How to restore Onekey Recovery function after changing partition size. (Y580 and maybe others)

OKR will most likely break if you resize the OS partition. It did for me. If you try to recover with OKR, it will complain that the partition layout changed, and refuse to run.

The solution is to make a new backup image to dump in the recovery partition. If you change the partition size again, you might break OKR again. OKR doesn't like when you shrink the OS partition.



Option A- You resized or clean installed, and still have the 20gb recovery partition intact.

1. boot into OKR by pressing the 'novo' button.
2. select Onekey recovery option.

Spoiler

3. on next screen, press CTRL+SHIFT+O to bring up command prompt.
4. Now you figure out if all the partitions have the right letters. OKR seems to only work if your OS is on the C drive. Type:

Code:

dir c:

do you see the volume label? It should say "Windows7_OS", or if not, you should see the standard list of folders- program files, Users, Windows, etc.

5. now you figure out what drive letter the recovery partition is. Type each of the following until you see the volume label "LENOVO_PART" and a list of folders that includes EFI, NB, OKRBackup, and OneKey. The letter of your recovery partition depends on how many partitions you have already.

Code:

dir d:
dir e:
dir f:
dir g:
....and so on down the alphabet

6. Change to the lenovo_part partition. If it is the G: drive, just type

Code:

g:

Again, your letter may be different.

7. Go to recovery image tool folder. Type:

Code:

cd onekey\osimage

8. Run OSImage. Type:

Code:

osimage /fb

9. wait for backup to finish. Should take about 25 minutes. You will see "Backup Success ..." message at the end. Ignore any other error messages in the window.
10. Check backup image. Type:

Code:

dir \okrbackup\factory

You should see OS.okr file with several billion bytes size. Look at the timestamp, it should be a few minutes ago.
11. Close the command prompt. Now you can either reboot, or test your recovery image. Your choice.


Option B- You wiped your whole drive, including the recovery partition. You have not installed OS yet.

1. Download the OKR setup disc- http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=cmMp2ZC7. Extract with Winrar or similar program.
2. Burn the iso, then boot from it. You might be able to create a bootable usb drive too with unetbootin. But you can figure that out.
3. After booting from disc, you see OKR installation options. Choose option 1. (Install OKR Clean Partition)
Follow the instructions, choose how big your C drive should be, and let it finish making LENOVO_PART partition and installing OKR. It will create a 14gb LENOVO_PART.
4. Clean install your OS. Configure everything to your liking. install your programs and other crap.
5. Turn off pc, then press the novo button to boot into recovery. It should automatically start backing up your OS to create the 'initial' image.

You can also download try the updated OKR7 setup disc and follow the prompts. http://paste2.org/p/2245050. Should be foolproof, but it will wipe your entire hard drive and data. So this option is only for completely clean installs.

Spoiler

OKR setup disc updated edition-
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288222/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part01.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288214/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part02.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288230/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part03.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288231/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part04.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288244/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part05.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288251/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part06.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288259/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part07.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288255/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part08.rar

Option C- 2 hard drive option, or msata ssd+hdd option
This option keeps the msata ssd and hdd separate. OS is installed on the msata ssd.
It creates a backup of the OS installed on the ssd, and dumps the backup image on the hdd, so it doesn't take up ssd space.
OKR button will restore this new backup image.

1. Clean install Windows, drivers, and everything on the msata ssd.

2. Boot computer using OKR button. Run the command prompt as instructed in Option A. On the LENOVO_PART partition, there is another folder called "2hdd". In the 2hdd folder, there is another osimage.ini config file that is slightly different. The objective is to copy this file to the main OSImage folder after backing up the original osimage.ini. Commands....

Code:

cd \onekey\osimage
rename osimage.ini osimage.ini.bak
cd \nb\2hdd
copy osimage.ini \onekey\osimage\osimage.ini

3. Now follow Option A instructions to create new backup image.

When backup complete, restore original osimage.ini. Commands:

Code:

cd \onekey\osimage
delete osimage.ini
rename osimage.ini.bak osimage.ini

Then close command prompt.

You can also download the updated OKR7 setup disc if all else fails. It is configured to handle ssd+hdd setups, but may wipe your whole hard drive-
http://paste2.org/p/2245050

If you choose, you can reinstall Rapiddrive after you have made a backup image. If Rapiddrive is installed, OKR will not allow you to make a backup image without separating the ssd and hdd first. See Misc 4 below.



Miscellaneous 1
PTEDIT32 attached below allows you to unhide the LENOVO_PART to retrieve or add files.
Must be run as administrator.



The LENOVO_PART partition is tagged as type 12. To unhide it, change the type to 07, save changes, and reboot.
To hide it again, change back to type 12.

Miscellaneous 2
If Option B fails because the 14gb recovery partition is not big enough, there is another way to setup OKR.
1. While clean installing, make a "primary" partition as your last partition in the list. Size it big enough. You will convert this to the hidden LENOVO_PARTition later.
2. install OS on the first partition as usual
3. after windows is all configured, use PTEDIT32 above, and find the last primary partition you made (PTEDIT will tell you partition size, so it should be easy). Change the type from 07 to 12 to make it a hidden OEM partition. Reboot
4. Now boot from the OKR setup disc mentioned in Option B. This time, select option 2 (Install OKR Not clean partition). It will convert that hidden OEM partition to LENOVO_PART, and dump all the necessary OKR files on there.
5. Follow Option A to make a backup.


