problem installing OS & software on new hard drive

[Kylan]

SHORT STORY:
I can't get my new hard drive to work. :-/

LONG STORY... WRITTEN IN HOPES YOU CAN HELP ME FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO:
I just got my new T400 and 300GB x 7200RPM Seagate. It took almost two months because I wanted and LED monitor and because it had to bounce to an extra continent before a friend could bring it to me in Africa.

Excited I fired it up, eager to transfer everything to my new hard drive. I right-clicked the Q drive and followed directions to make backup discs until the point that Vista had an error as it tried to unzip stuff. It had made ONE disk, though, so I thought I was okay.

Then I plugged in the new hard drive and tried to boot off the disc. It didn't work. So... I tried again to burn stuff from Q onto discs. This time it created 3 discs:

1) Start Recovery Disc
2) Product Recovery Disc 1
3) Product Recovery Disc 2

Once again I tried to boot. The first disc seemed to do it's job, then said:

"If you have a set of Operating System Recovery Discs, please insert Disk 1 into Drive D: now and press Yes, otherwise press No."

I put in Product Recovery Disc 1. It didn't work. I tried all my other discs but they didn't work either.

I tried burning all the discs again... same problems.

Help, please! What do I need to do? I'm sure eager to use this computer I've waited months for.

[lew2]

The first disc seemed to do it's job, then said:

"If you have a set of Operating System Recovery Discs, please insert Disk 1 into Drive D: now and press Yes, otherwise press No."

I put in Product Recovery Disc 1. It didn't work. I tried all my other discs but they didn't work either.

Press "No". They're really referring to something else when they say Operating System Recovery Discs.

That's per my memory from when I tested my recovery set on a blank drive; it's very non-intuitive how they ask the question.

[archer6]

SHORT STORY:Help, please! What do I need to do? I'm sure eager to use this computer I've waited months for.

You need to call Lenovo and order a set of recovery discs. The ones that you burned are faulty. I've encountered this once before.

Cheers...

[Kylan]

For a guy who is in Africa (me) that's going to mean it'll be several more weeks until I can use the computer I've already waited two months to get.

If it's legal (why wouldn't it be--I don't know?) would someone w/ a fast internet connection and a T400 please consider uploading some iso files and sending me a link? Please... please... please!

Thanks!

[Dead1nside]

You need to call Lenovo and order a set of recovery discs. The ones that you burned are faulty. I've encountered this once before.

Cheers...

I don't suppose you know roughly how much they cost do you?

[dsvochak]

I'm a little confused about the original post. Does the OP have 2 hard drives: the original that came with the machine and the 300g Seagate? If so, does the original drive still boot?

[Kylan]

Yes, I have two hard drives (the small original and the large Seagate). The original does indeed still boot.

For what it's worth I've even got the ultrabay adapter... so perhaps I could clone the drive, or something, though it appears that some of my slick software like Partition Magic doesn't work for 64 bit.

Recommendations?

[dsvochak]

Since the new drive is a Seagate you might try DiscWizard to clone:
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?l ... 04090aRCRD

It might also be possible to create a disk image of the old drive on the new drive, copy it to the old drive and then restore it to the new drive. If you do that you would likely have to expand the partition on the new drive (Control Panel-->Administrative Tools-->Computer Management-->Disk Management)

[LambertJohn]

You claim you can't use the computer for several more weeks if you order disks from Lenovo. Why can't you? Since the original hard drive still works, why not just use that until you can receive some disks from Lenovo? That's what I did. When they arrived, I installed my Western Digital 7200rpm drive and formatted it with the disks Lenovo sent me. Easy as pie in the sky slap my thigh. Problem solved.