T420, No factory restore option in the rescue and recovery

I purchased my T420 one year ago and have sufficiently "hosed it up" to the point I wanted to do a factory restore. I saved all my data then proceeded to create the CDs from the Q drive factory restore. I followed the instructs for more and more CDs and once I got up to #12 I noted that the time it was taking to create them was down from several minutes to several seconds. When I got to CD number 18 I thought "this is ridicules" and I popped CD 11 back in to look at its content (via Windows Explorer). I noted it had two folders: 1) Factory restore (or something like that) which was over 500 MB in size and 2) something about data. This "data" folder contained 1 KB of data. I then looked at all subsequent CDs (12-18) and they all only contained this data file. So, rather than continuing to make these (basically empty CDs) I stopped.
I then put the first CD in and rebooted the machine. The factory restore started and I swapped CDs until I got to 12. I put 12 in and it said the required data was not present and to insert the next CD. I did this until I ran out of the CDs I had created. I had to "X" out of the restore app and now when I boot I get nothing but a dimly lit screen and a flickering
hard drive light! Am I totally hosed here? How many CDs would it have required had I kept making them?
I am ( obviously) a novice. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Tom
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi Tom, welcome,
As you've discovered, it's a better choice to use DVDs for this. Actually 1 CD and then 2 or 3 DVDs. Too late for that
You have a couple of choices: call support and order a set of recovery media or do a clean install from Microsoft media.
Support will probably charge for the media. You can use Microsoft Win 7 (this is a win 7 machine ???) install media - either borrowed or downloaded - and activate with the CoA key on the sticker on your machine. Probably in the battery compartment. Use media that matches the install already on your laptop. Probably Win 7 Pro.
Google "legal windows 7 download notebook review" for links to ISOs. Burn _as an image_ to DVD. Once it's installed install ThinkVantage Sytem Update and let it pull down the drivers and apps for your machine.
United States
THINK-branded products
English
1-800-426-7378
24 hours/day
7 days/week
Z.
The large print: please read the Community Participation Rules before posting. Include as much information as possible: model, machine type, operating system, and a descriptive subject line. Do not include personal information: serial number, telephone number, email address, etc. The fine print: I do not work for, nor do I speak for Lenovo. Unsolicited private messages will be ignored. ... GeezBlog
English Community Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español Русскоязычное Сообщество

Similar Messages

Ideas to improve the Rescue and Recovery System

Hi,
some weeks ago I ned to restore my system, while this process there was some difficulties with the Rescue and Recovery. But First my configuration:
I'm using a T61p with Windows Vista Ultimate installed.
On the System there are 5 Partitions
1. Rescue and Recovery
2. Windows Bootstrap
3. BitLocker Encrypted Windows Partition
4. Linux /boot
5. Encrypted Linux LVM
So, one morning I tried to start my ThinkPad and nothing worked anymore. After a Short time I found out that the boot sector of the windows bootstrap partition was corrupted. The Linux Partition worked fine and was startable with a GRUB CD-Rom.
Ich checked out the Rescue and Recovery system and was sad that I isn't possible to recover the boot sector of the bootstrap partition. The only way to rescue my system was to reinstall windows at all!
Thats a bad solution, because you can recover the boot sector with every OEM-DVD of Windows Vista, but this DVD is not available for a ThinkPad user.
So I backuped my files and reinstalled the system. While the reinstallation process rescue and recovery gives the option to install windows on C:. But on such a multiboot configuration it is not very clear what drive C: is. After some experiment I think he is taking the first parition after Rescue and Recovery or the first free space after it. At this place it would be much better if I can choose a parition for the installation.
So, if a Lenovo engineer is reading this, please think about to:
- Include some tools like boot sector recovering in the Rescue and Recovery system
- Adding a mode where you can choose the parition to install Windows.
Over and above that I'm really happy with my ThinkPad.
Thanks for reading.

