Rescue and Recovery: How Thorough?

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uberT · #1 Post by **uberT** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 7:56 am

Subject machine: R60e (a couple of months old).

I'm having a couple of problems with toolbars disappearing, desktop icons scattered across the desktop following a re-boot, and Win Media Player ceased to function following an "upgrade" attempt. System Restore is also missing all restore data except for current day

This is a new machine and there's very little on it so I thought I'd take a shot at Rescue and Recovery, which I've never used before. There are only a few things I'll have to re-install that aren't part of the OE package.

When using R&R, does it completely dump the old registry and create a new version? I don't want to go through this and find vestiges of the current problems. (I've spent a number of hours reading documentation on these specific issues and haven't had any success in correcting...it's time to take the next step, IMO.)

Thanks.

#2 Post by **GomJabbar** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 8:17 am

Rescue and Recovery has a couple of basic recovery functions.

Backup and Restore of of your hard drive is the first one. It wil restore whatever backup you have available (which you have stored on your internal hard drive, external hard drive, network drive, CD's, or DVD's), but generally the version of R&R to do the restore must be the same version as what made the backup.

Restore Factory Contents is the second one. This will delete all existing data on your C: drive and replace it with what originally came on the factory install.

You can also Restore Factory Contents using the Product Recovery Discs. These will erase all partitions C:, D:, whatever, and bring your hard drive to the original factory state.

Either Restore Factory Contents method does not use anything from your existing Windows install. No need to worry about a corrupt registry or virus infection. Everything is installed from a hidden partition on your hard drive.

uberT · #3 Post by **uberT** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 8:48 am

Gom, thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm definitely looking at the 2nd option for this project. I don't have any CDs for this machine so I'll have to restore from the partition. It's still in place and appears to be functional - - I checked it last night.

Approximately how long does it take to work its magic and run through the process?

GomJabbar wrote:
Restore Factory Contents is the second one. This will delete all existing data on your C: drive and replace it with what originally came on the factory install.

Either Restore Factory Contents method does not use anything from your existing Windows install. No need to worry about a corrupt registry or virus infection. Everything is installed from a hidden partition on your hard drive.

#4 Post by **GomJabbar** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:12 am

I think you should be able to make a set of Product Recovery Discs yourself. Most people use a CD/R for the first disc, and DVD/R for the second (and possibly third) disc. I say 'think', because I am not entirely sure the latest models come with this feature. I know that virtually all the previous ThinkPads did for the past two or three years.

Go to: Start > All Programs > ThinkVantage > Create Recovery Media, then click on radio button: "Create a set of Product Recovery discs now", and finally click on OK. You can also create the Rescue Media from this screen. The Rescue Media CD is for booting into Rescue and Recovery if your hard disc won't boot. The idea is that you can restore a backup or hopefullyrescue files from an unbootable hard drive.

EDIT: I forgot to answer your question. It has been awhile since I did this, but I believe it takes an hour or two at least.

uberT · #5 Post by **uberT** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:49 am

I've got quite a few hours into this already. I think I'd better keep it simple. I like the idea of just pushing the button on R&R and returning to a fresh machine a few hours later. That has high appeal factor right now...

Thx.

#6 Post by **GomJabbar** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 10:42 am

As long as you have the option, you should ALWAYS burn a set of Product Recovery Discs ASAP, and keep them safely stored. If your hard drive ever fails, these discs are what will get you going again. Many of us have experienced hard drive failure over the years. I know I have.

uberT · #7 Post by **uberT** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 10:53 am

OK, will do for the T43 and the R60.

i've got the bootable CDs for my T30.

Thx.

uberT · #8 Post by **uberT** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:51 am

I've got the discs created for the R60e and it spanned 7 CDs

Not sure what I created. Is it a backup of the entire system with its various problems?? I thought it would create just 2 discs.

There's something else going on with this machine. I checked System Restore last night and there were about 4 days worth of data points. I checked again this morning and all the data points are gone excepet for one created today. Time to re-format.

I attempted to create the recovery discs for the T43. The system suggests it's done thru ACCESS IBM. All the directions (detailed) are contained there, but the link that's supposed to start the process doesn't appear. I need to establish what's missing from this system...

thx.

#9 Post by **ryengineer** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:33 am

uberT wrote:I've got the discs created for the R60e and it spanned 7 CDs Not sure what I created. Is it a backup of the entire system with its various problems?? I thought it would create just 2 discs....snip

That's very normal, please refer to the following FAQ:

FAQ "How to use Recovery CD Disc Set".

uberT wrote:snip.......but the link that's supposed to start the process doesn't appear. I need to establish what's missing from this system...

It means, a set has already been created. I believe if you do a factory restore once again the option will reappear again as well.

Could be worth mentioning, in the following circumstances one is unable to create Product Recovery disks:

You are not able to create the Recovery Discs in your current windows system in the following situations.
- Created one set of recovery discs already.
- Partitioned the hard drive.
- Deleted the original system recovery hidden partition.

uberT · #10 Post by **uberT** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:46 am

Thanks for the comments. If the R60e is currently suffering from registry problems, will the problems be on the discs I just created?

Should I re-do the discs after I re-format the machine?

ryengineer wrote:
It means, a set has already been created. I believe if you do a factory restore once again the option will reappear again as well.

Could be worth mentioning, in the following circumstances one is unable to create Product Recovery disks:

You are not able to create the Recovery Discs in your current windows system in the following situations.
- Created one set of recovery discs already.
- Partitioned the hard drive.
- Deleted the original system recovery hidden partition.

The T43 is in its original form as delivered by the VAR. I don't recall seeing any discs provided with this machine. I'm certain I've never created any discs for it. None of the conditions quoted above would pertain to the machine (that I know of).

#11 Post by **ryengineer** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:01 am

uberT wrote:Thanks for the comments. If the R60e is currently suffering from registry problems, will the problems be on the discs I just created?.......snip

No, the data copied onto your media is an image from the hidden partition and not the copy of your suffering Windows.

uberT wrote:snip.....The T43 is in its original form as delivered by the VAR. I don't recall seeing any discs provided with this machine. I'm certain I've never created any discs for it. None of the conditions quoted above would pertain to the machine (that I know of).

You can ask your VAR about it, make sure the hidden partition still exists on your machine.

Right Click on My Computer > Manage > Disk Management

There should be a partition named "Service" (not limited to) taking around 4-6GB of space.

uberT · #12 Post by **uberT** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 2:00 pm

ryengineer wrote:
No, the data copied onto your media is an image from the hidden partition and not the copy of your suffering Windows.

Most excellent, thanks. Been worrying about that.

You can ask your VAR about it, make sure the hidden partition still exists on your machine.

Right Click on My Computer > Manage > Disk Management

There should be a partition named "Service" (not limited to) taking around 4-6GB of space.

I suspect the partition is intact. Whenever I look at "properties" it shows I have 34MB of space on the hard drive. I'll double-check via your technique.

Thx.

uberT · #13 Post by **uberT** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:46 pm

Guys, thanks for the support. The process went exceedingly well and the machine literally runs better than ever.

The initial step of the process (retrieving data from the partition) took 11 minutes. The rebuilding of the operating system lasted about an hour and 15 mins. Not too bad! I've got the critical stuff restored and it looks great. I've permitted most of the IBM and MS updates to take place. There must have been 80 or 90 of them in total. It's crazy how much stuff I had to download.

I wish I had the mental strength to do this on my 5yr old T30 to purge the registry and get my speed back, but it would take several days to accomplish...I've done it before.

Rescue and Recovery: How Thorough?

Rescue and Recovery: How Thorough?

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