Miscellaneous 3
If you want to create a backup image that is factory-like, which prompts you to setup usernames, then you have to run windows sysprep before creating backup image.
Go to c:\windows\system32\sysprep folder
run sysprep with OOBE option, and reboot.
After reboot, on the username setup screen, press CTRL+SHIFT+F3 to login as Administrator.
This is when you can clean up the computer, delete User folders, etc.
Then run sysprep again, OOBE option, and shutdown option.
Then follow Option A to make backup image.


Miscellaneous 4
RapidDrive installer if you want to restore ssd cache after Option C-
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS018450

How to reinstall RapidDrive and Windows-
http://support.lenovo.com/en_IL/research/hints-or-tips/detail.page?&LegacyDocID=12870415982811

 

This is brilliant thanks a lot. This should be a sticky thread!

 

Thanks for the great info. Tomorrow I'll receive my non-msata Y580 finally (after a 2 month-wait). Which option do you recommend following? I'm downloading the OKR7 updated setup disc, is it ok? My plan is to backup the driver's folder and reboot with the okr disc and follow the prompts. Thanks for the help!

 

if you use the okr disc, you'll need to backup the drivers folder to usb drive. It will wipe the whole hard drive.

IMO, option A is easiest because it doesn't need a disc. I would try that first.

 

Thanks for the answer. But if I want a clean install isn't it better to backup the drivers folder and just wipe the whole hard drive using the okr updated setup disc (the one with prompts)? Because if I use the stock recovery partition that came with the laptop maybe someday I'll use the okr function and it will recover to the stock configuration and not the one I want (which is a clean install without the bloatware). Correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks! :thumbsup:

 

no, you don't need to wipe the whole drive.
when you clean install, you only format the factory C and D drives. the hidden OKR "lenovo_part" partition is the 3rd partition, which you leave alone.
during the clean install, you can delete the C and D partitions, then resize them to your liking, again, leaving the OKR partition alone.

when you do option A, you overwrite the factory backup image in the okr partition with your custom image, so when you need okr someday, it will restore your custom OS, not stock.

all of this without a disc. Much less trouble. Plus, if you decide to further customize, or you forgot something, you can keep doing option A over and over to dump/overwrite a new backup image to the OKR partition.

 

Perfect, I understood. haha i've already burned the disc Thanks a lot! :thumbsup:

 

Finally received my Y580. When I tried to clean install my OS a prompt appeared: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks."
Erased all the partitions (including the LENOVO_PART) and it let me clean install. So I tried with the updated OKR7 setup disc and made the 14 GB Lenovo Part with no problems. But when I reach the clean install part I have the same problem: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks." It's like I can't have the Lenovo Partition. What to do? Thanks.

Edit: Finally managed to pass the Partition window. I had to disable UEFI on BIOS to avoid getting that annoying message.

 

superb........but i m experiencing problems bro......
Links are totally dead.........can u pls...find me a way out thanks in advance

 

the links are still alive. for both versions too

 

Hello,
Dear it seams that you have much knowledge about lenovo,
Please help me to fix one key recovery button, i lose it by re sizing partition. now its not function.

When i press the OKR buttun it start window normally, if i run it from desk top icon it give the massage
"the programm cannot find the service partition"
please guide me if possible.
[email protected]

 

Thanks for the post link626

Can you reup the links for msata + hdd parts links 3, 6, 8 are down. When you go there it shows good but after a minute it shows there is nothing there.
Also the 4 parts to the setup disk are all dead.
Thanks again for the tutorial, I would like to try it if you can supply the links again, (gamefront, rapidshare, putlocker, torrent.... any free service.

It appears gamefront has stopped service to Costa Rica, and I will be here for the next 6 months.Will someone post these links in putlocker or other free service.or a torrent
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288222/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part01.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288214/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part02.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288230/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part03.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288231/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part04.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288244/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part05.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288251/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part06.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288259/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part07.rar
http://www.gamefront.com/files/22288255/OKR7.0_20100511_145200.part08.rar
Thanks

 

Please, Can you reup the links?
Thank you!

 

My Y580 did not come with an mSATA SSD, however I installed one myself. How can I make OKR to restore the factory default backup image into the mSATA SSD instead of the HDD? if this is possible, can I just install RapidDrive and merge mSATA+HDD or do I need to do any partition re-size prior to this?

 

anyone please?

 

@link626
These instructions were great...
However, the newer Y580's with Windows 8 actually have 6 partitions instead of only 4!!! (yes, I made the mistake of ordering Windows 8)

Here's my situation:
I ordered the Y580 with 16GB + 1 TB setup. Windows 8 Rapid Drive is installed, but the normal RapidDriveTool for Windows 7 will NOT separate the mSATA from the HDD.

Without separating RapidDrive, I simply removed the 16GB mSATA and installed a new 256GB mSATA with intentions of a clean install. I used a Windows 8.iso image and burned it to DVD to boot from, installed clean copy of Win 8 on my new 256B mSATA and I left all other partitions in check. (well, now I've formatted the 1TB HDD for storage use only, but I left all the OEM/EFI/OKR partitions in tact.

Everything works great on my new system, except the WEI ratings aren't as high as they were on my graphics card now as opposed to the factory setup (6.8 now vs. 6.9 from factory). The Drive speed is blazing now though, (8.0 vs. 5.9 factory).

