how to create recovery dvd using Rescue and Recovery 4 ?

[amardeep]

Hi,

I have a T61p with Vista Ultimate and want to create a backup of Vista before I replace it with XP Pro (since this is what we must use at work).

The instructions here

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 68317.html

say that you'll need 1 CD and 1 DVD, or 8 CD's so I thought I'd go the DVD route. There weren't any options that I could see to say I wanted to use a DVD, so for the first disc I inserted the CD-R, and then for the next disc I used the DVD-R. It then prompted for another disc (I think it actually said something like "insert disc 1" ?), and I was stuck as I didn't have any more media handy. I cancelled the operation (so hopefully it'll let me have another go), but I'm not sure how to persuade it to work. I guess I could give up and use CD-R's, but does anyone know if there is something I've done wrong in this process ?

By the way I have Rescue and Recovery 4.00.0117.00, and by looking at the DVD it seems to have had very little written to it, about a 5mm-wide ring.

Thanks !

[ryengineer]

If I remember correctly it prompts you to "label it disk 1".

However if it asked you to insert 3rd disk then most likely the size of hidden service partition on your machine is quite large. If you would like to create another set for Windows Vista (which you should) then you would need to go back to out of the box factory settings again by pressing the Blue Thinkvantage button during the boot. Please be sure to make a backup for your important data beforehand as this process will wipe out your HDD (except the backups made through Rescue and Recovery).

[amardeep]

I'm not sure exactly what it said but from memory it seemed to write to the dvd, then eject the dvd and then ask for disc 1 which would be the dvd it just ejected ... which it then complained about when I stuck it back in, as it wasn't blank (I think).

There doesn't seem to be much written to the dvd. Sticking it in the computer and right-clicking properties on it gives 0 bytes used, 0 bytes free, so I don't know what happened there. Perhaps it just didn't like the dvd.

Is there any particular process to use a dvd, or are you just supposed to do what I did, and stick the disc in after having used a cd for the first (startup recovery) disc ?

I'm guessing that I'll be allowed to go through the process again, as I cancelled out from the procedure before completion, but the tip about the Thinkvantage button will be useful if it doesn't.

There's no user data to lose, as the machine is new and has been unused whilst I was waiting for XP recovery cd's to arrive (seemed the easiest way to get a good XP install).

[ryengineer]

I'm not sure exactly what it said but from memory it seemed to write to the dvd, then eject the dvd and then ask for disc 1 which would be the dvd it just ejected ... which it then complained about when I stuck it back in, as it wasn't blank (I think).......snip

After burning a CD-R and DVD-R, if it asks you to insert another disk then you would need to insert a disk other than the one(s) that it just burned.

snip.......Is there any particular process to use a dvd, or are you just supposed to do what I did..........snip

The process determines the type of media you're about to use once the disk is inserted.

[amardeep]

I bought some Sony DVD+RW discs today and used them throughout the process, which proceeded without problem (and it let me create the recovery discs without any problem, so it realised I had cancelled out before completion previously).

I put the drive and discs in my T40 and used RecordNow to take a copy of the iso's, just to be safe and have another copy. In case anyone's interested, the sizes are :

4,679,948,288 T61p-8889-VistaUltimate-Recovery1.iso
1,253,894,144 T61p-8889-VistaUltimate-Recovery2.iso
235,909,120 T61p-8889-VistaUltimate-RecoveryStart.iso

so yes, three discs, and Rescue and Recovery 4 will happily use a DVD+RW even for the first disc.

I guess it'll restore from DVD too, but haven't tried it, and I guess the iso's are bit for bit and so can be used to create a fresh set if ever needed, but obviously haven't tried either of these things out.

Oh, thanks for your advice ryengineer.