CSS and RR questions

[jkbrand]

My X60 has lost some function with respect to CSS and PowerManagement. At bootup I now get CSSAUTH.EXE error, and
when I invoke the Power Manager I now get an error message (illegal operation).

I've decided it might be a good time to update my machine, so I downloaded the updates for BIOS, CSS and R&R, but for the latter two a series of steps are listed that say they must completed.

Among them are: "Copy or move all files from your PrivateDisk volumes, if necessary, or you will lose access to your data."

Can someone explain (1) what constitues a PrivateDisk (is it simply a user-created partition?) and (2) why would the design of either CSS or R&R choose to destroy such data? And, I'm assuming that by requiring the user to backup the data, Lenovo is implying that after the update, such data will then have to be restored, right?

The next step says: "Create bootable recovery media using the ThinkVantage Create Recovery Media utility, if necessary."

How does one determine whether (and how) "if necessary" applies??