T40, cloned HDD, lost IBM predesktop area

[Utwig]

This T40 2373-22G had bad sectors, so we ordered replacement drive from Lenovo (80GB instead of 40GB).

Since data is important I managed to clone the drive using Knoppix and dd_rescue (dded entire drive - dd_rescue /dev/hdg /dev/hde), since with Norton Ghost I ended with unbootable drive. There were only 768k unreadable on 40GB (36 actually) drive and Windows boots and works fine.

The problem is that now I lost IBM predesktop area, if I boot from the old drive I can still get into it with button, with new cloned drive I only get into BIOS boot menu.

How could I go about restoring IBM preebot area?

[yak]

AFAIK you have to *Disable* predesktop area in BIOS before cloning. This is because disabling it makes the part of the drive it is stored in visible to the operating system so cloning software can move it to the new drive. After you get the new drive in, enable it again.

[richk]

What I do is disable predesktop area, then use a partitioning program (I use Paragon Partition Manager) to create a FAT32 partition in the newly visible space. DO NOT FORMAT. Then I clone the disk, and then use the same partitioning program to delete the FAT32 partition, making "empty" space. Put the drive in, and change predesktop area to "Normal" in the BIOS.