Rescue & Recov trouble, related to TVant SystemUpdate3?

[TP4me]

We are overseas in an area without good tech suport.... I urgently need help with an HD swap in my wife's T40. The new Hitachi TravelStar has arrived but we have problems with ThinkVantage R & R, v3.02.0007

We purchased the T40 used last year, with an external USB drive. Unfortunately, regular backups were not made in the past few months, but the seller had provided the unit clean and with one backup on that external drive. This is what I'd like to start with on the new HD.

Both from the R&R CD provided by the seller and from F12, booting into the recovery console, the program finds the USB but no backups. Folders visible by exploring include (but are not limited to):

\RRBackups\C\0 through 5, and
\preboot with it's many subfolders


Probably a dumb move, considering the condition of the drive and the overall situation, but I thought a System Update would be a good idea. (AFTER the fact I've seen the complaints re SU 3...) ThinkVantage updated but three components failed to install. The Update screen is still open and I'm not sure what to do... the failed components are:

RR Critical Patch for Windows Update (KB917422) v1.00.0005
ThinkVantage System Update Hotfix 1 v1.0
ThinkPad Hotkey Features Setup v1.31.0610

I'm afraid to reboot, don't know what to do from here, will appreciate your replies.
Thanks!

I forgot to mention: Software Installer seems to still be resident on the computer....

[ryengineer]

If available, you can install the packages manually:

Drivers and software - ThinkPad T40, T40p, T41, T41p

The packages will unpack in C:\DRIVERS\...... folder and you would need to go there to install it.

I haven't looked up but I do believe Software Installer and System Update running on a same machine will have some sort of conflict though.

[TP4me]

Thanks for the reply, but I did not find anything at the link you gave which seems pertinent to the situation. (I readily admit that my computer knowledge is quite

As mentioned before, the computer was left (hibernated) with SystemUpdate window still open. When I brought it out of hibernation, the Explorer function worked and I pulled some data files I needed. but then the computer got VERY sluggish. System Manager indicated 100% CPU usage! After 2 hrs it was still like that. I eventually forced a shutdown with the power button.

Now things are a little different: R&R actually sees the backups on the external USB drive, both form the onboard version of R&R, and from the disk sent with the unit!

Hurrah! me thot. But alas... I stuck the new HD in and booted from the recovery disk. Ugh It does not find the files. I've tried this several different ways, even created a new Recovery Startup disk off the ailing HD, and got a msg that the creation was successful. I can see the files by going through the Programs menu to R&R, or via the Access button, or via F12 at boot, or via CD. IF and only IF the old HD is in place. But to boot from Recovery CD does not find the backups on the USB drive (it does seem to see the drive).

I do have access to a second USB, 3rd party drive caddy. Can I hook up the backup disk to one port, the new HD to another, then boot from either the bad HD (or the disk but with bad HD in place) , and restore in that way?

[ryengineer]

Sorry I am unable to understand what you're trying to do. All I understood so far (if correctly) is you've an old failing drive from which you're trying to copy backups to a new drive while booting through Recovery CD? and Thinkvantage System update also fails to install some packages on the old drive?

If you're trying to restore Windows and other applications from a backup then consider the following constraint:

Note: Windows operating system and application restore is not possible from a CD/DVD backup.

[semiclue]

If you're trying to restore Windows and other applications from a backup then consider the following constraint:

Note: Windows operating system and application restore is not possible from a CD/DVD backup.

I was a bit lost as to what the OP meant as well, but as far as the quote directly above, I must be misinterpreting something..? Because I have successfully restored ('transferred') an image of the entire OS, apps, data etc. to a new HDD from a set of RnR backup discs (1 CD + 2 DVDs), made on the HDD I was replacing. I know that's a common operation to perform with various imaging apps so I must be misreading...