I accidentally removed the IBM_SERVICE partition...

[Codplay]

I have a little bit of a problem on this T42 laptop. I accidentally removed (well, formated - the space is still there, just unformated) the IBM_SERVICE partition.

This is all very well, except for the fact that I was silly and never made the backup CDs.

So, now I have this space (the exact, original space) sitting on my hard drive, unformatted, and I don't know how to turn that space back into the IBM_SERVICE partition.

(I can provide a screen grab from PartitionMagic should anyone wish to look at it.)

I also have another T42 - bought at the same time.
Both are second hand, and were formatted and rebuilt by the old company before being sent to us, so I am pretty sure the recovery partition should be the same (thankfully, that one is intact.)

Is there any way to:
a) Download a nice little EXE from IBM, and rebuild the IBM_SERVICE partition (providing I use PartitionMagic to rebuilt the partition correctly...)
b) Copy over the data from the other laptop, and tweak as needed to get it to work on this machine
c) Just generally rebuild this partition in any way shape or form. Preferably without having to spend money/take it into the shop. ^_~ (Seeing as I didn't get it from a shop...)

Any help you can give would be appreciated.

Cheers.

[egibbs]

Any disk imaging utility (True Image is my choice at the moment) can copy the service partition from one machine to another. As long as the loads on the machines are identical there should be no problems.

Ed Gibbs

[carbon_unit]

Can you boot the second T42 that still has the recovery partition? If so you can make a set of recovery cd's and use them to repair the first T42.
If you cannot boot the second T42 use http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-54483 to restore the recovery functionality and use F11 at boot to restore the second unit, then make recovery cd's.

[Codplay]

I can boot the other T42 without problem (apart from a BSOD every once in a while, but that's a different issue... I'm trying fixes found elsewhere on this board.)

And what do you mean if they are identical? The partition is the same size, but I cannot seem to format it to FAT and have it retain the correct size. Can it be FAT32?

(I don't have PartitionMagic on the other machine to see how that HD looks...)

[Kyocera]

Like carbon_unit says, you can make a set of recovery CD's from the other t42, if you have a CD burner installed or have on available to put in the machine.

You will find it in the Rescue and Recovery software in the T42 itself to "make" a set, unless there is no service partition on that one either.

[Codplay]

Many thanks - I'll give that a shot.