks,
Jeff

[Thinkpaddict]

Welcome to the forums.

First of all, have you tried cleaning up your computer from unnecessary files by erasing and backing up whichever files you need to keep? Then you can uninstall whichever programs you don't need, run a defragmentation on your HD, and see how you fare.

If you want to start with a clean slate (new HD), first you must make sure that you still have the recovery partition in your Thinkpad. You should have this if you are the original owner and haven't messed up with your Thinkpad. If you have the recovery partition, follow Procedure A below. If not, you must follow Procedure B.

For both Procedure A and Procedure B you will need either an external USB enclosure (as a side note, be careful with unpowered enclosures that draw too much power off your USB ports and bust the chipset of the T4x series laptops). Either an enclosure, or an Ultrabay Slim 2nd HDD Adaptor (solution which I recommend, because it is a very handy peripheral to have in your Thinkpad).

Procedure A: Since you have the recovery partition in your HD, you first must clone your existing hard drive into your new drive. A good way of doing this is using a program called Acronis TrueImage (do a search for it, I think that the free trial version will let you do this procedure). I personally have always used TrueImage, and it has always worked with no problem. Once the drive has been cloned, you must replace the new hard drive into the internal HD bay of your thinkpad, and then use the recovery partition to put your new HD in the state that your old HD was in when it came out of the factory (that is, it will install Windows and the default IBM/Lenovo apps). The rest is to use your old HD to copy whichever files you want into your new one. Again, for this you will use the external USB enclosure, or the 2nd HDD adaptor for the Ultrabay Slim.

Alternative to Procedure A: You should be able to create a set of recovery CDs. Then you can just do this and follow Procedure B instead of Procedure A. This will avoid the use of cloning software such as TrueImage.

Procedure B: Since you don't have the recovery partition, first you must try to get IBM/Lenovo to send you recovery CDs. Just tell them that your HD got corrupted and it won't boot, that should convince them to send you the recovery CDs for free. If you don't have luck convincing them of that, they might charge you a nominal fee for them (around $40.00 or $50.00, which is still cheaper than getting a new copy of Windows XP). Once you have the recovery CDs, just install your new hard drive in place of the old one, and boot with the recovery CDs, which will reinstall the factory image of your computer. Then, as in Procedure A, just use your existing old hard drive to copy back files by putting it in the external USB enclosure or the HD adaptor.

All this sounds very complicated, but it is not that bad really. Feel free to search the forum for more detailed information regarding the processes involved, and ask more questions as needed.

Good luck.

[draco2527]

All this sounds very complicated, but it is not that bad really. Feel free to search the forum for more detailed information regarding the processes involved, and ask more questions as needed.

Good luck.

If he is willing and capable of "fixing" us, he should be ok with this!

Do you have a cdrw or dvdr with the TP?

[draco2527]

Can anybody help me find a solution to upgrading?

Thanks,
Jeff

Call IBM and order the cd, or someone here will send the media for free or small fee! (ibm wants $50+ for recovery cd's)

I have a copy available....


Buy a 2.5" hd from newegg.com for around $100, if your system is under warranty; ibm will help you with the recovery/install of the OS once you have the recovery cd's.

Then go to CompUSA and get an external hd enclosure for laptop hd's (around $20) and you can pull your files, format the drive and use it as data storage/dump!

Or...you can ship it to me! and for $250.00 plus shipping I can do the work for you (n/j have a business) and it will include an 80gb hd!

[pae77]

. . . Once the drive has been cloned, you must replace the new hard drive into the internal HD bay of your thinkpad, and then use the recovery partition to put your new HD in the state that your old HD was in when it came out of the factory (that is, it will install Windows and the default IBM/Lenovo apps).

I don't believe the above quoted step is necessary. True Image will clone his entire original drive with all partitions over to the new drive. All he has to do is then install the newly cloned drive in the primary drive slot and he should be good to go. I don't see any need for him to use the recovery partition to restore to the original factory image.

[Thinkpaddict]

. . . Once the drive has been cloned, you must replace the new hard drive into the internal HD bay of your thinkpad, and then use the recovery partition to put your new HD in the state that your old HD was in when it came out of the factory (that is, it will install Windows and the default IBM/Lenovo apps).

I don't believe the above quoted step is necessary. True Image will clone his entire original drive with all partitions over to the new drive. All he has to do is then install the newly cloned drive in the primary drive slot and he should be good to go. I don't see any need for him to use the recovery partition to restore to the original factory image.

I am actually assuming that Jeff wants to start with a clean slate and copy selected files and install selected programs manually from the old drive to the new drive. If he's having performance problems that are not related to the hard drive itself but to the amount of clutter it has on it now that's what he should do anyway.