Greetings,
This isn't so much a reply to Cobelius, or a solution, but a commiseration of sorts. Or at least an "I hear ya, buddy, I wish they'd improve some things about Rescue and Recovery, too."
I notice that no one else has replied to this thread. I hope at least that someone will read these posts, and pass 'em on to the appropriate developers.
Here's my story:
I am, overall, extremely happy with my brand, spanking new T500. So far, I'm only running a single OS, Vista Business 64.
However, I did make the following 'tweaks' to my setup, which brings out the flaws in the Rescue and Recovery software:
1) I used Truecrypt 6.1a to encrypt my system partition (leaving the original rescue partition intact)
(Side Note: Where my original drive C came with tons of empty space, I used DISKPART to shrink it a bit an created another primary partition as drive D. Hey, why the heck not? Originally, I wanted TrueCrypt to encrypt the entire drive, but this failed. Truecrypt said this was due to a hardware failure, but 20 hours of my life wasted scanning the drive with HDD Regenerator 1.51 revealed no bad sectors. So now Drive D is encrypted as an ordinary TrueCrypt container and mounted upon login. I'm okay with this solution, but if anyone wants to research why TrueCrypt couldn't do the whole disk, you have my thanks in advance.)
2) I bought a Maxtor BlackArmor(tm) hardware-encrypted USB external drive to use for my backups. I successfully used the Lenovo Rescue and Recovery tool to both create specific file backups as well as to image my entire drive C onto the BlackArmor device, once I mounted it (by running a built-in executable and supplying it with my secret password)
3) I set a Lenovo BIOS password for unlocking the boot hard drive.
So far, so good. I type the BIOS drive password, then theTrueCrypt password, and Vista takes over 12 minutes to become usable and, well, that's a Microsoft issue, isn't it?
But, here's the deal: WHAT IF I CAN'T BOOT FROM THE HARD DRIVE ANYMORE? Well, TrueCrypt made me create a bootable rescue CD which can restore my encrypted boot sector or permanently decrypt my hard drive. What it can also do is let me press the ESC key to boot without providing a password, which does a supposedly wonderful thing -- since it fails to boot my drive C, it takes me straight into the Lenovo Rescue And Recovery session.
The problem is, the Lenovo boot (version 4) takes me AUTOMATICALLY into a self-repair utility which wastes another 10 minutes of my time to finally tell me --d'uh-- that my boot sector is 'corrupted' (it isn't; it's merely ENCRYPTED by TrueCrypt. As it should be).
FLAW NUMBER 1: Rescue and Recovery should provide a default menu where automatic diagnosis is a CHOICE the user can elect not to make, or abort if it has begun.
FLAW NUMBER 2: You guys should enhance what appears to be a Vista PE environment (or BartPE, or whatever) with a few utilities, including an Explorer-like browser to examine the disk (which would snow nothing in my case, as my drives are encrypted), and a command prompt, and the ability to launch executables. The environment should also recognize USB drives.
As it happens, I used a third-party Vista PE rescue CD, Active@ Partition Recovery, to boot an environment having the utilities I needed. Using this tool, I was able to recognize a USB key that had TrueCrypt installed in 'traveller' mode (no windows registry keys needed). Running this app and providing my truecrypt password enabled me to unlock my Drive C, albeit by mounting it as another drive letter. This made it possible to read and write to my disk.
The encrypted Maxtor drive is visible, too, from this boot environment, but it appears as a CD-ROM drive, and yields no secrets until you run an executable file on it and enter the drive's password. And that worked, too. So I could find files to copy over to my hard drive, if I needed to.
However, in order to RESTORE files to my drive, I'd still need to be able to run Rescue and Recovery, or at least the Recovery portion. Which brings me to:
FUNDAMENTAL FLAW NUMBER 3: You need to create a Recovery tool that can run from within an external USB drive, without requiring shared .DLLs in various subfolders or windows registry entries. Lord knows, I certainly tried to copy RestoreNow.exe from C:\Program Files (x86)\Lenovo\Rescue and Recovery onto my Maxtor drive, along with whatever DLLs it called for, but it was hopeless. The damned thing just wouldn't run from the USB drive on the PE environment.
The way I see it, then, is that there really is no way to restore my hard drive should I suffer a catastrophic failure. Major bummer.
FUNDAMENTAL FLAW NUMBER 4: When I got my laptop, I created a series of recovery disks using the Lenovo supplied software. Booting with the first CD, however, only proved depressing, as I had to agree that the ONLY purpose for this CD was to recover my PC to factory-shipped condition. Which meant erasing my drive and restoring it with the contents of the other DVDs. But I want to restore what I backed up with Rescue and Recovery! My life SINCE the laptop shipped from the factory! Geez, Louise, why not let me choose to do THAT, too?
(Of course, the boot CD would need to allow me to execute the Maxtor program that unlocks my encrypted USB drive, and also let me execute TrueCrypt to unlock my hard drive.)
I sure hope someone forwards this to a developer who'll take it seriously, after s/he stops chuckling. You guys should just ship a usable Vista PE rescue CD with every laptop, I think. And a recovery-only tool that doesn't need DLLs or Registry Entries to run. It would help in so many ways.
In the meantime, I guess I'd better do all I can to ensure my laptop's hard drive doesn't die on me.
Again, other than for this teeny problem that "don't amount to a hill o' beans in this crazy world," I'm really happy with my T500.
Thanks for reading this, too. And happy holidays.

