Factory restore - CSS and R&R gone missing!

[jamess]

I've recently performed a factory restore of my X60s. It came with preloaded CSS and R&R when I got it. When i finished factory restore (unfortunately custom restore was not available), R&R and CSS are both missing. I don't mind the CSS as it's so painfully slow with fingerprints and everything, but I do miss R&R for backups. How can i "bring" it back ?

Thanks

[think2much]

Is it possible to download these from Lenovo's website? When I did a factory restore on my X60, it didn't restore the DVD software, but that was no loss.

[jamess]

I didn't even have an option of actually *not* restoring everything. I simply selected don't keep my settings and files, re-format and factory restore. Voila, CSS and R&R gone. Now all that's left is R&R 4.0, which I wouldn't like to "beta-test" on my machine, especially because my x60s shipped with version 3 I think and might have issues with ver. 4. What now?

[Ken Fox]

I didn't even have an option of actually *not* restoring everything. I simply selected don't keep my settings and files, re-format and factory restore. Voila, CSS and R&R gone. Now all that's left is R&R 4.0, which I wouldn't like to "beta-test" on my machine, especially because my x60s shipped with version 3 I think and might have issues with ver. 4. What now?

Just download R&R from the Lenovo website (search on "rescue and recovery."

I don't think the issue of which one you install is all that important (in distinction to some here). Worst case scenario if you install 4 is that at some later point you might have to uninstall R&R and reinstall it.

If you have your machine buffed up to where you like it, and have removed stuff you don't want, now would be a good time to ghost or otherwise (acronis et. al.) image your drive before R&R fills it up with both itself and a backup which will greatly increase the image's size.

Some rely on R&R for their backups; I would not be so sanguine and would use it only for on the road backups when you have no access to physical media or a hard drive on which you have images, for system restoration.

[GomJabbar]

If you have upgraded Rescue and Recovery from the original, you may be a victim of the following:

Symptom

Any machine that has IBM Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore Ultra 1.0 or IBM Rescue and Recovery 2.0 factory preloaded, then installs Rescue and Recovery 3.0, will lose the ability to have Rescue and Recovery installed on the machine after a Restore to Factory contents action is selected when booting from the computer's hard drive.

Rescue and Recovery 3.0 updates the contents of the recovery environment stored on the computer's hard drive. Restoring to Factory contents does not alter the recovery environment and could result in an inconsistent configuration. Therefore, the ability for the factory preload to install IBM Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore Ultra 1.0 or IBM Rescue and Recovery 2.0 after Rescue and Recovery 3.0 has been installed was purposely disabled.

Solution

It is recommended that you create Recovery CDs prior to installing any software. If this is done, Restoring to Factory contents using the Recovery CDs will restore both the recovery environment as well as the preloaded version of Rescue and Recovery into Windows. If the Recovery CDs were not created before installing Rescue and Recovery 3.0, before doing a Restore to Factory Contents you may wish to copy the Rescue and Recovery 3.0 installation files off to external media so you will not have to download from the Web again.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 677#282239

You can attempt to reinstall the original version of Rescue and Recovery. On my T42, it is located in the C:\IBMTOOLS\APPS\IBMRNR directory. On your X60s, you should have a similar directory, although Lenovo may have renamed it. Whether reinstalling the original version of R&R will restore full R&R functionality, I am not sure.

[Ken Fox]

If you have upgraded Rescue and Recovery from the original, you may be a victim of the following:

Symptom

Any machine that has IBM Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore Ultra 1.0 or IBM Rescue and Recovery 2.0 factory preloaded, then installs Rescue and Recovery 3.0, will lose the ability to have Rescue and Recovery installed on the machine after a Restore to Factory contents action is selected when booting from the computer's hard drive.

Rescue and Recovery 3.0 updates the contents of the recovery environment stored on the computer's hard drive. Restoring to Factory contents does not alter the recovery environment and could result in an inconsistent configuration. Therefore, the ability for the factory preload to install IBM Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore Ultra 1.0 or IBM Rescue and Recovery 2.0 after Rescue and Recovery 3.0 has been installed was purposely disabled.

Solution

It is recommended that you create Recovery CDs prior to installing any software. If this is done, Restoring to Factory contents using the Recovery CDs will restore both the recovery environment as well as the preloaded version of Rescue and Recovery into Windows. If the Recovery CDs were not created before installing Rescue and Recovery 3.0, before doing a Restore to Factory Contents you may wish to copy the Rescue and Recovery 3.0 installation files off to external media so you will not have to download from the Web again.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 677#282239

You can attempt to reinstall the original version of Rescue and Recovery. On my T42, it is located in the C:\IBMTOOLS\APPS\IBMRNR directory. On your X60s, you should have a similar directory, although Lenovo may have renamed it. Whether reinstalling the original version of R&R will restore full R&R functionality, I am not sure.

