Twist howto restore defaults *including​* partitions​/bootloade​r after they were deleted?

Question

In recent months, while experiementing with Ubuntu installs and dualboot setups, I intentionally deleted all of the factory partitons on the 500GB internal drive - and in doing so also deleted the factory bootloader/GPT by mistake.
At present my Twist works fine (I'm using it now in EFI mode with a GPT), but only has Ubuntu on it, and now that I've been through all of this what I want is to reset the Twist back to its factory state (including the boot loader and GPT partitions and recovery info and Win8 install and so on), and then later I'll start over with Ubuntu to end up with a working dualboot.
However, since deleting the original partitions and GPT boot loader - I've no idea how to get it back to original/stock.
What I think I want is simply a copy of the entire Disk Image that was surely/probably used originally, which includes the parition table and boot loader and the recovery parition and the OS partiton with Win8 installed, and all that jazz.
So a few weeks ago I called Lenovo support, who didn't have any useful advice - but they did mail me some DVDs... specifically: "Operating System Recovery Disc Windows 8 (OEM Activation 3.0 Required)" which is two DVDs.
However, in browsing those DVDs they don't look like regular bootable install discs, and there's no clear instruction regarding how to use these DVDs that includes what to do if the drive/partitons/boot loader had been wiped, as all of the instructions presume the original partitions and recovery tools are still there.
I'm not worried about preserving any data currently on the drive or preserving the current Linux install, I've already saved my data elsewhere and will just reintstall Lunix later.
It seems so straight forward.  For instance, if I'd used something like Ghost to create an image of the entire drive I could easily put it all back myself, but I didn't, so I'm hoping (I think) to get a copy of the Lenovo image of some equivalent.  Surely something like this exists, else how would they setup a new machine or a new physical drive?
I love Ununtu on this machine, and it covers about 95% of my computing needs, but some things just won't work in an emulator such as Wine and instead require me to have a working Windows install too.
Ideas?   I need to get this sorted asap.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Hello,
I don't have my ThinkPad S230u with me right now, so I cannot give step-by-step instructions, but from my notes I see that I received four DVDs from Lenovo support to recover the machine, labeled:
OS Recovery Disc Windows 8 (1 of 2)
OS Recovery Disc Windows 8 (2 of 2)
Applications and Drivers Recovery Disc for S230u Type 3347 (1 of 2)
Applications and Drivers Recovery Disc for S230u Type 3347 (2 of 2)
I connected an external USB DVD±RW disc drive to my S230u, booted from the first OS Recovery Disc, and proceeded to switch through the remaining three discs until the recovery program asked me if I had any more discs to load.  At that point, I selected No or Cancel (don't remember the exact option, but it was something like that), and was prompted to eject the DVD.  I did that, and the S230u then began the remaining process of reinstalling the operating system.
Unfortunately, I am unsure of how long that took, since I went with friends that evening, but it was definitely done later that evening or at least by the early morning hours.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
I am a volunteer and neither a Lenovo nor a Microsoft employee. • Dexter is a good dog • Dexter je dobrý pes
S230u (3347-4HU) • X220 (4286-CTO) • W510 (4318-CTO) • W530 (2441-4R3) • X100e (3508-CTO) • X120e (0596-CTO) • T61p (6459-CTO) • T43p (2678-H7U) • T42 (2378-R4U) • T23 (2648-LU7)
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