T500 complete system backup - what do you use?

Hi,

T500 owners with 3 partitions: What software do you use to create complete system backup that could be used to reinstall all 3 partitions on a new harddrive in case of failure? And have you tried to test the restore?

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I don't bother with the partitions, though you should make the recovery discs and a copy of the SWTools folder. I do a fresh install of which ever OS I'm using, the make an image of it with True Image. It's very easy to put back. I keep a backup of all my data on an external drive.

 

Acronis is awesome. I use it on all my systems.

 

Hi, yes I have created the recovery discs and confirmed that they work. I will make sure that I have a copy of SWTools also.

The thing is, I cant do a fresh install since I dont have the Vista dics (came pre-installed with Vista Business and no Vista DVD/CDs). I only have the recovery discs I created - so Im forced to come up with a backup plan that can take all 3 partitions (otherwise Vista wont boot after restore).

Any good suggestions? I guess I could fight the installation and force the boot files onto partition C but I'd rather not try that without a backup so...

 

Yes I like that too but have you tried to restore your T500 with a ATI backup? In default setup your Lenovo comes with C, Q and S partitions. And a DVD/CD as drive D (at least mine did). And that combination cannot be restored by ATI. According to their support you have to make the CD/DVD the last drive-letter on your system. Otherwise you might get into problems when doing a restore from the Linux boot cd.

Second I read this yesterday:
http://www.acronis.com/support/kb/topics/Products/cid/195/articles/1050/index.html. I dont want to find myself with useless (its useless if it cant restore what I took backup of) restore options if a disaster happens - to my knowledge W500 isnt that different from my T500 in disc setup.

Dont get me wrong - I have spend the last month evaluating all kinds of backup software and so far I like ATI the best - especially their support has proven really good. But at the end - if the software cant restore my system completely I cant use it

Have you tried to restore your T500 with all partitions?

 

I haven't used linux on my W500 or ever done a restore with linux + ATI either, but the Q drive and S partition are both useless after making your backup discs and after a clean format.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't the service003 partition that comes with the thinkpads only used with the original OS? If I do a clean install with a totally different OS, isn't that service003 partition useless? I thought it was just used to store some boot files used by your original OS.

If that's the case, then having just a backup of one drive (the C drive) is fine, isn't it? (If you've done a clean install.)

 

Acronis for me as well...I don't use the recovery partition however, that's usually one of the first things to go I can always reinstall my OS and download whatever drivers I need so don't see much need for the factory stuff.

 

The linux part is not installed - it is in case your harddrive is broken or similar. Then you cant (obviously) boot from it. Then you insert your ATI boot disc (theres a menu option for creating that in ATI) and that CD boots a small linux that gives your the nearly complete ATI software. Then the idea is that you can restore the latest backup set, to a new drive for example, and have your working Lenovo back within 1 hour. Thats what I intend to get out of this backup anyways. Dont want to spend ½ day installing and updating my system just because a harddrive is broken.

Afaik the T500 C-drive is your system drive. But it boots from the S-drive. The recovery section is on the Q-drive. So if I would take a backup of my C-drive only it surely wont boot.

I cant do a clean install. I dont understand everyone is talking about this. None - absolutely none - of the Lenovo T500 that I have seen shipped with Vista installed has the Vista DVD/CD's to go. How do you create a clean install without Vista DVD/CD?

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How can you reinstall your Vista? Did your T500 come with preinstalled Vista AND medias?

 

If you don't mind 32 bit, you can probably pick up an anytime upgrade disc on eBay for $10-20. The 64 bit version is difficult to find.

 

Yes Zaz, it is.

I backed my t61p and desktop with Vista backup. I needed to think through it because I had a complex systems disk consisting of partitions C,D,F,G and H:. I see now I just got C when then other partitions are more of interest. Luckily, I still have the desktop and it is not too late.
-Renee

 

I actually have one, a 64 bit Anytime Upgrade disc that is. I was thinking of selling on eBay, but have no idea how to price it.

 

If there are flaws in the following reasoning I would sure like to know about them now before I have a crash:

1. Once you made the recovery disks and have verified they are working you can erase your Q partition and use that space for better things

2. With a new HD when booting from the recovery disks they first recreate the S partition, then booting from S reads the rest of the recovery disks (creating a new Q partition?) then rebooting a third time recreating the factory set C partition.

3. You now have a fully functional system with network connectivity and can go out and get the last backup you did of your C partition with your favorite tool -- in my case I will install the Windows Home Server Client from CD and then pick up last nite's backup from my WHS.

 

Hi,

Well despite from number 2 I would say it is correct. I got myself a new harddrive and with my recovery discs I created the system as if it was a newly purchased laptop. I dont recall that it ever booted during the recovery - it just read in the DVD's and then reboots.

Funny you should mention WHS I just got that from technet the other day but havent tried it yet. Do you know for a fact that the backup thing works as Microsoft intended it? In any way I would not be 100% sure that the boot and Lenovo drives are untouched and unaltered as you gradually upgrades your system thru MS update and Lenovo update...I dont know, but they arent read only.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the restore process from the recovery DVD's takes about 2 hours. Which are completely wasted if just there existed some good software that could backup all partitions. But it seems that no such software exists - which does come as a complete surprise to me, I must say...

 

Yes I know its about 2 hours -- I did upgrade to a larger disk on my T42 recently. But I find its good at the end of those two hours to have a working system with all drivers installed even if backlevel, especially if as in my case the backup is out there on the network. And you can do other things during those two hours.

No I am not 100% sure the WHS solution will work, especially with all drivers backed up as advertised. And I havn't really had time to follow the WHS forums to find out. I am upgrading from 160 to 320 GB 7200 rpm and think I will take that as an opportunity to test a total restore from WHS.

ps I have the older version of the HP MediaSmart Server w 2TB upgradeable to 4TB. I am considering backing up the server online using this WHS Add-In if I can just figure out how to keep down the number of GB to backup to make it an affordable solution at $0.15 per GBmonth

 

On my T61 I used Acronis. Very straightforward to use.

 

But let me get this straight - did you backup all partitions? And did you test the restore?

 

I've tested the image restore with different (non-lenovo) machines. I successfully cloned my t61 partitions (t61 only has 2 partitions) onto a new drive. I don't think I ever restored from an image on the t61, but again have done that for 2 different machines.

 

Alright, thanks for the info. I just remember that I have my original T500 harddrive still with full data somewhere. I will conduct a system restore test on that to see how ATI behaves...it seems like the best of the alternatives.

 

Using ATI to clone a Vista T500 will work except it will not restore the Thinkvantage button, see for instance here.

On older Thinkpads one can get the corresponding button to work after cloning with ATI if before cloning one turns off the Predesktop area switch in bios, see here.

 

Did the upgrade from 160 to 320GB on my T500 first running the Lenovo recovery disks restoring to factory settings and then restoring my C: volume from WHS. Everything went smoothly and I can enter the service partition with the Thinkvantage/F11 button.

Now I also know that the only item you need to prepare for a WHS restore is to copy a folder appropriately named "Windows Home Server drivers for restore" from a backup on the server to a usb memory. The PC restore disk takes care of the rest installing the drivers and finding the server on the network.