Unless I'm reading this incorrectly, all that Lenovo is saying is that if a different version of R&R is installed (specifically, if it is different than Rapid Restore Ultra 1+2) then the restoration of RRU won't happen during a restore to factory contents? Why would that be any sort of a disaster? A restore to factory contents is something you would do only in a huge disaster where you decided to start over from scratch, or were planning to sell the laptop. In either case one could uninstall whichever version they had on there and reinstall whatever version they wanted.

The "real" solution to this issue in my view is to either have a set of recovery disks which can be made on receiving the laptop, or to ghost or otherwise image the drive before it is used for the first time. Then, if a complete original restoration to factory contents is desired it is a total no brainer.

I'm no fan of R&R in any of its versions and would only use it for an on-the-road attempt at restoration in a situation of a corrupted hard disk without hard disk damage. Nonetheless, I don't see a good reason to avoid using a newer version if the added functionality is appealing, as all the disadvantages of doing so can be avoided with a couple of simple steps when one takes posession of a new laptop, or worst comes to worst, by obtaining a set of recovery disks.

[GomJabbar]

<snip> Why would that be any sort of a disaster? A restore to factory contents is something you would do only in a huge disaster where you decided to start over from scratch, or were planning to sell the laptop. In either case one could uninstall whichever version they had on there and reinstall whatever version they wanted.

The "real" solution to this issue in my view is to either have a set of recovery disks which can be made on receiving the laptop, or to ghost or otherwise image the drive before it is used for the first time. Then, if a complete original restoration to factory contents is desired it is a total no brainer.

Who said it would be a disaster? However having the ability to restore to Factory Contents could be very helpful to a X60 owner on the road without an optical drive in their ThinkPad (and a set of Product Recovery Discs). A machine crippled by a software or driver install gone awry, or by a virus, could be made usable again. This also gives the option to Restore Factory Contents without needing the Product Recovery Disc set. If that restore failed, the Product Recovery Disc set could then be used.

I agree that the Product Recovery Disc set should be made ASAP after receiving a new ThinkPad. Nevertheless, sometimes owner burned Product Recovery Discs do not always work because of damaged or poor quality media. Relying on them soley may not be the most prudent. Cloning is another good option - as you already mentioned. Backup software also has it's place, whether R&R or some other backup program.

[Ken Fox]

Who said it would be a disaster? However having the ability to restore to Factory Contents could be very helpful to a X60 owner on the road without an optical drive in their ThinkPad (and a set of Product Recovery Discs). A machine crippled by a software or driver install gone awry, or by a virus, could be made usable again. This also gives the option to Restore Factory Contents without needing the Product Recovery Disc set. If that restore failed, the Product Recovery Disc set could then be used.

of course you could still restore on the road, you just wouldn't get your original R&R or Ultra program in the restored Windows partition. And, if the machine was at all usable before doing that restore, you could uninstall the newer version and when restoring should get back everything.

My ultra paranoid solution on extended trips, like my twice yearly month-long trips to France, is to take an entire extra hard drive along, inside of a small USB2 box. Onto that drive I put an image of my current drive. The extra space can be used for data storage and file transfers. If the drive in the notebook were to be unsalvageable, I'd simply use the little cheap screwdriver they throw in with such enclosures to swap the drives and hopefully I'd be back up and running in under 10 minutes.

Since 2.5" drive enclosures aren't very big, it isn't really that much of a hardship to carry an extra drive along.

[GomJabbar]

Since 2.5" drive enclosures aren't very big, it isn't really that much of a hardship to carry an extra drive along.

Very true. Due to the extended periods I spend away from my home, I also carry a spare notebook hard drive. I originally purchased it so I could carry a clone of my main hard drive, but currently it has Vista RC1 on it. When RC1 expires in June, I will again put a clone of my main XP hard drive back on it. In the mean time, I can still access the internet with my 860 AirCard using Vista RC1 if need be. My primary need is internet access, not any particular files I have on my XP drive. For peace of mind, I do have a backup of my XP drive on DVD's as well as a working Recovery Partition and Product Recovery Disc set.

FTR, one additional feature of Rescue and Recovery that I have read about is that one can access the internet via an ethernet connection while booted up in Rescue and Recovery. That could be handy for some, although it doesn't do me much good.

[Ken Fox]

Since 2.5" drive enclosures aren't very big, it isn't really that much of a hardship to carry an extra drive along.

Very true.

FTR, one additional feature of Rescue and Recovery that I have read about is that one can access the internet via an ethernet connection while booted up in Rescue and Recovery. That could be handy for some, although it doesn't do me much good.

That's really from the recovery partition, rather than R&R, although I guess they are one in the same in some installations. I have actually used it, about a year ago in France, when my wireless and ethernet drivers got corrupted (I think from a Software Installer Update I stupidly did while away from home).

I was able to boot up into the recovery partition on my X32, downloaded the latest communications drivers, rebooted into XP. Then I uninstalled the communications drivers that were installed and then manually installed the new ones I'd downloaded.

The only downside is that it requires a wired connection, not wireless, as that is not supported. But it worked surprisingly well and allowed me to use my laptop for the remaining 2 weeks of my trip.