Resize the service partition

[itpastorn]

I upgraded my Hdd on my Z61p from 100GB to 320. I cloned the old drive and it all worked fine - until I realized that I now have 90 GB of usable space and a service partition that is 230 GB large!!!!

EASEUS partition manager can not resize the service partition. Is there a tool that can?

Also: I intend to partition my drive in three: Win XP, data and Linux. I've read that it might interfere with the functionality of the service partition. Any definitive guides on that subject?

[itpastorn]

I booted Linux from an USB-stick and tested gparted. It sees the service partition as a normal FAT-filesystem.

I have made a backup to DVD in case it gets messed up. I will now proceed to shrink the service partition and put it last on the drive. Keeping my fingers crossed...

[itpastorn]

Update: Resizing with Gparted was easy, but now the service partition is lost when I press the Thinkvantage button on power up.

Any help provided on how to restore it is appreciated.

[sajinsj]

Buddy. I think there is no end-user way to bring back the service partition link to the thinkVantage button. I think you should call the Leonovo customer-care to check if they have some way to help.

[andyP Community SuperMod]

GParted has probably changed your Master Boot Record, if you have, or can get hold of, a floppy drive you could use the Lenovo Rescue and Recovery - Recovery repair diskette to try and repair it.

Hope this helps

[sajinsj]

So, will this repair diskette be able to repair and restore the system recovery action, even if we have changed the partition sizes, or added a few partitions, but the recovery partition is left intact.

Also most importantly will it cause any loss to data during this repair, normally...

And by the way how are we going to interface a floppy drive to the present age laptops... How is that done?

[andyP Community SuperMod]

As it says on the site;

"This package creates a bootable diskette that can be used to repair a corrupt boot sector on your primary hard drive. This package can also be used to reenable the F11 function as long as the service partition has not been removed from your hard drive."

I've never used the tool on an hard drive with multiple partitions, so I don't know 100%, but my guess would be yes it should work. There should be no loss of data at all, but a backup is always advisable if you are going to be playing around with MBRs, partions and hard drives in general.

I suggest an USB floppy drive which you can then select as boot device in BIOS or the F12 boot menu.

[itpastorn]

Has anyone tried this with an USB stick?

I am not going to buy myself an obsolete floppy drive just for this single issue.

[sajinsj]

Ya there's no point buying the obsolete floppy drive for this. So, why is IBM/Lenovo actually giving this obsolete method for repairing. Only god knows....

[andyP Community SuperMod]

@ ipastorn & sajinsj,

maybe someone in the companies you work for, or one of your friends, has one you could borrow? How's about asking your local neighbourhood computer shop if they can help?

The solution I offered is a possible fix, if you don't want to go to the expense that's your decision. Lenovo didn't break your MBR, but does offer a possible fix.