Anyway - OneKey Recovery will not allow me to make a system backup any longer... I get the "Current system can not support back up" error msg. Also, Win 8 has OKR version 8, not 7.

So I booted up using your instructions above... I found my osimage and ran step 8 in Option 1 above... the process lasted about 2 seconds and did nothing.
Here are my drive letters: c:Windows8_OS d:LENOVO e: DVR/BR g:System_Drv h:Winre_Drv i: PBR_Drv j:LRS_ESP X:Boot (not sure if that is a real drive or the emergency boot drive)

In Lenovo's infinite wisdom, they have released the Y580 without proper drivers available on their site. They are included on the D: drive (some of them are, anyway). The versions of Intelligent Touchpad, YouCam, Power2Go, PowerDVD, etc that you can download from Lenovo are the older versions and even if you bypass the "cannot install unless this is a Lenovo computer" don't work properly.

So my main issue is I would like to get OKR to work again on my new clean install. I can find/buy other DVD tools. But I would like to have OKR working properly. The button still has function... but the Backup won't work as mentioned.

I've viewed several files on the OEM partitions... including I:\OKRBackup\factory\Info.ini; J:Onekey\default.ini etc. Here is the text within the OKRBackup\Factory\info.ini:
[Info]
BakTime=2012-12-18 03:34
FacBak=1
T12Layout=1
VirtualC=0
BootType=3
DiskCount=2
ImageCount=4
DataPart=1
MBR=MBR.okr
PartStyle=1
Success=1
[Boot]
Format=FAT32
Lable=SYSTEM_DRV
Begin=2050048
Total=532480
Used=56128
Image=Boot.okr
DiskIndex=1
Index=2
Id={242AF3F7-C74E-4D26-8108-95145A7106BA}
Type={C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B}
Attributes=8000000000000001
[OS]
Format=NTFS
Lable=Windows8_OS
Begin=4892672
Total=1854259200
Used=67169800
Image=Install.wim
DiskIndex=1
Index=5
Id={1D38FA88-A3FF-4E22-8B40-3FB66822B2E0}
Type={EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7}
Attributes=0
[WinRE]
Format=NTFS
Lable=WINRE_DRV
Begin=2048
Total=2048000
Used=956640
Image=Winre.okr
DiskIndex=1
Index=1
Id={31F8BC4E-AE54-4929-8A80-AF3449EF82FE}
Type={DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC}
Attributes=8000000000000001
[LrsESP]
Format=FAT32
Lable=LRS_ESP
Begin=2582528
Total=2048000
Used=1017384
Image=LrsEsp.okr
DiskIndex=1
Index=3
Id={35216015-C2E4-4458-A2DB-6D0A3AB3CC0F}
Type={BFBFAFE7-A34F-448A-9A5B-6213EB736C22}
Attributes=8000000000000001
[MSR]
Begin=4630528
Total=262144
DiskIndex=1
Index=4
Id={E5770E15-044D-4823-A334-AF48D789FA3A}
Type={E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE}
Attributes=8000000000000000
[Service]
Format=NTFS
Lable=PBR_DRV
Begin=1911580672
Total=41943040
DiskIndex=1
Index=7
Id={DD0EFF0F-F702-4F4E-838C-DB9699175D26}
Type={DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC}
Attributes=8000000000000001


Can I just manipulate the drive sizes on this file to "match" my new mSATA setup and then OKR will accept the new drive as the original? If this isn't the file to change, which one is? If Step 8 in Option 1 above would work for me, maybe that would "reset" OKR backup to recognize the new drive and allow for full backup?

I'd really hate to loose my progress and start over (put the 16GB back in and do a recovery from the initial image). Any advise is appreciated.

 

Reply to myself:::

Solution at bottom.

Here's what didn't work and keep OKR operational -
1) Clean install Win 8 to new mSATA. Drive was fast according to ATTO... ~555MB/Sec read. ~433MB/sec write. WEI was 8.0
2) HOWEVER!!! The driver setup was not anywhere near complete. You just can't get your hands on drivers that are pre-installed on the Y580 Win 8 machines yet. My other WEI scores were lower across the board because of it. Plus all of the Lenovo apps are gone: OneKey, YouCam, Intelligent Touchpad, etc.


SOLUTION.
1) I reinstalled the 16GB mSATA and used OKR from shutdown to recovery from original image.
2) I turned off Rapid Drive by disabling it in Device Manager -- Right-click on mSATA, Properties, Policies, Uncheck both boxes.
3) Booted a couple of times without an mSATA drive. Installed Image for Windows trial edition.
4) Booted with my new mSATA drive in and followed the instructions in Step #24 at this link Migrate from HDD to SSD on Windows 8. - Wilders Security Forums
*** I ran into PHYLock problems the first time, so I had to boot into safe mode to image all partitions over. I went ahead and did all 4 hidden partitions to the SSD. They only take up about 23GB of space anyway. Might as well have a copy of hidden OKR partitions too. Might remove and place them elsewhere after some testing)
5) I removed the HDD and booted right up into the new imaged SSD drive. Ran ATTO tests and got same read/write speeds, but WEI score is 7.7 on my drive instead of 8.0. From what I've read Win 8 will re-eval itself as time goes on and basically self configure the new SSD as needed. Maybe this score will rise in the future?
6) Installed old HDD and ran into "signature collision" error. I have an inclination that this may be what OKR looks for as the C: drive? Not the size of the drive perhaps? My new C: drive is only 219GB while the factory C: drive was 889GB. I had to right click on HDD from within Disk Management and it brought the disk back Online and I assume renamed it.
7) HDD formatted, clearing entire old C: drive and making it new drive Z: for data only -- thus leaving the LENOVO partition as D: drive.