Issues with a T61 harddisk, UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME, cannot also get in the Rescue and Recovery

Dear Lenovo Support Community,
I have a T61 with XP pro on it. This is the history of my harddisk problems with it:
(the harddisk is HDD0 Fujitsu MHW21160BJ G1 and everything in laptop (HW and SW) are same as the factory sold one)
1. Unfortunately I had not made any recovery cd/dvd when the computer was healthy
2. Some time ago, after a crash, and during the chkdsk in the following boot up, harddisk showed 12kb bad sector
3. Due to more crashes and not being able to login once, went to rescue & recovery and only recovered OS to an old and healthy state. Kept my data, lost all the new programs installed but got the OS fine and running. --> I guess the bad thing that may have happened is that recovered OS may have used those bad sectors as well, but this is just a guess.
4. Problems, slow downs, the 12kb bad sector, issues kept coming back every couple or few weeks. Repeated the rescue and recovery OS installations another two times.
5. Few days ago, all was good, but needed to restart, but this time a blue screen came up with UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME. This screen comes up even if I try to go into safe mode, with networking, or even with only DOS prompt.
6. Tried to go to rescue and recovery (version 4), it took a really long time and was telling me that something wrong with the file \minit\setupapi.log and after a long long time that it got in the page for rescue and recovery, it was not doing anything by clicking on any of the buttons.
7. Took the hard out, connected it through an external enclosure to another computer, the main drive could not be read at all, I/O error, not distinguishable.
8. But the SERVICE drive was understood and I could even run chkdsk /F F:\ on it and it repaired the file mentioned above (\minit\setupapi.log).
9. Put the hard back into T61, went to rescue & recovery, this time the error on the file was not showing up, but since the step #8, I have not been able to get pass the initial screen of rescue & recovery. It doesn't go in at all.
10. Found it through Google search, the famous post on this forum about fixing the Master Boot Record. Got the little program, burned on a CD, went through all of its steps, finished as described in the famous thread, but I am not sure if it has been any help to me so far.
11. In few other occasions, connected the hard through the external enclosure to another computer and found online and used programs like Disk Doctors Windows Recovery Data and EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard and was able to just read inside both NTFS main disk and FAT32 service disk (windows can also read the service disk but cannot read the main disk). Using the free version of EASEUS, I could even read and save my personal data since my last backup, so I am good to even format the T61 hard but still I don't want to give up on that.
12. While the lenovo harddisk is in it, in a restart went to BIOS (F1) and ran the harddisk diagnosis, It said: "Pass: Controller Diag, Error code 0000: Read verification failed". And after the "Test complete", it gave a red message in the middle of screen that "<<< An error was found. Call for service >>>"
13. As mentioned in #1, I don't have Lenovo's recovery Windows XP CD(s) for T61, but I have some other windows xp installation CD's, I thought I can put them in CD drive, boot up from CD, and try to recover or repair the windows, It seems that they tell me there is no harddisk in your computer!! When I press "R" to go to recovery console, it tells me: "Setup did not find any hard drives installed in your computer."
My questions for dear members of this forum are:
1. Can I recover my T61 harddisk with the above description? It is being read nicely with the recovery programs, so it should have not been damaged seriously. Please guide me to other things that I can try?
2. I can see and read the Service part of the drive from Windows (no recovery program needed) while connecting the drive through external enclosure to another computer. Can I run a program from the Service part of disk and make those T61 Recovery CD and DVD?
3. If I purchase the Recovery CD(s) from Lenovo, would they be doing any magic or help in my case described above?
4. Can I make recovery CD(s) from another T61 laptop and use them for mine?
Thanks all for reading my long post and helping me. God Bless.
Best Regards,
AL_K

