Is it still possible to create Recovery Disks...

Hey,

So I ordered my T400 with the following optical device:

CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)

instead of the

DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)

Questions:
To my understanding, this means that I can't burn DVDs- is it still possible to create recovery disks then?

Also, I know that the optical devices are removeable, is there anywhere I can purchase a DVD recordable optical drive that fits my T400?


Thanks,
Jeff

 

You could create recovery CDs, but the media would span across 10 or more CDs. You could purchase an external USB optical drive instead of the more expensive venue of a whole new built-in one.

 

thanks,

does anyone know if I can purchase the DVD recordable from Lenovo or even pornt the recovery disks to an external harddrive

 

You can order recovery disks from Lenovo. I got it for free on UPS 2-day shipping, so you could simply try to ask them for free because those DVDs didn't come with the package.

Otherwise, you should be able to purchase an external DVD drive for anywhere between $70-100 on most of them offline.

You could get it for cheaper online but I didn't wanted to buy them from online and where I live, shipping cost is almost 1/3 of the product.

I bought Samsung external DVD drive for $69.99 ($30 instant rebate) with 2 year replacement plan at $14.99 at Circuit City. You should look out for the deal.

 

ummm...another question -

what's the point of creating Recovery Disks? If I'm planning to do a clean install of Windows Vista 64-Bit, shouldn't I create the Recovery Disks then so I won't have to deal with the bloatware if/when I do need to use the disks?


Sorry if I'm missing something important
Jeff

 

I just did my recovery disc this morning and it took 12 CD-R !

Took me around 2 hours... ****... hehe

hopefully I will never have to use them.

 

Here's one other option (and what I did) that is cheaper than buying an external DVD writer. Buy one of these USB-ATA adapter cables and hook it up to an internal DVD writer that you've got hanging around. You can get the cables for ~$20 + shipping; here's one at Newegg that looks pretty nice and would handle any drive you could throw at it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156017

I bought a similar one a while ago and it worked great for me for the hour or so to make the recovery discs.

 

Yariyari: You can do that. It's just means of in case if something happens.

hgl: CD-R takes longer than DVD-R to burn?

 

Probably due to the sheer number of discs + time to extract files from hidden partition before each disk.