OKR still works (even the backup option when you are fully booted.) OKTheatre works. No errors so far. I've optimized SSD per Win 8 instructions online. It still have operational DVD10, Power2Go, YouCam, Photos, etc.

I think I'll leave good enough alone and run with it.

 

Hi all;
Need your assistance on how to fix the Lenovo One Key Recovery (OKR) 8.0. My Y580 comes pre-installed with Windows 8 and have the OKR8.0. The Lenovo OKR8.0 is functioning well until last night when i clone the HDD into the SSD.

The stock Lenovo HDD has 3 partitions:
C: Windows8_OS
D: Lenovo Drivers
Hidden partition: OEM partition

Last night, i clone the stock Lenovo HDD into my SSD using Paragon software and weird things start to happen. The hidden partition in the stock HDD becomes visible with a letter attached to it. This has never happen before when i clone it earlier in the day. Also, the Lenovo's OKR becomes unusable in the stock HDD after the cloning was done. The function of the Paragon software is to clone the stock HDD into the SSD and not to mess around with the stock HDD~!!!

Then, the Lenovo's OKR in the SSD becomes unusable. This is expected because Paragon has shrinked all the partitions when cloning the data from a 500GB HDD to a 120GB SSD.

My questions:
(1): How to hide the OEM partition in the stock Lenovo HDD?
(2): How to fix the broken Lenovo OKR8.0 in the stock Lenovo HDD?
(3): How to fix the broken Lenovo OKR8.0 in the SSD?

 

Thank you for the great detailed description.
But i still have a problem.
My case is OptionA.
Though I've added another partition and resized the existing, I can boot into okr and everything goes well till step 8. When i type osimage /fb it returns the following:

[INF] Exit Info: Parameter error
Exit Code: 0x12
LastError: 87

I have installed Win7 on drive C, drive D is my data disk. When I boot into OKR, F is My LENOVO_PART.
My goal is to have system drive backup on the hidden partition, as a factory backup.
Do you have any ideas on this error?
Thanks for helping.

P.S.: this is Lenovo Z575 originally shipped without Windows (just a bare DOS and OKR partition).

 

Link626, this post has been a MAJOR help! Why Lenovo support cannot help, I'll never know...but you've helped me turn my machine from a partition nightmare back into a clean machine. MUCH THANKS!

 

Thanks Link626 for a VERY informative and thorough post (and slightly scary avatar).

I - like y580win8user above - also bought a Win8 machine - mine's a G580. I managed to figure out how to install an SSD and use the old internal drive instead of the DVD - only I did this BEFORE reading this article. What that means is that I now have a nicely working system but of course without the Onekey functionality working.

So you've guessed it: I want to figure out if I can do that without wiping my disk and starting again.

This is looking a bit like parts of Option C, however I have discovered some Win8 nuances that I thought people would like to know:
1) the LENOVO_PART share on the build I have is called LRS_ESP (my original one is left in the original internal hard disk). There is no LENOVO_PART, but when I examine LRS_ESP it does have the main folders described in the original post of this thread).
2) PTEDIT32 does not seem to work on Win8. Not sure why - have some theories. So instead you will probably need another partition editor. I found MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition was fine for the job and free (unless you need more advance stuff which I didn't). There are other tools out there that should to the job as well.
3) When I make the LRS_ESP drive visible and examine it, I noticed there is no 2hdd folder. This is a problem.

This is basically the point I've got to. I believe my options are either to
a) backup/wipe things and follow Option C) above. Not my preference given the comfort of an otherwise working system. OR
b) try to get hold of (or re-create) the files in the 2hdd folder, and follow the steps in Option C.

Is anyone able to help me with b) - I think I will need a copy of the osimage.ini in the 2hdd folder and configure it for my setup?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

hi,

this link it doesn't works http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=cmMp2ZC7

don't you know how can I get OKR setup disc?

I have deleted my whole hdd and I'm need to find solution how to fix recovery button. I've got idepad y560 ... the warranty has end one year ago so I cant to get recovery disc from there

 

Will this work for other ideapad systems? I have the Z570.

 

This sound like a great idea. In fact I spent many hours only to find it does not work for me. I have a y500 (just got it) installed an msata 256gb ssd cloned the original 1gb hd and got that no go error when trying use the OKR button recovery ( re-sized the c partition of course). I followed you instructions for the 2 drive setup ( separate drives) There is no cd \nb\2hdd on my version unfortunately. SO I downloaded and booted from Cd OKR 7 and tried to do a clean instal from there, well all that did is wipe out my new ssd and left if with a lenovo recovery partition with no way to recover anything and no OS. I tried to dig out that 2 drive osimage.ini but I don't know which is which as the folder structure is different on the boot-able dvd version as well. Ahhhh! I have windows 8 but how your instructions could go so horribly wrong for me I don't know. I really don't like the idea of half my ssd filled with partitions, hidden or otherwise, and backup images too? this is premium space I want to free up. But I cant get any love from OKR. I need a work around. Please.