Step One: Install windows
Step Two: run system update
Step Three: Your done (optionally have a beer and relax)
Sorry, step three was a bit of humor I added.
Actually these recovery CDs were produced before the first T61 was made, probably in 2006. The T61 line was replaced in 2008.
You can activate with the code on your COA, I've done it many times, just make sure you do a full (new) installation, not an upgrade, from an oem disc.
If you do end up using the original product recovery disc set, your steps are more like this...
1. Install disc one... wait 30-60mins
2. Install disc two... wait 30-60mins
3. Install disc three... wait 30-60mins
4. Install disc four... wait 30-60mins
5. Install disc five... wait 30-60mins
6. Install disc six... wait 30-60mins
7. Install disc seven... wait 30-60mins
8. Install disc eight... wait 30-60mins
9. download latest service pack for windows and install (over an hour)
10. Install (replace old version) system update and run.
11. go to windows update and update several years worth of patches and hotfixes. (1-4 hours)
12. kick back and have a warm beer and cold pizza, if there is any left after I finished hours ago and celibrated already.
Also, after going through all that, you've not only installed windows, then replaced nearly the entire operating system, but you've also used valuable harddisc space to make several redundant copies of the outdated files, drivers and apps.
Please understand, I'm not saying the recovery discs are a bad design, they work great, and back in 2006-7-8-9 I'd happily go through all that work, but today all the stuff on them is to old so it's futile to go through all that. It would be really nice if Lenovo updated the install discs, and we could download the latest version to use, but they basically just leave them untouched after the model line is released, so nothing on that disc is newer then about 2006.
I'll also add that both George and I have done this well over 100 times each, so we wouldn't be suggesting this if it wasn't the best option, but in the end you'll have a working system no matter which route you take to get there, so the only question to ask yourself is...
Do you like your beer cold and your pizza hot
Good luck, and enjoy your endeavours
ThinkPad W-510 i7-820QM(1.73-3.06GHz) Quad Core... ThinkPad T500, T9900, 8gb SSD...FrankNpad T-60p/61p (X9000 2.8ghz) 8gb SSD ips FlexView...ThinkPad T-61p (T9300 2.5ghz) 8gb ram...Thinkpad X-61 Tablet 4gb ram...ThinkPad A-31 (1.9ghz P4 1.5gb ram)

How to partition HD in order to load the rescue and recovery backup

HI All,
Can anyone tell me how to properly partition the HD in order for the Blue Button(thinkVantage) to work again?
Does it matter in the order how you create the partition...? (I create one partition then separate them via Partition Manager)
I load the image back via Norton Ghost v10... but the Rescue and Recovery section is not responding... I remember the section is created as (EISA system) as it is reported by Disk Manger (not extended or logical type)
Please help here...
thanks

