I have just purchased a T410 with Windows 7 professional and a 320 GB hard disk from a local dealer. But I have noticed there is no recovery partition on the drive and it does not include any recovery media as well.

I want to make the backup of the my current system using ThinkVantage backup and recovery option. Can I still create a backup of my cruently intalled windows drive and programs.

Hi and welcome to the forum!

What is 7 character product number of your T410? It looks like 2668-KHU and can be found on the back sticker.

Keep us informed.

its 2522-PY4

It was supposed to come with Win 7 Pro, I suggest contacting the place you got it from:- http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/quickPath.do?quickPathEntry=2522PY4

Yup its Windows 7 Pro. I will definately contact them about the missing recovery partition but its a long track. My question is that without having a recovery partition on Laptop I will be able to use Thinkvantage to backup my current windows intallation  and CD or other disk and restore from that backup when required.

window 7 itself have build in backup and system backup capabilities, so I use that too. not much special about thinkvantage except the blue button thingie.

Are you sure you don't have Q and S drive, they could have been hidden by one of the downloadable lenovo utilities (I done that before). Maybe click on window icon-> then right click on computer and then click manage to look at the disk information.

Because if you don't have recovery partition, most likely even if you install RnR you can't press the blue thinvantage button as the correct booting tracks directing to the recovery routines is not on the harddisk.

I have checked in the Manage disk and there three partitions in total. 

1) Windows installation. 

2) System drive about 255 MB.

3) User data about 175 GB Empty.

So you mean I can use windows 7 to backup the whole drive and restore that image when required. 

Doesn't appear like you have hidden partition. 

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wrote:

So you mean I can use windows 7 to backup the whole drive and restore that image when required. 

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You can do that with Win 7, have a look at following links:-

How to backup:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/features/backup-and-restore.aspx

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/1838/using-backup-and-restore-in-windows-7/

How to restore from backup:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Restore-your-computer-from-a-system-image-backup

http://www.petri.co.il/restore-windows-7-from-backup-image.htm

Hope this helps.

I have a strong suspicion that your dealer swapped out your HDD (check if it is the FRU number shipped with your laptop), maybe he put a 5400rpm one in (ha ha). Another possibility is that he formatted your HDD before selling to you. Anyway, you should request a recovery disk from lenovo so that in the future you can restore your HDD back to factory settings with all the hidden partitions etc.

To check your FRU, go to lenovo.com, check warranty, enter the serial number, click on the part list....

Contact support, if the system is new they will send you out a restore disc set. Using this disc set will create a recovery partition.