 

Yes exactly the same for me there are like 6 partitons with windows 8. I found osimage.ini files in that OKR 7 dvd boot disk iso Ans I found in a folder called twohdd but I don't reallt see any diffrence between the 2 ini files. Here it is


;¾µÏñ²ÎÊý
[Image]
Directory = \OKRBackup\Factory

;µ÷ÊÔ²ÎÊý
[Debug]
Directory = \OKRBackup\Log
Log = 1
Print = 1
Level = 2

;ÆäËü²ÎÊý
[Option]
Compress = 1
T12Layout = 2
CheckExist = 1
CheckSparse = 3
Interval = 300

;Éú³É¾µÏñÎļþʱÐèÒªÅųýµÄÎļþ»òÎļþ¼Ð
[ExclusionList]
\\.\nul
\$windows.~bt
\$windows.~ls
\winpepge.sys
\Windows\CSC
\Recycled
\Recycler
\$Recycle.Bin
\System Volume Information
\pagefile.sys
\hiberfil.sys

;Éú³É¾µÏñÎļþʱ²»½øÐÐѹËõµÄÎļþ»òÎļþ¼Ð
[CompressionExclusionList]
*.iso
*.msi
*.mp3
*.zip
*.cab
*.rar
*.wim
*.tar
*.gzip
*.rm
*.rmvb
*.jpg
*.jpe
*.jpeg
\WINDOWS\inf\*.pnf


-----------------------------------------------
this is the single drive ini from OKR7:

;image parameter
[Image]
Directory = \OKRBackup\Factory

;debug parameter
[Debug]
Directory = \OKRBackup\Log
Log = 1
Print = 1
Level = 3

;other parameter
[Option]
Verify = 1
Compress = 1
T12Layout = 1
CheckExist = 1
CheckSparse = 1
Interval = 300

;Exclusded files and folders
[ExclusionList]
\\.\nul
\$windows.~bt
\$windows.~ls
\winpepge.sys
\Windows\CSC
\Recycled
\Recycler
\$Recycle.Bin
\System Volume Information
\pagefile.sys
\hiberfil.sys

;Uncompressed files and folders
[CompressionExclusionList]
*.iso
*.msi
*.mp3
*.zip
*.cab
*.rar
*.wim
*.tar
*.gzip
*.rm
*.rmvb
*.jpg
*.jpe
*.jpeg
\WINDOWS\inf\*.pnf

 

Hi. My situation might be a little different, but I just wanted to let folks know about what I did as far as repartitioning my V570 HDD and how it worked out regarding OneKey. I shrunk the "C" drive to 75 GB then took the resulting unallocated space and added it to the extended partition that houses the proprietary Lenovo D drive. (around 20 GB to start). (Note: I added the space to the unlettered extended partition that houses the proprietary Lenovo D logical drive/partition; I did not try to add the space to the logical D drive itself since that's not possible.) I then created 2 logical drives -- 1 around 434 GB and the other around 146 GB. The larger one is for data and the smaller one is to hold system image backups made by Paragon and Active@Disk Image.

I prefer to separate out my system drive ("C") from my data drive and my emergency storage drive that houses system backups. But that's always been a problem with the V570 because of the proprietary OneKey system and the fact that it monopolizes 4 partitions. At least one of the 4 is an extended partition, while the other 3 are primary partitions. The extended partition is the key. I did not change the size of the "D/Lenovo" partition, or any of the other Lenovo proprietary partitions, but I clearly shrunk the size of the "C" drive. I made a OneKey system backup to an external HDD, and was able to restore it to the "C" drive only without it making any changes to the sizes of the newly created partitions.

I don't know if this helps at all in this particular discussion, but I hope that it does. If not, I apologize. I didn't want to hijack this most important thread; only add possibly another dimension to the discussion, since I know that this is an important, tricky subject. I have an older V570 on which I totally reformatted the HDD (deleting every partition, not just the "C" partition) and then did a fresh install of Win 7 PRo 32 bit. I then had to re-install all the Lenovo drivers, software, etc. I never bothered with OneKey since I was happy with Paragon HDM 11 Suite.

When I got this 2nd V570 on sale I decided to try to keep everything intact without having to resort to a total wiping of all the partitions on the HDD. I did a lot of research into the problems of re-sizing the "C" drive, and despite a lot of contradictory information, and a lot of uncertainty, I went ahead anyway and shrunk it and moved the unallocated space into the (unlettered) extended partition. I figured as long as I could keep all of the V570 drivers intact, I wasn't too concerned about losing functionality of the OneKey backup/rescue software because of the other system image backup programs I routinely use. Quite to my surprise, however, everything worked fine after the re-sizing and re-creating of the additional logical drives; that's why I posted here. The only thing that doesn't seem to be working is the incremental backup option. When I try to make an incremental system backup in the same folder as a full system backup, I get an error that there's not enough room, and I never get an option to make only an incremental backup. If I could figure that out I'd be even happier, but at least the full system backups work, and I just restored one and that worked too.

 

Thanks for the detailed write-up!

Is there a way to take the factory installed recovery image and restore onto a re-sized system partition? You've addressed creating a new OKR image backup, but is there a way to go in the opposite direction (a restore), provided the recovery partition is either intact or you have an image archive of the recovery partition.