One work-around that I have used successfully when I had an Acronis image but no R&R image is to do a full restore to factory using the factory recovery media (from Lenovo or home made on the TP) and then restoring only the windows partition from the non-Lenovo image. This should leave the service partition, the MBR, and track 0 in the Lenovo mystery mode, and let the think button work, and you get your cloned up-to-date OS.
I should add that in one of my experiments w/multi-booting and fiddling partitions, after using this procedure with Vista on my T400, vista wouldn't boot. It required a bootable vista DVD to run the vista boot repair procedure (twice). After that, "think" and vista booted as expected. I don't know of any way to do that with Lenovo install media. If no MS Vista DVD is available, there are stripped down versions with the repair stuff only floating around the web. The usual precautions re downloads apply. There may be manual ways to repair the vista boot stuff that I haven't found yet.
I can't say with certainty that this will always be necessary. I may have screwed something up during the two step restore process.
The magic "think" button is (potentially) pretty useful, but it and the "new improved" vista boot process are a little too fragile, IMNSHO.
Z.
The large print: please read the Community Participation Rules before posting. Include as much information as possible: model, machine type, operating system, and a descriptive subject line. Do not include personal information: serial number, telephone number, email address, etc. The fine print: I do not work for, nor do I speak for Lenovo. Unsolicited private messages will be ignored. ... GeezBlog
English Community Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español Русскоязычное Сообщество

How to use the rescue and recovery, and the product recovery discs ?

Hi everyone,
I've just recently became a new owner of a T61, and really enjoying it. I haven't had a chance yet to test-drive the lenovo phone support, as I have not yet screwed anything up that bad that required their help. I did try a clean factory reinstall from the service partition and it worked great. I would like to find out, how does one use the rescue and recovery startup disc, and the product recovery discs that I created myself? From my previous experience with Dell and HP, I only had to insert the first one and restart the computer, and the rest followed. But with ThinkPads, if I ever wanted to bring it to a clean factory state using those discs, do I use rescue and recovery first, followed by the product recovery? I'm curious, what is the difference between the two?
T61 (7658CTO), T9300, 3GB, 250GB, XP Pro
Solved!
Go to Solution.

blake_ibm wrote:
Hi! I'm blake
There is no diff between the two... One is on the Hard Drive and the other on CD/DVD.
Having the HDD version (pre-installed) is a good for trouble shooting. It uses a whole diff O/S on a whole diff partition (not C.
So if you are having problems and boot to RnR (via F11), and those problems go away. you know your issue is software related. If you still have the same problems probly Hardware related... IT IS AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO TAKE WINDOWS OUT OF THE PROBLEM.
Other then that. You can re-image another HDD from disks, you can't do that with the F11 version.
dose all that make sense?
Hi blake_ibm,
Thanks. All this makes perfect sense to me, but that's not what I'm asking for. My question is this: if I wanted to bring my notebook to its factory shipped condition using my recovery cd's, how do I do that? Do I insert cd1 first and then restart the notebook, or do I just insert it without restarting it, or perhaps I should use first the rescue and recovery?
You said that there is no difference between the two, but what two are you talking about man? I am not comparing cd recovery to partition recovery. I am talking about rescue and recovery cd, with system recovery cd's. These are the two things that I'm talking about.
I'm really grateful for all replies, but please people, read the question first !!!
I would really appreciate if someone could explain the steps involved in performing a clean factory recovery, using the cd's, and not the recovery partition. I just want to know for the future, in case one day I have to do it. That is all I'm asking.
T61 (7658CTO), T9300, 3GB, 250GB, XP Pro

Can the rescue and recovery function be infect with a trojan virus?

