Enhanced Experience 2 After Windows Clean Install

While I am waiting for my T420, I am looking for a good drive (possibly an SSD) to replace the base 250Gb 5400RPM drive that I ordered. And as I always do, I am planning on clean installing Windows on the new drive (I have my own copy of Windows 7 Ultimate) to get rid of the inevitable bloatware that new laptops come with.

1) Does anyone know what the touted Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2 is. I mean I know what it does but I am not sure whether it is hardware-based (UEFI?) or software-based (i.e. tweaks to Windows itself)?

2) I assume that if it is hardware-based, it will still be there after an OS clean install. But if it is software-based, is there a way to get it after the clean install?

 

My T420 arrives tomorrow, and from everything I've read, it seems as though there is no way to completely duplicate EE2.0 on a clean install (at least not yet). The UEFI, hardware enhancements, and driver tweaks will be present, but there are other EE2.0 enhancements related to the delayed startup of certain services and drivers that have not been detailed and are not available as an install.

Lenovo has done a great job with virtually eliminating bloat on their new installs... I just got an X120e and all of the normal bloat (antivirus, office, etc.) was set up as an optional install, not as something already present. I really only had to uninstall the Bing Bar to have a very quick, no bloat system.

My plan with the T420 is to image the stock hard drive to my SSD, install it in the T420, go through the setup and select not to install any of the "extras," remove the Bing Bar, and then customize the system to my liking. I ordered the system with Home Premium (since I have a key for Pro), so I'll do the Windows Anytime Upgrade to move up to Pro while keeping the EE2.0 extras.

This is what I did with my X120e and SSD migration, and it worked perfectly.

 

Thanks s1148625.

So cloning the drive is also an option? Has anyone cloned the image before while upgrading to a different hard drive? Is there anything that we should be aware of before we do so?

I was just thinking whether putting an existing image of the OS on a new drive creates any incompatibility issues. After all it's a new drive which needs its own drivers.

 

Can someone elaborate on what the EE does? I went in for a straight install right away and the system responds pretty well (starts up in under a minute, shuts down in <20 sec).

 

clonning a drive to a SSD is never an option, it leads to degraded performance from the SSD

 

T420 comes with UEFI instead of BIOS? Anyone care to comment about boot times?

 

Why do you say that? I wouldn't have expected it to make a difference.

 

Not if you use a tool that properly aligns the clone like Intel's or Acronis 2011.

 

How do you check for proper alignment after the clone is complete?

 

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/checking_ssd_alignment

Paragon has an alignment tool as well.

 

Anyone that could say what EE does?

 

Just wanted to share my experiences:

T520, added 8GB + 310 SSD

Created recovery media through thinkvantage. Installed on the SSD (took out stock HDD for this). Piece of cake with 31s boot times (from pushing button to blue circle dissapearing at desktop).

I'm trying to get better times so I have been trying to get UEFI working. Booted from old hard drive, using disk manager cleared the volumes on the SSD and made disk GPT hoping it would trigger installer to use UEFI. Took out old HDD, installed OS on SSD using recovery media. Boot time is now 27s, but it isn't UEFI, or at least I can't boot when in the "BIOS" I set it to UEFI only (instead of both - UEFI & Legacy). The slowdown may be because I don't have the old hard drive in and previously I had my "libraries" pointing to the old HDD.

My quest continues. I'll try to format the SSD to GPT and use a Windows 7 disk to install instead of recovery media. I think I'm supposed to be in "UEFI" only mode when I install, but I'm not sure if the Windows 7 disk will boot.

BTW, in the "BIOS" when I set it to UEFI only, the stock hard drive wouldn't boot.

 

Download "AS SSD" the benchmarking program. It is free. When it benchmarks the SSD it will check the alignment. If the upper left set of kb numbers are in green with the word OK after them in green, alignment is good.

Acronis 2011 will not correct alignment. It will preserve alignment if your HDD had it already. If your HDD is misaligned the clone will also be misaligned.

Acronis is making noises that 2012 will be alignment aware and will correct alignment.

Simply use Rescue and Recovery Disks to reapply the factory image. It is a trivial project. Frankly easier than using my Acronis to clone it.

Perry

 

Thanks Perry. Regarding Acronis True Image, their Home 2011 product sucks compared to Home 2010. So bad in fact they'd better have a free upgrade if they expect me to use 2012. Lots of people aren't happy.