 

I don't know about trying to restore the factory installed recovery image to the re-sized partition. I DID restore a OKR image that I'd made (with GREAT trepidation, I might add, and ONLY after backing up ALL the data on 2 the logical partitions I created/added). I wasn't sure if the restore would mess with the partitions, and was pleasantly surprised that everything went off without a hitch. The thing is, I made that backup AFTER I'd already repartitioned the HDD. I don't know what affect restoring the factory installed recovery image would have. I do know that if I used the 3 recovery DVD's I made as soon as I purchased the V570 it would repartition the HDD exactly as it was out of the box. I hope I never have to go that route. The question you have is what about the factory image, not the 3 DVD disk restore. My hunch is that the factory image would have the same effect as the 3 recovery DVD's -- it would put everything back to its original state. I think that the 3 recovery DVD's are basically the same as the factory recovery image. So it using it for a restore operation would not only change any shrunken "C" drive, it would change any changes made to any other partitions as well.

 

I don't know about trying to restore the factory installed recovery image to the re-sized partition. I DID restore a OKR image that I'd made (with GREAT trepidation, I might add, and ONLY after backing up ALL the data on 2 the logical partitions I created/added). I wasn't sure if the restore would mess with the partitions, and was pleasantly surprised that everything went off without a hitch. The thing is, I made that backup AFTER I'd already repartitioned the HDD. I don't know what affect restoring the factory installed recovery image would have. I do know that if I used the 3 recovery DVD's I made as soon as I purchased the V570 it would repartition the HDD exactly as it was out of the box. I hope I never have to go that route.

The question you have is what about the factory image, not the 3 DVD disk restore. My hunch is that the factory image would have the same effect as the 3 recovery DVD's -- it would put everything back to its original state. I think that the 3 recovery DVD's are basically the same as the factory recovery image. So if you're using it for a restore operation my hunch is that it would not only change any shrunken "C" drive, but would also undo any changes made to any other partitions as well. But I can't say that with any authority; it's just a hunch. Hopefully someone with more first hand knowledge of that situation can help out and clarify the situation.

Obviously, based on my situation, I would suggest that once you get everything set up just the way you want, you do a OKR full system image backup to some external source, and hang onto it for dear life. That way, based on my experience, even though you've shrunken the "C" drive, you can restore the OKR image made after the shrinking without affecting the new shrunken size in any way.

 

Interesting your thoughts about the recovery partition. I had not given it a thought that the recovery could re-partition the entire drive to restore it to its factory state. Perhaps OKR does have those powers, and here I've been running around in circles trying to discover a method of imaging (perhaps cloning?) the entire disk. But, it seems no one knows whether 3rd party solutions would be able to restore the GPT tables to their original state so that it would boot. But, perhaps OKR could do all that after all. In any case, I've moved on to an alternative because of my uncertainties and lack of feedback. But, it sounds like you have a disc solution whereby you're confident of restoring the disk to factory state? Which software did you use, and are you confident that it would boot from a manipulated boot record table?

So, now I'm planning to simplify things on my soon-to-arrive Yoga by attempting to keep the recovery partition and data drive (D drive with backed up drivers) intact, and performing a clean install. And, I'm not going to worry too terribly about being able to restore from the factory recovery, unless you know of way...

 

OKR has the option to create emergency restoration DVD's (or CDs) that restore the laptop to its original state, including all of the HDD partitions. (that's why I said I'm not sure if those DVDs are identical to what's on the hidden partition or not, but it gives the option to make it from the default factory image file, so I assume the two are one and the same) When I got my first V570 directly from Lenovo they included a "rescue DVD" that would restore the laptop to out of the box status, including the original partition(s) configuration. I'm under the impression that OKR's restore disks do the same thing.

 

For whatever reason, I'm not able to generate backup DVD's from OKR. I select the DVD drive as target, but it resorts to the user's appdata folder on the C drive as destination.

In any case, I hadn't really thought of the most obvious route. I'm only interested in restoring to the factory default from the factory recovery partition in case a clean install and re-partition isn't satisfactory. So, with my spare external drive, I've simply used W8 built-in recovery drive generator with option to copy the contents of the recovery partition. That way, I don't need to worry about whether OKR may balk at the resizing of the system partition, at least I hope. I can simply point the recovery to an unformated area on the drive and recover to there. And, I can then use this tutorial in the OP to create a custom OKR recovery partition for use with my newly installed fresh W8 install. So, I think I have all my bases covered now.

 

Sounds like you do have the bases covered. Strange though that OKR won't allow itself to be pointed to your DVD burner. Best of luck. Post and let us know how things turn out, okay?

 

Ugh. Now, I read that a W8-generated recovery disk with the option to "copy contents of recovery partition" will NOT be able to reinstall a factory fresh option. I guess I will have to figure out why I can't back up to DVDs and also figure out if those backup DVDs could repartition the entire hard drive back to factory defaults. I highly suspect that it would not.

 

You might be able to get the answer to the question about whether or not the backup DVDs could repartition the entire hard drive back to factory defaults on the Lenovo forum or by calling Lenovo directly. Also, while it might cost around $30 or so you might be able to get a recovery DVD directly from Lenovo that would definitely repartition the entire drive back to factory defaults.

 

So the steps of optipn A will work on okr 8 with win8 pre-installed??