I had some trouble with trojan viruses. My scan software detected malware on my system which I deleted with the help of the antivirus software antivir (free version) and with the software malwarebytes.
My thinkpad r51 is still running and virus scans do not show any problems any more. But I am not quite sure if I can trust the scans. So I am thinking about to format the harddisk and setup a new system. Or to use the rescue and recovery function which says that the system will be put back to its initial state. Is it really possible to bring the system back to its original state with help of rescue and recovery? ? I am a little bit afraid that the rescue and recovery function might be infected too? How does the function work? Can the system really be put back to its original state?
Any help appreciated, thanks!
Tom
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi,
if you have a virus on your system, then there is a realy small chance, that the virus got also into the Service Partition.
So in this situation if you want to restore the system , then after the restore finish, the virus should surely be gone.
Service partition is a protected partition, which content can not be accessed just like that .
Rgrds

Unable to access the Rescue and Recovery workspace upon reboot

Hello forum.
I have a problem with getting access to the Rescue and Recovery area when I reboot.
Even though I have tried to hit both Enter, F11 and Lenovo Care bottom, I still do not get access to the Rescue and Recovery area. Instead the system just boot as normal, and Vista starts up. However hitting the F1 I get access to the BIOS, so can anyone help me with a solution on how to get access to the Rescue and Recovery area??
Regards
Bjorn

Hello Bjorn, welcome to Lenovo forums!
Sorry about your situation, but forum rules prohibit any password bypasses. You'll need to get relief from the previous owner. Locking thread.
Follow @LenovoForums on Twitter! Try the forum search, before first posting: Forum Search Option
Please insert your type, model (not S/N) number and used OS in your posts.
I´m a volunteer here using New X1 Carbon, ThinkPad Yoga, Yoga 11s, Yoga 13, T430s,T510, X220t, IdeaCentre B540.
TIP: If your computer runs satisfactorily now, it may not be necessary to update the system.
English Community Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español

How to make the RESCUE AND RECOVERY hidden partition when changing the hard disk drive

I've got T61 and I'd like to know if is it possible (in case of changing the HDD) to make the RESCUE AND RECOVERY hidden partition on the new hard disk drive? If yes - please let me know how to do that.

hi you the rescue partition is made automatically when you use your recovery cd's on the new HDD so no problem there!
Cheers and regards,
• » νιנαｿѕαяα∂нι ѕαмανє∂αм ™ « •
●๋•کáŕádhí'ک díáŕý ツ
I am a volunteer here. I don't work for Lenovo

X61s Type 7669 - URGENTLY need the Rescue and Recovery CD (1/1)

Can someone please help, I need the Rescue and Recovery CD (1/1) as I have all the other Recovery CDs but I can't find the one I really need.
Is anyone able to create an image (.iso) file that I can download?
PLEEEEAASE HELP!

ukdealguide,
You're asking someone to make an illegal copy of a Microsoft/Lenovo CD. That's also against forum rules.
Call Lenovo for a new Rescue and Recovery CD set.
Thread locked.
Message Edited by bananaman on 05-18-2009 06:43 AM
I don't work for Lenovo. I'm a crazy volunteer!

ERROR occured when update the ""Rescue and Recovery 4.2""......

dear all, i'm a newbie with the TP notebook, and i'm a chinese , sorry for my POOR english !!
hope you all will understand what i explain now......
i just buy a T61 last nite, but when i try to "UPDATE" my system, two error message shown to me.........
Error 25013: Error obtaining the Rescue and Environment drive letter
Error 25012: Error accessing the Rescue and Recovery service partition
at last, i can't finish the "Rescue and Recovery UPdate" anyway !!
and i've try to download the "Rescue and Recovery 4.2" from the web manually, but got the same error occured !!
anyone try before ?
pls help me to solve the problem !!
P.S. because i just buy my T61 within 24 hrs, i'm so worry about this !!
thanks so much !!
Regards

Hi Mark,
Good idea! No luck though, although my R&R partition is still healthy and boots nicely. I'm wondering if the solution wasn't actually the removal of your second hard drive. Other threads discuss how getting rid of network shares helped similar problems, as R&R wanted to use drive letters that were already taken by network drives. Me, I've got an "F:" that's my swap partition and a "G:" that's my fat32 partition. If the R&R upgrade program is hardcoded to mount the hidden partition as "F:" (for example), rather than trying to dynamically grab the first available drive letter, I could understand what was going on.
I'd unmount my F and G partitions if I knew how to do so in windows, but don't know of an nondestructive way to do this.
With a specific idea like this my normal (linux) next step would be to go read the source and find out if that really is the problem. Can't do that in this case unfortunately, but if a Lenovite happens to be reading this forum and can direct me to the proper place to submit a real bug report, I'll do so. Can only find service call info on the website, which doesn't help to submit a bug.
Alec

