Getting the OS DVD from Lenovo?

When you buy a ThinkPad (I just ordered a T61 14" ), I understand it comes with the OS on a partition.

1- is this the full OS DVD or just an image of the current machine?
2- when you hit the blue button, is there actually an option in a menu that let you burn a copy of that partition on a bootable CD or DVD?
3- can we ask Lenovo (Canada in my case) to send us the OS DVD free of charge? I talked to them by phone but they say they charge 50$ for this!! I do not feel this is right as we actually pay for the OS when we buy the system.

Thanks for the feedback / information.

 

The partition is just the factory image (already installed on the computer). It also allows you to pick what you want to restore from the image (for example I didnt want norton, so I disabled it when using the recovery partition).

2 - You can use the rescue and recovery program to make a copy of the partition. You can only do this once, but if you restore the partition, you can do it again.

3- Not sure, I just got my thinkpad today.

 

Sounds good for points 1 and 2 above. Now we only need to figure out how to get the original OS disks from Lenovo. I'd like to know if anyone already went through this process and if they were able to get it free of charges. DELL does it so I expect the other companies should too.

 

Can you use a copy of the partition as a replacement for, say, the Vista Home Premium DVD you need to upgrade your OS to Vista Ultimate?

 

you probably won't get any OS discs from Lenovo since they are just OEM images of the software. You could ask them to send you the recovery discs by calling tech support and telling them that you can't burn the recovery discs yourself. other than that, i don't think they'll send you an OS disc.

 

They are not required to give you the actual OS discs so don't expect them. The most they will provide is an OEM disc with all the extra junk preloaded.

If you want to do a clean install borrow a disc from a friend and use one of the clean install guides present on these forums.

 

hey buddie let me help you out. you know something i have run into the same problem. but the tech told me that if your having a OS problem they will send you out OS dvd's. you know something i called back a day after and told them that i am getting a with the operating system and that the recovery part is corrupted. so you know wat they send me out the proper disc right away. over night.

many people may say that i am cheat but you know something i have warranty plus i have purchased 5 yrs addition i would like some service. i have a dell before and they send me OS recoveries when ever i would have called them.

but i love IBM/Lenovo

 

Yes apoddar, I had the same experience with DELL a few months ago when I got into a blue screen / unbootable problem. They sent the DVD for the full XP OS free. If we pay for a machine with an OS, they should provide that OS as if we had bought it separately. I understand why they are reluctant as they probably use the same OS image for all machines they build and have a tool to change the OS serial IDs for each install so it fits your particular machine / individual customer ID. Still, I do not see this as really cheating doing as you explain. I will check to see what are the laws regarding this. Thanks for your input, and I would welcome others to voice up their results with Lenovo regarding this.

Regards

 

What is the difference between an OEM OS DVD sent by DELL computers (an original OEM Microsoft OS DVD from what I know as the additional software came on separate DVDs) and the recovery DVD that we can burn from the Lenovo ThinkVantage utilities?

I want the original OEM OS DVD in case that I have problems like I once had with my DELL PC. I can boot from that DVD and enter the utility or repair boot option (don't recall the exact name) and run such things as chkdisk. Does the Lenovo recovery disk allow such thing or does it only allow you to write over your OS files?

 

Here is something that may be useful if all else fails with Lenovo.

http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

The link above provides a way to legally download a 120MB recovery Vista ISO. This doesn't include the actual OS but just the tools (repair console and such that let you fix OS problems by running chkdisk for example) that are normally found on the original Microsoft OS DVD... the one I want from Lenovo.