 

Floepie:

I ran into a problem with the NIC card (i.e. unable to connect using a Cat5 cable, only able to connect via wireless -- sort of the opposite of what most people run into) and so I have to send my laptop in for warranty service. Before I did that I held my breath and used the recovery DVDs I made right after purchasing the laptop. I hoped they would re-partition the laptop back to the original configuration so that there could be no question about honoring the warranty. Sure enough -- the DVDs put the laptop back to the exact out of the box setup, including having to provide name, language, password, etc. It was exactly like it was when I bought it. So at least I can confirm to you that the DVDs do, in fact, repartition the HDD back to the original configuration.

 

No, I don't think so. The way the recovery partition is laid out is different from the way it was previously. OKR 8 in W8 is entirely different. The OEM recovery partition in W8 is setup to allow Windows itself to generate a recovery drive in which it gives you the option to copy the contents of the recovery contents directly to the recovery drive. So, the usefulness in OKR is more limited in that it can create system images, restore them, and also to restore your OEM partition if you haven't touched the system or recovery partitions. But, if you have, then apparently you can now just use the built in tools generated by W8 to apply the recovery. Furthermore, backups and application files no longer go to this recovery drive.

 

Thanks Link626 for this thread but this did not work for win 8.

NOW I ACCESSED THE WIN 8 RECOVERY FRESH INSTALL AND IT IS HOW: (I hope it helps someone). IF YOU CAN NOT UNDERSTAND MY DESCRIPTION LOOK MY NOTE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS MESSAGE.

May be other people posted a similar solution - I did not have time to check in detail.

I had the same problem - I changed the partition sized and was no longer able to access the hidden recovery and onekey did not work. I found this solution and now I accessed the recovery with windows 8 Fresh install. Now I no longer worry about changed and modified windows. This will not work only for win 8 but also for other versions too.


Solution is:

Now use a NTFS reader.

Download from:

DiskInternals NTFS Reader for Windows 95, 98, Me

Install and launch it.

Go to the drive that has the windows fresh install (its name is install.wim) - I forgot the exact location as I now deleted the partition now (I guess it was named pbr_drv - not sure) as I no longer need it - but it is not hard to find. The name of the fresh windows install is " install.wim " and it is around 7-8 GB.

Save it to a usb drive, or an external drive, or another parition in the computer that you will not format and install the windows to. (Make also sure that you backup this to as many places as you can as this is the only fresh win 8 copy you have)

Now download waik from microsoft. (from original microsoft web site) the name is Waik - windows unattended install kit. Install it.

Now have a recordable dvd or bootable usb stick with you (if you do not know how to create a bootable usb stick - google it or use a blank DVD) .

DVD is better and easier.

Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Windows OPK or Windows AIK, right-click Windows PE Tools Command Prompt, and then select Run as administrator. By default, all tools are installed at C:\Program Files\Version\Tools, where Version can be Windows OPK or Windows AIK.

1. copype.cmd x86 c:\winpe_x86

2. copy “c:\program files\windows aik\Tools\x86\imagex.exe” c:\winpe_x86\iso\

3. imagex /mountrw c:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim 1 c:\winpe_x86\mount

4. xcopy "c:\program files\windows aik\Tools\x86\Servicing" c:\winpe_x86\iso\Servicing /s

5. copy c:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim c:\winpe_x86\ISO\sources\boot.wim

6. oscdimg -n -bc:\winpe_x86\etfsboot.com c:\winpe_x86\ISO c:\winpe_x86\winpe_x86.iso

Now, you have the ISO. The ISO is in the c:\winpe_x86\ folder . Look for the iso file. Make sure imagex.exe is in the ISO file ( you can look in the iso file by winrar or iso editor). If imagex.exe is not there add it to the iso by winrar or iso editor.

Now copy the contents of the iso to a bootable usb stick or burn to a DVD. If there is a place for it, add install.wim which you extracted earlier to the usb stick. Or later you can find it from the other drive or partition you saved it to.

Now, after you copy or burn, reboot from the media you created. Make sure BIOS is set up to boot from USB or DVD (whicherver you created)

Now after this WinPE boots up.

After the command prompt appears, type diskpart. Type " LIST VOLUME " . Find and note the the drive letter for usb stick or place where you saved the install.wim . Also note the drive letter for the partition you will install the Fresh Win 8 drive. Note the drive letter for the boot media you created too. Make sure you format the place you will install win 8 . Format, because we want a fresh and non-modified , virus free copy of Windows. You can format from winPE or before that with a boot DVD you can find from the net.

OK - Now go to your flash drive or dvd or x: drive - check three of them.

then find the directory where imagex.exe is. (find the directory by typing CD command)

and then, type:

imagex /apply d:\install.wim 1 c:

This means, copy the fresh Windows 8 to the c: drive.

d:\install.wim is an example where you put the copy of the install.wim file - change that destination to wherever you put the install.wim file. Do not forget to write "1" after install.wim

I imagined you will install to c: so in that command I put c: but you can install to another drive too - but make sure it is formatted. We want a non modified Fresh Windows.

OK - After everything is applied now you have the fresh copy of OEM Windows 8 With Full Lenovo Software and drivers. Boot up and see..... You have the fresh install of Win 8.

Now one thing might be missing - what if after a time you need to reinstall windows? Would not you want the restore it with one key in the boot up like "onekey recovery"? So find the freeware "Paragon Backup And Recovery 12 Compact" (Make sure it is the compact version) - and make sure it is the legit version as we would not want a virus or crack in fresh windows regular backup. Check the digital signature of hte freeware and make sure it is legit. Find the serial number . And backup to a "backup capsule" . This backs up to a hidden recovery folder and if you wish, with a password. when you boot your computer for a few seconds, it writes : press f1 to recover windows. If you press f1 and enter the password, it recovers to factory state. You can make incremental backup too. So you can recover to anytime including fresh Windows.

