T61 Hidden Partition files

[RRrrrr]

I'm working on a T61 which has had the original O.S. (maybe Vista Business??) removed and replaced with Windows 7 installation.

The 'hidden partition' is still there and 'healthy', taking up about 4.5GB... although I've never seen the F11 restore message. The blue button only interrupts the boot process to enter bios or choose a boot device.

We no longer have access to recovery disks or a means of creating them... and I'm wondering if they can be created from the files on the hidden partition itself??

I've found that Paragon's Backup & Recovery Advanced Free edition lets you change a partition 'type', and then you can use Windows' Computer Management, Storage, Disk Management to assign a drive letter.  I did this to view and do a backup of the files on the hidden partition... so now I'm also wondering if those files can be of use if I simply copy the partition to a DVD, as they should just fit... could it be bootable?

I've found the Rescue and Recovery 'repair' files online to create the diskette or the CD (for Vista/XP) to possibly repair for a missing F11, but there's also a much larger Rescue and Recovery repair(?) (4.3) for Windows 7.  I'm wondering if I should run that.

Last, there's a ThinkPad Updater for Windows 7 upgrades... I've just backed up the Windows 7 installation, and I'm about to run the updates that the Updater found, which will restore quite a bit of the ThinkPad specific software, I'm hoping... for Windows 7 upgrades, apparently.  Win7 runs great on the T61.

Any thoughts on the above ??'s ?

And/or can I buy the rescue/recovery disks for this machine?

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[richk · Accepted solution]

you can always buy recovery disks from Lenovo. You can call IBM Parts. The options on their phone system have changed, but the last time I called, it was 1-800-388-7080 option 2 then option 2. You will need your full model and serial number. They will only sell you the OS that was originally licensed. Try hitting F11 after getting the initial screen. The partition may still be active. Was windows 7 installed from a Lenovo upgrade or was it a retail copy.

[RRrrrr]

Any idea of the cost of Recovery disks from Lenovo?

Win7 install was a Microsoft original discounted $50 64bit upgrade download purchase. The T61 had Win XP on it at the time, I believe someone may have downgraded to it from the original O.S.  Anyway, I used a partition manager to move the XP partition back to make room for Win 7 up front, as I couldn't do a direct upgrade from XP anyway... but the hidden partition area remains and I'm interested if it's usable or not... what O.S. is recoverable, perhaps for a multi-boot setup.  

     To digress, I was dual booting the T61 (old XP, new Win7) for awhile but then the XP boot got glitched somehow (*** STOP error on bootup), and an XP SP3 over-the-top reinstall would just hang at 35 mins left of 'installing devices'. Having google researched the problem, I couldn't get around that, or the original glitch (SafeMode failed as well)... I just backed the XP partition up, as the files were still accessible, just couldn't boot it. It's now just a mountable macrium reflect backup image file on the Win7 partition.

Right now I am exploring the ThinkVantage Toolbox update for Windows 7 that I just installed and it provides (a lot of stuff!) for downloading Rescue and Recovery as the one 'issue' found under System Health.  I am working on installing that... I guess.  Had to do the C++ redistributable, and then there's the sysprepbackup accessory package to install, apparently... strangely, the Lenovo webpage fonts were -extremely- tiny... (I'm using IE9, the fonts were better in Chrome) ...until I went into Internet Options, Accessibility and told IE9 to ignore font sizes specified on webpages.  Would rather not have to check that. The T61 must not have the specific font installed for those Lenovo pages?  They're reasonably readable now... I may uncheck the ignore function after all this updating/installations.

[richk]

They are usually about $45 + $13 for overnight shipping (only option). They generally take one or 2 days to process the order, so the total time is 2 or 3 days

[RRrrrr]

Hmmm... well, with Win7 working so well, buying disks seems like too much fuss... probably just delete that hidden partition and recover the 4.5 GB.  (I can play with the files later ) Thanks for the info.

[Edit:   Just for info purposes...  I suppose you only need the CD/DVD if your hard drive totally fails.  After updating the BIOS (required/suggested by one of the updates ) and installing the ThinkPad System Updates, ThinkVantage Toolbox ...and... Rescue and Recovery 4.31 for Windows 7... now ....pressing the blue ThinkVantage button just goes directly into a graphical Rescue and Recovery program... the 'simplified' menu  (instead of bringing up the old DOS/ASCII-looking menu to press F1, F12, etc).

    On bootup now, there's -no- prompt reminding to press F1 to get to the BIOS... or F12 to boot another device.... just the ThinkVantage blue button prompt ...even though the BIOS -is- set to display prompts, BIOS v2.27-1.08.  I did remove the hidden partition area, by the way.

    When the ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery 4.31 comes up into the 'simplified' menu... there are buttons for Quick Restore, Full Restore, (both from a previous backup), and Rescue files to an external device (such as USB)... and there are links to License Agreement, Restart your System, and.....  to start the 'advanced' R&R (where you can 'Restore your system').  In 'Restore your system' window, the third option is to do a factory restore ...which, on the T61 I worked, would be a Vista version, I think, not Win7.   Also on the 'advanced' menu are Configure (where you can 'Access BIOS'), Communicate (among which is 'Open browser' and 'Download files', both of which use Opera , going right to Lenovo support... unfortunately wireless is not running yet, so you must be hardwired), and Troubleshoot... under which is a 'Diagnostic overview', but I don't see the 'Diagnose hardware' option... (there's also an empty option space in Configure, between Configuration overview and 'Access BIOS'... which might be for a missing 'Set/modify R&R password').   At the bottom of Troubleshoot is 'Boot from another device'.

    Across the top of the 'advanced' R&R, is a menubar with System Information, Warranty Status, and Restart... among others.  You must be hardwired to the 'net for the Warranty Status check.

    All this is before actually booting Windows 7 or even the bootmenu... but there's a Windows environment of some kind loaded, because a Windows horizontal strobing green bar displays after pressing the ThinkVantage button... again, the hidden partition is now gone on this T61.   The 'Rescue and Recovery for Windows 7' is a big download, almost 300MB.]