Error 25011. A file required to install the Rescue and Recovery environment could not be located

Hello everybody,
May I have your help and support on this error I faced with in installing the new Rescue and Recovery Version 4.5
"Error 25011. A file required to install the Rescue and Recovery environment could not be located. This setup cannot proceed. Make sure that the correct .tv.t file is located in the same as this setup package and restart this setup."
Awaiting,
Thanks
Hossein

heya,
I hope you managed to sort your issue out.
It's namely mentioned here - http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-69170.html
cheers
norbs

Difference between the Q partition recoverable Boot and the Rescue and Recovery??

Hi,
What is the difference between the two?? Sorry if this is a stupid question lol Can I still back up from previous state using rescue and recovery if i do not have the Q partition?? b/c i do not think I will ever bring this laptop to the factory state again.

someotherguy wrote:
One tip: make sure your external HDD is bootable by pressing F12 at Lenovo BIOS screen and choosing the USB HDD. If it's not bootable, then use the "create rescue media" function of Rescue & Recovery to make it bootable.
If you do this, look very carefully for a check box that says something like "preserve existing data" or your drive will be formatted before being made bootable. You backup will be lost. You can always make another one, but sure as bread falls butter-side down, your HD will fail between formatting and the next backup...
Z.
The large print: please read the Community Participation Rules before posting. Include as much information as possible: model, machine type, operating system, and a descriptive subject line. Do not include personal information: serial number, telephone number, email address, etc. The fine print: I do not work for, nor do I speak for Lenovo. Unsolicited private messages will be ignored. ... GeezBlog
English Community Deutsche Community Comunidad en Español Русскоязычное Сообщество

Press the restore option on the Iphone, and has been 2 days off

I press the restore general adjusment bottom at the setting in the Iphone, and since then I can be able to make it work. At first it seems like it was restoring, then when like off, and every time I try to push the ON bottom or the ON and the Home bottom, I only get the apple logo at the screen. Does it takes long to restore¿? should I just give it more time¿?. I even try plugging to the Itunes, but it wont recognice the Iphone, it shows like is not plug-in the computer.
what can I do¿?

See this:
iPhone and iPod touch: Unable to restore

Rescue and Recovery 4 and X31 HPA Restore Your Backups

Good morning!
Installed a new hard drive on my X31. I used a purchased set of official restore media to do a clean install of Windows XP with the HPA Predesktop Area in place.
Two weeks later all of my Windows and ThinkPad updates are complete and I am ready for a clean backup.
I installed Rescue and Recovery 4.23 and after a false start, I successfully made a backup to a USB Hard Drive that will boot into ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery. The Windows software seems to be fully functional.
On normal bootup, however, if I use F11 or the Access IBM button, I am taken to the original Predesktop HPA interface -- so the partition is really there. The Factory Restore appears to now be functioning if I ever wanted to use it.
My problem (or questions) relates to the "Restore Your Backups" icon. When I select it, I get the message: "IBM Rapid Restore PC is not installed. Press the enter key to reboot to Windows and install IBM Rapid Restore PC."
Therefore, that portion of the HPA is not accessible.
And, therefore, other than a factory restore, there is no way to run restore from the HPA.
So, here are my questions:
1. Is there anyway to put the Rescue and Recovery 4 predesktop area in this HPA?
2. If so, would it wipe out the Factory Restore option?
3. Should I have made at least one backup with "IBM Rapid Restore PC" before the "Rescue and Recovery 4" installer removed it?
4. Is there any space on the HPA I can recover?
5. Is there a tool or method to delete the "Restore Your Backups" icon if it is non-functional?
This may all seem not that important but I do care about this awesome X31 and I really would like to know how all of these competing technologies interface with each other.
Thanks for any help.,
Charlie

