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    Can I save the recovery partition?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by Caviman2201, Aug 4, 2009.

  1. Caviman2201

    Caviman2201 Notebook Geek

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    I'm about to buy a very gently used X40 (P-M 1.2, 512MB (256MB Built-in), 40GB HDD, Bluetooth, 2386-52U, 8-cell battery) and X4 UltraBase w/ DVD-ROM from my company for $125 - this is a pretty good deal right?

    The only problem is that we are a company that deals with medical records and they want to run a Darik Boot 'n' Nuke on the drive before I can have it. Unfortunately this COMPLETELY wipes the drive and all partitions. Is there any way for me to save the Recovery Partition on it before this happens? Or is there any way to re-install it after it gets wiped?
     
    Caviman2201, Aug 4, 2009
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  2. jonlumpkin

    jonlumpkin NBR Transmogrifier

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    That's a great price for an x40. It's about 1/3 the price of a netbook, comparable performance, and vastly superior quality.

    You can try and burn recovery CDs/DVDs before they wipe it. There should be a utility somewhere in the start menu for this. These will let you restore the machine to factory condition (complete with recovery partition).

    Alternatively you could use software like Self-Image or Acronis to clone the drive, but this would kind of defeat the purpose of running DBAN on it.
     
    jonlumpkin, Aug 4, 2009
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  3. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    The X40 is probably old enough that burning the recovery discs is not an option.
     
    ZaZ, Aug 4, 2009
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  4. jonlumpkin

    jonlumpkin NBR Transmogrifier

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    Really? I'm pretty sure my T40 had that option and it predated the x40 by about a year.
     
    jonlumpkin, Aug 4, 2009
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  5. Caviman2201

    Caviman2201 Notebook Geek

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    The only thing that concerns me is the HDD being one of those antiquated 1.8" drives...

    We'll find out shortly - I'm restoring it to factory specs right now... I like the idea of recovery discs - how many CD-Rs will it take? Will it burn to a DVD-R?
     
    Caviman2201, Aug 5, 2009
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  6. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    I don't think I had the option on my T42, but maybe I'm wrong. What would they do for people with a DVD-ROM?
     
    ZaZ, Aug 5, 2009
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  7. Caviman2201

    Caviman2201 Notebook Geek

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    Well, looks like ZaZ was right - I don't have the option to create recovery CDs even after doing a full factory restore. Maybe I'll try to use an Acronis boot CD to back up just the recovery partition...
     
    Caviman2201, Aug 5, 2009
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  8. Caviman2201

    Caviman2201 Notebook Geek

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    Caviman2201, Aug 5, 2009
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  9. zephir

    zephir Notebook Deity

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    zephir, Aug 5, 2009
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  10. Caviman2201

    Caviman2201 Notebook Geek

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    So if I were to DBNC the HDD and wipe all the partitions, install Windows XP from scratch, then install RnR, it would install the predesktop area correctly and re-partition the drive?
     
    Caviman2201, Aug 5, 2009
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  11. Caviman2201

    Caviman2201 Notebook Geek

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    OK, so I figured it out - installing RnR configures the predesktop environment, but obviously does not have the full partition capable of reverting to factory specs. This is fine because I don't see myself doing that anyway...
     
    Caviman2201, Aug 6, 2009
    #11