Reclaim Rapid Restore backup partition

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The Gi · #1 Post by **The Gi** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 4:53 am

I previously installed Rapid Restore PC and backed up a base image of my thinkpad. Unfortunately this took up about 17 GB of space. I recently uninstalled Rapid Restore PC in order to reclaim this space for my windows partition or in case I decide to do a dual boot of Ubuntu. After that, this mysterious IBM_SERVICE drive appeared in My Computer as drive E. There are some residue files in here that I don't know what to do with. I'm not sure if I can delete them or if I need to save them and rehide this partition.

What I want to know is:
1. Can I delete these files?
2. Do I need to rehide the partition?
3. How do I resize my window ntfs partition without corrupting my ability to use rapid restore? (I hear Partition Magic corrupts this feature) I would like to shrink the windows partition to about 15 GB and create a FAT32 partition for my data (music/documents) so that I can access them from both windows and linux.

I do not have any recovery disks so I would like to take a safe approach in case I nuke my hard drive and loose my recovery ability.

#2 Post by **ryengineer** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 4:42 pm

Uninstalling Rapid Restore PC was not the solution for regaining 17 GB of space, removing the backup was. IBM used to (still do) provide a tool to remove backups and so there is an option in the Rapid Restore to remove them.

If I'm not wrong then IBM_Service is either your:

1. Service partition (chances are slim, but is a possibility)

2. One of the backup image you created.

To be on a safe side, go to BIOS and set the security for predesktop area as "Secure". If it disappears afterwards then it is service partition (you can go back again and change it to normal too) but if it stays there then it's the backup image you created.

I have used IBM Rapid Restore on my Thinkpad X31 previously and also ended up creating a backup partition named e:\IBM_Service, the way I worked it out was through Symantec Gdisk utility with Norton ghost to remove and rehide it and then via partition manager resized HDD.

P.S. You reminded me of the Wizard of Menlo Park, NJ.

The Gi · #3 Post by **The Gi** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 10:45 am

So I after changing the predesktop area to secure, the partition didn't disappear at first. After a couple reboots and trying to run Restore Backup from the predesktop area (which didn't work since it couldn't find Rapid Restore probably) the service partition disappeared. So now I can't use Rapid Restore anymore, which isn't so bad. It will just take about 2 hours if I ever want to reinstall Windows and get my computer fresh and clean.

At this point I guess I am just going to try to resize the service partition and move it to the end of the disk. I hope I retain the ability to restore to factory contents. Do you or anyone else have any better suggestions. (I want to get back the 17 GB of space I previously used in a Rapid Restore PC backup.)

If that doesn't work, I am thinking I will just nuke the hard drive and install Linux and possibly order the restore disks from IBM.

#4 Post by **ryengineer** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 7:09 am

The Gi wrote:snip....Do you or anyone else have any better suggestions. (I want to get back the 17 GB of space I previously used in a Rapid Restore PC backup.)....snip

The procedure I explained above with Gdisk is for regaining the space.

I am not sure but would you to reinstall rapid restore again whether it will recognize the 17GB of backed up image or not.

Following is a tool IBM offered to delete backups.

IBM Rescue and Recovery Tools

There should've also been an option in IBM Rapid Restore to delete all backups.

istel · #5 Post by **istel** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 4:39 am

Hi all,

Just to check, has anyone of you tried to create a copy of your Product Recovery 4.1 CDs with Isobuster to keep it on your hdd?

I've tried to create a set of .iso images(RAW) from the Recovery CDs that I've burnt but it seems that Isobuster kept running into bad sectors at around 94% or 95% of the process...

Is there a problem with my Recovery Discs or there's some encryption on the Recovery Discs?

istel · #6 Post by **istel** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 6:46 pm

no one with the same issue?

#7 Post by **ryengineer** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:02 pm

istel wrote:no one with the same issue?

Maybe no one tries to keep a copy of Product Recovery disks on their hdd which can get infected with viruses or get corrupted or malfunction easily; all resulting in data loss.

istel · #8 Post by **istel** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:00 am

Hmm... Still, it'll be good to have a backup on another external hdd in case your optical discs go to the dogs? It appears DVDs and CDs flake very often in my country's humid climate, effectively reducing their lifespan by half... Guess you guys don't have that issue for your side...

Well... cheers

Reclaim Rapid Restore backup partition

Reclaim Rapid Restore backup partition

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