Okay - I am a layman and do not understand from technical things but I wrote this so it would help those who can not recover from Lenovo Onekey Recovery. If your computer boots up, you can use the same Lenovo you are trying to recover. Otherwise - you would need another PC to follow the instructions above and boot the problematic Lenovo with the recovery media you created on the other PC.

AS I MENTION - I AM NOT A TECHNICAL GUY AND ONLY A REGULAR PC USER. I WROTE THIS IN ODER TO HAVE PEOPLE NOT WASTE TIME.

BUT IF MY DESCRIPTION IS NOT VERY GOOD MY SUMMARY IS:

USE THE ABOVE NTFS READER I MENTION ABOVE AT THE BEGINNING , FIND THE INSTALL.WIM FILE, COPY IT TO SOME SECURE PLACES, AND SEARCH THE INTERNET HOW TO INSTALL WIM FILES. JUST MAKE SURE THE PARTITION YOU WILL INSTALL WILL BE FORMATTED AND CLEAN.

THX.

 

^^^ All I can say is that after you have done a research, put some things together, managed to explain to all of us how we can restore the install.wim image back to the system or to a new hdd / ssd (OP, you may want to put his guidance sticky, it will help a lot - Thank you).

Few things you omitted:

1. You must enable legacy support from bios otherwise the boot disk will not start;

2. If you install everything back to a new disk, is better is you install windows 8 first time (In UEFI mode), when it restarts after the installation (change from bios to legacy support), boot from the boot dvd / usb stick; - When you boot from the stick, format the c drive (format c: ), so that you still have the disk enabled as boot in UEFI mode and then you can give the command of copying the install.wim file to c drive as specified by you (d: [or wherever you have the boot disk] imagex /apply d:\install.wim 1 c: ).

I really appreciate very much your effort on providing all the information / guidance +1 rep.

 

If you have a USB disk, just make sure you format it to FAT32 and THEN copy the contents to it (the contents of the ISO). That way, you don't need to change the boot BIOS setting to legacy. You can just keep it at UEFI. UEFI mode cannot boot from a NTFS source.

 

And how do you save the 8GB image to it? Save it somewhere else? Isn't it better to have them all in one, especially if you have a usb 3.0 stick

 

That you can save to a different NTFS USB drive, but with diskpart in WinPE, you can easliy determine which drive letter to use to access it.

 

Why would I waste another drive? For me its easier to just change the setting in the bios and then revert them back (is just a matter of few seconds). Anyway, is upto everyone's test how they feel comfortable in doing their things (+ my USB flash drive has 64GB, so I have a lot of other things on it).

 

I have the y580 that came with 750gb 5400rpm hd and 32gb msata cache. I simply want to upgrade the hd to 1tb 7200rpm. I'm not all that famliar with the technical language and was wondering if anyone could point to the simplest method to achieve the upgrade while keeping the OKR button working. I was looking at option B on the OP but wasn't quite sure. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

You could random search for a software that will clone your current drive into the new one (Clone - Make almost a perfect mirror of your current hard drive into the new one). For example, Paragon Hard Disk Manager is a good piece of art (google about it and you will find out more information).

 

Sorry for digging thread but I found solution for 'no os detected' similar error.

If you have a few primary partitions and the first (0) partition isn't your Win7OS partition, OneKey Recovery won't do backup because above error. But I found a simple solution to handle with that, even if you want to do backup from another disk.

What you will need is to handle with built-in diskpart:

1. I assuming that you have hidden OEM partition created along with instructions from first post
2. Boot into recovery using 'novo' (onekey) button.
3. Open command prompt window (like on first post)
4. Type:
   
   Code:

   diskpart

5. Now your prompt should looks like:
   
   Code:

   DISKPART>

6. Depending on how much disks you have and which one contains OS you need to select proper one. To help with that use command list:
   
   Code:

   list disk

7. Above command should return something like this:
   
   
8. Next you need to select disk containing your OS partition, for example I have only one disk so command will look like:
   
   Code:

   select disk 0

   where 0 is number of your disk (it could be 1 if you have os partition on 2nd disk)
   
9. Now you need to locate which partition contains OS:
   
   Code:

   list par

   
10. I assuming you remember size of your system partition, so according to select disk command, you need to select proper partition (for me its partition 1)
    
    Code:

    select par 1

    
11. Last thing is to set that partition to be active:
    
    Code:

    act

    

And thats it! Now you can type exit and begin with backup instructions posted in method A from 5. paragraph.

For me that was the only way to make backup of my data.

 

By doing this, does it mean the OneKey Recovery will no longer work?
I'm using Y500, and thanks for the useful info anyway...

 

Links for OKR are dead. Any alternative link? Can't find it anywhere...

 

I'm so confused. I accidentally formatted the whole hard drive and so all the partitions are gone. At the time what I was doing was trying to do a fresh install of windows 7 on the 32gb mstata SSD. So in my confusion should I run the OKR disk first then install the OS on the SSD? Or should I do it the other way around. I'm looking at Option B and C to be specific. I don't know which one to follow.