how do I upgrade to windows7 still keeping the recovery?

[rbi]

I would like to buy a windows 7 professional upgrade and install it in my R61 with windows vista business 32 bit preinstalled. How can I do that still keeping the hidden partition with the recovery function? Many thanks.

[sinanju009]

You will not be able to, from the info published.

Only the Win 7 recovery media from Lenovo will create/update the recovery partition. If you purchase Win 7 and do an upgrade or a clean install, your recovery partition will *still* be there, but it will be the old one, not a Win 7 distro.

Was waiting for Lenovo to release Recovery media for my T61p, but it seems only recent gear will get it.

Thanks,

Michel

[diaz1023]

Is there a way to get rid of that space and use it as part of the primary drive? i am planning on doing this with a 500GB drive and want to use the whole drive, at least what is available, and i don't want to have those 5-7 GB unavailable. TIA

[Harryc]

Go into the security tab in BIOS and disable the predesktop area. You will then be able to recover the space with conventional tools.

[diaz1023]

Hi Harry,

I went into the Security section of the BIOS and did not find anything that let me disable the predesktop area. i remember seeing this on a T40 or was it a T30, but have not been able to do this with the T61p i currently have. TIA

[Harryc]

If the option is not there then the R&R partition is not protectred. Use any partitioning tool to recover the space. Gparted is recommended.

[tpribors]

I wish Lenovo would have offered a pre-packaged install CD with Win7 and all the value-added applications (like WinDVD and the Sonic software) installed and set up so that a restore partition could have been created. They should have done this for those systems that they claim are Win7 compatible. In my case, these are T60p and T61p. I would have paid the Win7 upgrade price for this (although I got a smokin deal on the upgrade from Newegg).

Windows 7 installs from start to finish in about 15 minutes whereas my XP restore from the partition took the better part of two hours, but that is the way the unpacking merge of Windows and Thinkpad stuff is performed. That could be speeded up too.

[rbi]

You will not be able to, from the info published.

Only the Win 7 recovery media from Lenovo will create/update the recovery partition. If you purchase Win 7 and do an upgrade or a clean install, your recovery partition will *still* be there, but it will be the old one, not a Win 7 distro.

Was waiting for Lenovo to release Recovery media for my T61p, but it seems only recent gear will get it.

Thanks,

Michel

Thanks Michel. What if I purchased the Windows 7 upgrade media from Lenovo http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/windows7/? You mean after I upgrade to win 7, if I press the button of R & R, the system will be recovered to the old one Windows Vista not the new one? If that's the case, how can I make the recover partition to Windows 7 upgrade version? Ta

[mgo]

I would like to buy a windows 7 professional upgrade and install it in my R61 with windows vista business 32 bit preinstalled. How can I do that still keeping the hidden partition with the recovery function? Many thanks.

Since hard drive prices are so low these days, why not just pull out your existing drive and install Windows 7 on a brand new one?

Of course, copy your personal files to another external USB drive first, and also copy the the C:\Windows\DriverStore folder over to the USB drive. It might come in handy if your new Windows 7 install does not find certain drivers. Those Vista drivers usually work fine in Windows 7.

[GomJabbar]

What if I purchased the Windows 7 upgrade media from Lenovo http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/windows7/? You mean after I upgrade to win 7, if I press the button of R & R, the system will be recovered to the old one Windows Vista not the new one?

After you upgrade to Windows 7, you cannot recover the system by pressing the R&R button. You 'might' be able to recover it if you boot the Rescue Media CD to boot into R&R. At any rate, what would be restored would be the original OS (Vista) and software.

[rbi]

After you upgrade to Windows 7, you cannot recover the system by pressing the R&R button. You 'might' be able to recover it if you boot the Rescue Media CD to boot into R&R. At any rate, what would be restored would be the original OS (Vista) and software.[/quote]

Thanks GomJabbar. So that means any time if I would like to restore the system, I would just press the R & R button to recover to Vista and do a upgrade to Windows 7 after that (believe this process won't take long). Can I do this silly way?

[GrandMasterKhan]

If you are so concerned about keeping the orginal image and R&R operational consider dual booting. Can shrink the current Vista parition to a working size, then install Windows 7 under a dual boot setup. Works flawlessly and allows retention without having to do a lot extra other than creating a new parition and resizing.