Do Updates Change Restore Files?

[rschauby]

Hello,

I was just wondering if all the thinkvantage driver and software updates affect the information on the hidden partition? In other words, is the restore to factory default updated with new drivers and updates or does it truly return the laptop to it's factory release with out of date drivers and software.

[jjesusfreak01]

Hello,

I was just wondering if all the thinkvantage driver and software updates affect the information on the hidden partition? In other words, is the restore to factory default updated with new drivers and updates or does it truly return the laptop to it's factory release with out of date drivers and software.

It restores it to the base configuration with out of date software. Most of the Thinkvantage stuff updates cumulatively, so you will only have to update each program once.

[GomJabbar]

AFAIK, only an update of Rescue and Recovery will change anything in the hidden partition. If you update Rescue and Recovery, then restore Factory Contents, you will not be able to boot into Rescue and Recovery again (the hidden partition) unless you reinstall Rescue and Recovery.

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.