Use restore discs on a multiboot system?

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Ragueneau · #1 Post by **Ragueneau** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:07 pm

My T41 has the following partitions-

40gb Windows XP
50gb Linux
30gb Vista

The XP install is hosed. Is there a trick I could use to load the IBM restore media, but not wipe the other installs? Hiding partitions perhaps?

#2 Post by **carbon_unit** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:41 pm

If you run the Restore discs it will wipe the hard drive, remove all partitions, create the hidden partition and install the restore image in there. Then it will reboot and restore the entire hard drive from the restore partition.
If the restore partition is still intact maybe you can setup grub or lilo to boot to it and restore windows that way. That will not bother your custom partitioning. If that fails try this to access the onboard restore. http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-54483
You will have to redo your boot loader after this.
Otherwise save the driver folder and the SWTOOLS folder, go find an XP install cd and re-install XP using the COA on the bottom of your T41.

Ragueneau · #3 Post by **Ragueneau** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:46 pm

I don't have anything onboard/hidden, it's an aftermarket drive that I made fresh with recovery media a few months ago.

I've played with the idea of copying the partitions whole to an external device, however it's a lot of work and I wasn't looking forward to it.

#4 Post by **carbon_unit** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:54 pm

If you used IBM recovery media then there is a hidden recovery partition.

Ragueneau · #5 Post by **Ragueneau** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:29 pm

If there is, then gparted can't see it.

http://linoleumbacon.theexploder.com/gparted.jpeg

Mod Edit: Only post images of 50K and under with a warning in the subject line. Do not post images over 50K, but post a link instead.

#6 Post by **GomJabbar** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:09 pm

Notice on the right that you have 3.15 GB hidden. This is your HPA.

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/HPA

First try pressing F11 at boot and see if that gives you the option to enter Rescue and Recovery.

If the above doesn't work, I believe you can use the Rescue and Recovery Repair diskette, and that should allow you to boot into Rescue and Recovery and restore your system.

Rescue and Recovery - Recovery repair diskette

Ragueneau · #7 Post by **Ragueneau** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:53 pm

GomJabbar- Thanks for catching me on the image, I'll remember from now on.

I think you're misreading my image, though. Of 25gb on hda1 (c: ) I have 3.15gb free. I have hda1 manually set to hidden because I didn't want my experimentation with malware in Vista (hda4) to damage my XP partition. Selecting XP in grub unhides hda1, while selecting Vista hides it. My partitions as I have them:

hda1- ntfs, XP
hda2- swap, linux
hda3- ext3- linux
hda4- ntfs, Vista

If I had a hidden partition it would be of type FAT32 (if I'm not mistaken) and live at the beginning of the disk at hda1.

In any event I just tested F11 to be perfectly sure, and it only gives me options to resume normal startup (esc) go to the bios (f1) and choose a boot device (f12). No HPA here.

#8 Post by **GomJabbar** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 1:06 am

Ragueneau wrote:If I had a hidden partition it would be of type FAT32 (if I'm not mistaken) and live at the beginning of the disk at hda1.

The T41 had HPA not a FAT32 service partition.

See following PDF.
IBM Rescue and Recovery Deployment GuideVersion 2.0

Use restore discs on a multiboot system?

Use restore discs on a multiboot system?

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