Virgil22, this hidden partition is configured so that in Vista you can't deal with it in any way but looking at it. Many people used PartedMagic bootable CD to make all changes they wanted in partitions order. I'm sure that will help, as janicej suggested.
I am a very satisfied Lenovo y710 customer, and I find the original NOVO partitioning scheme to be dead-on useful. I would like to commend Lenovo for their original effort, and I reluctantly commend Lenovo for attempting to make happy those /unhappy/ with the original partitioning scheme. A tremendous amount of time is spent objecting to something different instead of learning something useful to use later in life. Partitions have been around for as long as there has been storage. Partitions are useful, they are part of Windows and OSX and Linux, and a cleverly partitioned drive can serve you well.
Keeping data on the D: drive so you can nuke and pave the C: drive has always made incredible sense to me. I understand why Lenovo chose to make the recoverable partition smaller than the extent of the entire hard disk.
A previous poster stated that Windows "wants" to store everything on C: and that is not technically correct. Windows NT/2000/XP will run all day long in t:\windows or w:\windows because the OS looks to the %systemdrive% variable, not a fixed drive letter. I have been running Windows since NT on drive letter D: in D:\windows, and only a single application (out of thousands of different apps installed) ever complained because the developer had hard-coded "C:" into the compiled Win32 app. Every other application successfully resolved %systemroot% and installed program files in %systemdrive%\Program Files and looked to %systemroot% for \Windows.
Now, with Vista, MS has created a bootloader that permits you to multi-boot Vista versions so that each partition booted becomes the C: drive, I suspect that is to cater to the masses who think that C: is /always/ supposed to be a "home" of sorts.
MS tried to do away with drive letters in Window 2000 with labelled paths, and yet the C: icon persist in the public mindset.
Fossicker -- for a "knowledgeable", computer savvy person, you sure aren't using good logic. I wish you luck with your "D" installed programs when your "C" drive crashes and the old programs from the recovery image get reinstalled upon it. You are so funny, I can't resist laughing. You are also forgetting the room needed for computing when the RAM is full up. Oh, I see, just locate the space on the "D" drive, right? Why don't we redesign the whole thing while we are at it? The little hard drive is not very useful for much of anything, IMO. If I want to recover my working drive, I have backups to use -- why would I want any other? This one-step feature might satisfy the lazy among us and those who want to use the computer for little else than watching movies and writing letters. It won't stand the test of more complex operations and programs. Glad you are happy with the original idea, most of the rest of us are not.
I found your post interesting. Part of It is technically over my head, especially the part about root drives. I'm glad that you are happy with the way your computer operates.
I also agree that the basic premise of keeping the OS separate from the apps and data is a good one, and that being able to restore the OS after a crash with minimal loss data is a good thing. My problem is with the execution and lack of foresight that went into the roll out of these units.
I have a Y510, and it came out of the box with Vista and the usual basic applications and trial software all loaded on the C: drive. If the concept was to keep Vista separate, why would they install all the other applications and default the saving of data to C:? Why would they create a default filepath for storing data to My Documents or some other place on the C: drive? Why did they not install the other apps into D: and create the default data storage to D:?
To have to go in and manipulate this set up on a new computer may not be difficult for an advanced user such as yourself, but surely you can see why it could be an issue, and a frustrating one at that, to anyone who is not comfortable in the system setup and configuration, much less the registry. In it's present setup, this computer should have come with a warning that it is for advanced users only.
Actually, opinions aside, when you sell a product to be used for work and productivity, it should not require the manipulation and changes that this group of Lenovo products demands.
I did receive 3 CD's from Lenovo support yesterday that were supposed to allow me to reinstall Vista and the apps the computer came with, along with some drivers. There was not one word of instruction, which disk to use first, the steps necessary to take first, or anything else. ]
So, here we go again. Should I flip a coin to decide what disc goes first? Probably the OS, right, but who knows, and should I do a back up in case something goes wrong?
Are you beginning to see a pattern here? They sent me a 'solution' , but with no execution details of any kind. Who is in charge of this department? A change seems to be warranted!
So, here we go again. Should I flip a coin to decide what disc goes first? Probably the OS, right, but who knows, and should I do a back up in case something goes wrong?
Can you tell us what's on the disk labels?
Re backups, well, yes, everyone should back up their data anyway. For really important things (like my resume), I have multiple backups in multiple forms (CD, USB key, other computers, e-mail to myself on several e-mail addresses - can you tell that I've had to build things like my resume from scratch before?)
There are only two kinds of users in the world:
Those who have needed their backup.
And those who will.
Jane
I do not work for Lenovo. If you need help, post your question in the forum, and include your system type, model number and OS. Do not post your serial number. I do NOT respond to PM or e-mail requests for individual tech support.
1. Lenovo Software package V5.23 (says'inclues power to go5.50, Shuttle Center II, Veriface 2.5, Easy Capture 2.5, Norton AntiVirus 2007) The disc has the following note- DVD Media 157-000824
2. Lenovo Ideapad Y510 Vista Drivers V 2.0 CD Media 157-000823
3. Lenovo Product Recovery DVD (Windows Vista 32 bit Home Premium English) DVD Media 38-008788
The Packing list has the following info which may be useful to you in determining who processed this order;
I do not work for Lenovo. If you need help, post your question in the forum, and include your system type, model number and OS. Do not post your serial number. I do NOT respond to PM or e-mail requests for individual tech support.
Fossicker, great to hear. Really a pleasure to find that people try to find out what are they using and how to deal with that.
Don't pay attention to those who don't like to see farer their nose -one day Windows will crash unexpectedely and backup DVD will be far far away. Can't say this makes me glad - it's vice versa, making me sad.
azmanathrt, due to fact that most programs use registry to store some data and registry is always on C drive, there's a logical conclusion that in case of reinstall registry will be wiped out and all programs that use(d) it will be useless - both on C and D drives. So, no use to keep them on D drive cause they'll anyway will be useless.
Placing Documents folder on C drive is official Microsoft politics that I suggest can't be resistable by large system integrators.
To all, some offtopic
This situation reminded me times when I didn't want to go to school to have some knowledge that in future helped me a lot.
In your signature you say that you do not work for Lenovo. Is it out of line for me to ask who you do work for> IBM?
Do you think you could suggest the correct procedure for the complete re-formatting of my computer with these discs that Lenovo sent to me? Or should I call Lenovo Support and try to find someone who knows the details of this procedure.
Being the veteran of 1 major OS crash and huge data loss by a 'certified' PC repair facility. I know make both clones and data back ups on 2 seperate external hard drives twice a week.
I don't think I need to keep the One Key REcovery, but I would like to make a larger C: partition and use the D: partition for most data storage. Back up or not, I think the concept is sound, and would work if the C: partition was at least 75-100GB.
azmanathrt, maybe it's my lack of language knowledge but this post seemed to me a bit unpolite. maybe I'm wrong, my apologies if so.
Anyway.
I can direct you in the right way to install your system.
So, you don't need all your data both on C and D or only on C? You want to delete service partition ? You want dual-boot configuration with Vista and XP both?
Please describe all that and create a new thread - this thread is for another type of hot discussion.
In that thread I will post all information you need, just ask right questions. Also someone else may want to jump in and suggest something.
