Does Restoring With Factory Recovery Discs Wipe Hard Drive F

[itzcoolz]

I just sold a used laptop of mine, and I am going to restoring it back to its original configuration using the recovery discs (i fiddled around with linux at one point, so the master boot record is all jacked up to try and just the RnR partition alone without the discs).

will this shred all the files so that they can't be recovered by the buyer? Or will i have to go through the extra step of shredding the files?

Thanks!

[Marin85]

AFAIK, the factory recovery disks will only "prepare" (i.e. format) the hard drive in order to install the Lenovo image on it. If you have privacy concerns, I think you should take the extra step of wiping out the drive content. You might find this thread helpful.

Marin

[GomJabbar]

For all intents and purposes, yes they will completely wipe the hard drive. Perhaps a data recovery service could still recover some files, but a user would not be able to.

[syrenab]

GomJabbar

That is incorrect - R&R disk ONLY reformats Drive C, data on other drives (partitions) remains untouched

[GomJabbar]

GomJabbar

That is incorrect - R&R disk ONLY reformats Drive C, data on other drives (partitions) remains untouched

Nope. The Product Recovery Discs remove all existing partitions on the main hard drive. On the other hand, if you Restore Factory Contents from the hard drive, only C gets reformatted.

You use Product Recovery CDs to restore the contents of the hard disk to its original factory state. Product Recovery CDs are useful if you transfer the computer to another area, sell the computer, recycle the computer, or as a last resort put the computer in an operational state after all other methods of recovery have failed.

To create a set of Product Recovery CDs, you must have a CD or DVD drive capable of recording on writable CD media.

* Attention: Your Microsoft(R) Windows(R) license permits you to create only one set of Product Recovery CDs, so it is important that you store the CDs in a safe place after you make them.

When you use the Product Recovery CDs, all data and partitions on your hard disk are deleted. The end result will be a single C: partition containing the original factory contents.

To use your Product Recovery CDs, do the following:

1. Insert your Rescue and Recovery disc into the CD or DVD drive.
2. Restart your computer.
3. After a short delay, the IBM(R) Rescue and Recovery(TM) workspace opens.
4. In the Rescue and Recovery menu, click Restore factory contents.
5. Follow the instructions on the screen.

* Note: If the Rescue and Recovery workspace fails to open, you might not have your startup device (CD drive, DVD drive, or USB device) set correctly in your BIOS startup sequence. Refer to the documentation that came with your computer for information about gaining access to the BIOS configuration utility.

Restore factory contents: This recovery method reformats the primary partition of your hard disk (drive C); then, reinstalls your operating system, device drivers, and factory-installed software. The hard disk is restored to the same state as when the computer was originally manufactured. For instructions on restoring the factory contents, see Using the Restore factory contents method.

In general, use the Restore factory contents method as a last resort after all other recovery methods and methods of repairing the operating system have been exhausted. When you use the Restore factory contents method, all information stored on the primary partition (drive C) is deleted by the format operation before the operating system and other software is reinstalled. Personal settings, files that you created, and software that you installed since you purchased your computer will be lost.

The recovery tools are on a separate area of the hard disk from the operating system and run independently of the operating system. In case of a hard-disk failure or if the recovery tools are accidentally deleted from the hard disk or become damaged, you can order a Product Recovery CD from IBM on an emergency basis and recover the factory contents from the Product Recovery CD. For instructions on restoring the factory contents from the Product Recovery CD, see Using the Product Recovery CD.

Note: blue links in quote above are for Access Help. They are not a web URL.

[Marin85]

My experience with Product Recovery Discs from Lenovo is that they in fact remove all partitions and then create their own (the OS partition and the hidden one).

[syrenab]

Just 3 weeks ago I used T40 R&R disk set (7 Cds in all). It successfully restored the original factory set of Win XP Pro and all the Thinkpad functions. Data on partitions D, E and F remained untouched

[GomJabbar]

Just 3 weeks ago I used T40 R&R disk set (7 Cds in all). It successfully restored the original factory set of Win XP Pro and all the Thinkpad functions. Data on partitions D, E and F remained untouched

If that is true, then those partitions were probably created with a non-microsoft product, such as GPartEd or Linux fdisk.

EDIT: or by using Win98 fdisk.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-58385

[syrenab]

Yes, the partitions were created with Partition Magic.
Bill

[Marin85]

Just for the record, in the times I was still using XP on my ThinkPad I had a second partition for data, pics, music etc. that I had created using Acronis Disk Director 10. After subsequent use of the Vista recovery DVDs, both XP and data partitions were gone.

[PiZzA EnGiNeEr]

If you want to be safe I'd go into the BIOS, disable the recovery partition and then run DBAN or a similar utility. Then go back into the BIOS, enable the recovery partition and then run through all the IBM recovery disks. This will put the recovery partition back, reset the MBR and reinstall all the factory software again.