Cloned computer, now I can't restore it. ThinkVantage backup transfer follies..

[Soul]

Hello and thank very much you for reading and using your time on me!
Sadly, I'm in dire need of help =/

I'm setting 4 computers (Lenovo N500) up for this small company.. They are identical and I therefore thought that I could just set up one of them, backup it and transfer the backup to the others. It was only, when the second computer suddenly wouldn't start after the transfer of the backup that a bell rang for me - of course there are other things than just specs that matter..

But now I'm in a mess. Can any of you help me out? I was thinking of creating a lenovo product recovery disc (from the working computer), but it clearly states that it should not be used on any other pc than that. I could also create a normal thinkVantage recovery disc, so that I might try to recover using the factory backup, but I'm afraid that it's gone after all the mess I made... Perhaps I need to get myself a Vista disc, but none came with the computers, so that doesn't help..

any ideas? All help will be greatly appreciated!

Soul

[buddinggeek]

Welcome to the forums

Which  backup program are you trying to use with vista?

Lenovo has an imageultra builder utility to deploy images(Its a trail version)you can check this out as well

[andyP Community SuperMod]

Soul, welcome to th forum,

due to there bing multiple boot sectors you need to be carefull when cloning Lenovo systems, there are several threads on this subject if you search the boards. Running with the information you've given I'll point you at this thread which illustrates some of the considerations, (deals with XP), and this thread which deals with Vista and getting the service partition to work after cloning.

Hope this helps

[Soul]

Vijju

I was using R&R to backup to an USB HDD and then use that backup on another computer.. Stupid me.

Now I'm just thinking of returning it to factory standards, installing everything from scratch on each computer and the creating an indidual backup for each of them on their own HDD using R&R. Do you agree that this is the way to go or could perhaps the imageultra builder utility help me?

andyP

Oh, didn't think anyone else would be stupid enough to do that.. I've tried looking through those threads and some others I've found using the search function and the conclusion seems clear.. way too many problems with cloning.. I need to restore to factory default.. But no, I didn't create a factory recovery disc as I've should have (as you wrote in one of the threads ), so I will probably have to go with a vista disc. But will this then restore the built-in lenovo software?!

Oh, and thanks a lot to both of you for trying to help me - means a lot!

- Soul

[andyP Community SuperMod]

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Soul wrote:

 but it clearly states that it should not be used on any other pc than that. 

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Or, simply go for it. It will work with the same MTM.

[Soul]

Okay, I will then

What is MTM by the way? Google seems to like to confuse me..

[Soul]

Oh, and if you know the answer to this: "But will this then restore the built-in lenovo software?!" please don't hesistate to answer

[andyP Community SuperMod]

Machine Type and Model number.

Recovery discs will install everything, except office, that was installed on the system originally.