Clean Install + Downloaded drivers vs Recovery Disks

EDIT: I'm directing this question at the x220 series, but this could also apply to any of the Thinkpad models.

Is it possible to clean install a machine and then download everything from the lenovo website and achieve the same "factory shipped" install, or is this only possible by using the recovery disks?


(When I say this, I mean down to the last detail. Not that I necessarily care about XYZ detail, I just want to know if theres anything on the factory image that isn't user installable/downlodable).

 

Using the Lenovo recovery discs pretty much copies the factory image on to a different HDD or SSD. I did this on my T420 with a different SSD drive in and virtually all the applications and "out of box experience" are just like from the original hard drive, I found no difference at all (well ok apart from the obvious speed increase from HDD to SSD).

With a clean install you're probably looking at around 80% replication if you tried but sometimes it can be for the better, you can still obtain the utilities from the Lenovo Support site and probably experience a more streamlined user experience due to less services and applications straining the system. I tend to be in the latter camp and clean install my ThinkPad systems. My clean installed system runs idle with 44 processes while the factory image has 79 processes in comparison. I notice it also feels quicker to boot up and shut down with my clean installed systems too.

 

The recovery media you create will recreate the recovery partition and reimage the laptop. Downloading the drivers will not put back in the recovery partition.

 

Is the only benefit of the recovery partition such that you can reimage your drive (OS partition) on the go without recovery disks? Or is there some other backup/etc that it does?

 

Of course. I did it with my W520. I made sure i had a activation key under my battery for Windows 7 Professional x64 first (thanks Thor) and a copy of Windows 7 Professional x64 on a CD, wiped out all my partitions and installed, then installed all drivers from the lenvoo site, the FP and color calibration software, and hotkey integration. Everything works great

Edit: Most of the time these will be used for business. Business's that buy these laptops will do the same as well, then image what they did mass installations of these machines.

 

i think you meant to say that businesses will use a volume license key, and not the key that's on the sticker under the battery.

 

you will lose EE (lenovo enhanced experience) by doing a clean install yourself, which supposedly speeds up the boot up process by delaying the startup time for certain windows services and other minor tweaks.

personally i find that the shipped windows image too bloated still and would rather install what i need by doing a clean install. you will lose EE, but if you have a SSD, you can't really tell the difference between an EE machine and non-EE machine.

 

So EE is not something that can be done after the order? (I ask this because EE includes RapidDrive, yet the X220s aren't shipping with mSATAs so I don't see how RapidDrive could possibly be included with the x220). Does that mean that those of us who wanted our x220s early will lose out on any possibility of having RapidDrive? (early as in before they had the mSATA offering)

PS. Yes I know I could always install an mSATA drive and manage OS/program locations myself, but I'm pretty intrigued by the RapidDrive tech (if it actually works) and if it can do that for me, why not?

 

Not true
UEFI Bios is available to download.
BTW when you wipe your drive the Bios stays the same; anyway EE is UEFi and its in the Bios.

 

I thought EE was lenovo's entire suite of accelerations (UEFI being one of those.. others include RapidBoot and RapidDrive)

 

I don't think it applies to the X220, but with my T42 there was some commercial software on the Product Recovery Disks that wasn't available otherwise for download (for free from Lenovo). WinDVD and Sonic Record Now! comes to mind for the T42. You could save these application's installation programs onto another drive before nuking the original install, then reinstall them later. They were located in the SWTools folder IIRC.

 

EE 2.0 is just a bunch of preloaded tweaks to Win7 to speed up the boot up process.

In fact, another user who just received his x220 stated that UEFI was disabled by default, which means EE 2.0 doesn't mean turning on UEFI.

see this http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/574738-first-impressions-x220-2.html#post7439632

 

Nope. EE is a set of driver tweaks that make them start up faster. It has nothing to do with the BIOS or EUFI. And UEFI is not "in the BIOS". EUFI is simply a newer version of BIOS with some tweaks such as faster POST times, larger HD capacity support, and, optionally, a new BIOS interface that allows for graphics, animations, and built-in mouse support.

Here is the deal with EE (this comes straight from a Lenovo programmer but I'm rephrasing and not going to hunt down the link, sorry.): The devs worked with MS and driver developers such as Intel to make them start faster by various methods. Either shaving certain code off, selectively starting them before other processes when Windows starts, and other methods. These tweaks are incorporated straight into the modified drivers offered on the Lenovo website.

You can replicate EE2.0 up to about 80% (in the devs words) on a fresh install simply by downloading and installing the drivers offered on the lenovo site. The rest of the 20% I'm assuming comes from system file modifications (that's why you'd need the stock lenovo image to get them).

 

Ah. Cool thanks thecrafter. Good clarification.

 

This is a really helpful thread. I have an x220 coming Monday and already have the 80gb msata drive to install.

Other than extra bloat that may be included by using a disk image rather than a clean OS install, is there any other compelling reason not to use a disk image? I heard something about a different alignment on the SSD drive?

 

From Lenovo Enhanced Experience goes round 2 - with Rap... - Lenovo Community (and the Lenovo EE 2.0 Thread in this forum) a lenovo employee says this:

To get 100% of the optimizations you need to use (or start with) the Lenovo preload. However, the majority of the work goes into tuning the BIOS, drivers, and Lenovo TVT software for each system and these packages are available from lenovo.com and/or TVSU.

So I would say you get about 85% of the EE tweaks even on a clean install provided you use drivers and such from Lenovo. And the more proprietary pieces that you would be missing are compensated for by a lighter software stack really.

However, we are working on productizing the tweaks into a TVT (currently being called RapidBoot) that should make the extra improvements more portable - although it may only be supported on new Huron River systems.

 

since the majority of thinkpads purchases are made by corporate customers, and since corporate customers will use custom Windows images, it makes you wonder how much time/resources lenovo put into EE knowing that their customers will just wipe the preloaded image.

 

no alignment issue with Win7/Vista. Only XP has the problem with SSD alignment.

i suppose the other benefit with a clean install is you can get Win7 SP1 integrated into the OS. you also get the benefit of getting the latest drivers.

 

Not necessarily true. If you're a big enough corporate customer, Lenovo can provide a customized preload for you, so that whatever machines you order come with your corporate version of the Lenovo preload.