> ... it does not support X30 or X31, this could be part of the problem.
It also says that it *** may *** work on other systems. My experience is that if the IBM/Lenovo software supports the X32 (and RNR4 does), then it will work just fine on the X31 (example: Access Connections; exceptions: drivers that are specific to the very few hardware differences like CDC daughter cards -- Bluetooth).
The existing version was uninstalled and it was "way older" than what is covered in those special instructions (thanks, I did check it out -- no directory or utility present).
This is probably the end point for me -- good advice: "If that does not work, and if R&R under Windows works, you might create Recovery media and then boot from that if you want to restore from backups."
So, here is one new idea and one new confusion:
The last "official" RNR that supports the X31 was version 3.1 but it contains this somewhat cryptic (to me) caveat:
Consideration 12
computers that have a hidden protected area (HPA), also referred
to as PARTIES, and have the Rescue and Recovery program installed
will not be able to boot into either the PARTIES or Rescue and
Recovery workspace after recovering the original factory contents.
To enable the PARTIES area again, restore a backup using either the
Rescue and Recovery program in the Windows environment or by booting
from rescue media and then uninstall the Rescue and Recovery program.
My thought: Should I uninstall RNR4, install RNR3.1, and then upgrade to RNR4?
My confusion: There are apparently two types of predesktop areas: HPA and Type 12.
Do RNR3 and RNR4 only use Type 12? If so, can it coexist with the HPA, can it replace the HPA on its own, or do RNR3 and RNR4 not install the Type 12 space nor update the HPA if the installer finds an intact HPA?
To recap, what I have now is an HPA as it would have existed in 2004. I have a working RNR4 in Windows. The Access IBM button and F11 boot to the HPA. What I would like is an RNR4 predesktop area that can do a factory restore.
Any more help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Charlie

Rescue and Recovery - how can I move backups to another location

I would like to move ma backups from an external drive to other drive. I don't want to make a new full backup but I want to have access to all the previous backups but I just want to use some other external drive. I can't find an option in the Rescue and Recovery Software. Can I just copy the files to the new drive? I am afraid that there would be an error when I try to recover from the backup if I just copy them. Anyone ever tried to copy the backups and then recover from it?

I believe you should not have a problem. The \RRbackups is a "flat" file, geometry not a factor. If the backup external went from basic, to EFI, that might present problems.
What RNR version are you running? Version 5.1 stores more device info/attributes on 2nd HDD, and multiple partitions on the C drive.
Changes in this release:
[New functions or enhancements]
- Added an Active Directory Manager (ADM) setting to set the Create Rescue Media (CRM) function to external media.
- Added support for the unattended backup when you log off the system.
- Added support for the compatibility with the backup on any other computer that is in the same model with your computer if both computers are installed with the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system.
- It enables you to designate the hard disk drive where the Rescue and Recovery program stores the backup and designate the hard disk drive that you attempt to restore.Added support on the computer that is installed with more than one hard disk drive.
==
I dont think this is a issue with you. It seems the comments support multiple HDD like 3 on a system, choose HDD 1, 2 or 3. RNR 5.1 does add more registry entries to registry for all HDD's avaliable. And maybe C drive, partition 1. D drive partition 2, on the same physical. I want to backup C to partition 2. I can't confirm this.
Added support on the computer that is installed with more than one hard disk drive. <release notes. Boring, it has support 2nd hdd for years.
==
(1) What size is your \RRbackups to external old? 5 backups, 32?
(2) copy external old to new. The registry entries SHOULD not know any difference. You got 5 backups on external.
(3) Try a single file restore.
(4) Take a incremental backup to new external.
(5) 10 minutes later, try a FULL restore from item 4.
You might be the 1st user to ever do this, and it should work. I would take 1 last final backup to old external to be on the safe side of things.

T420, No factory restore option in the rescue and recovery

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for