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    T61\Vista Disc ?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by illini71, Aug 11, 2008.

  1. illini71

    illini71 Notebook Consultant

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    Will my new T61 come with a Vista install disc? I like to partition my drive into two drive one for storage one for windows. I have done it for years, will i run into any snags with the T61 in this setup. What will i need or have to do to make it work.
    Thanks,
     
    illini71, Aug 11, 2008
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  2. synic

    synic Notebook Deity

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    When I bought a T61P, it did not come with any Vista discs. It had that 6GB partition with all of the factory/recovery settings on it which you can make your own discs from though.

    As for an actual Vista disc, I downloaded and made my own Vista disc awhile ago when the files on mydigitallife were up. I don't think you'll be able to do this anymore though. Those files have been down for a long time now :(
     
    synic, Aug 11, 2008
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  3. msb0b

    msb0b Notebook Consultant

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    Vista can shrink NTFS partitions via computer management or diskpart. Maybe you can try that instead of doing a reinstall.
     
    msb0b, Aug 11, 2008
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  4. The Fire Snake

    The Fire Snake Notebook Virtuoso

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    First and foremost you will not get Vista discs with your machine, you need to make your own using the create recovery discs program. The discs are made by copying the contents of a hidden partition on your harddrive. Once the discs are made they contain the image of the machine on day one with all the Thinkvantage utilities, PC Doctor etc). Keep these around as a fall back.

    Next, you could play with shrinking the partition, but I am not sure if this is so reliable. Personally I would wipe the drive and repartition it to put Vista in one partition and your data in another. In order to do this you will need to follow one of the clean install guides on this site and get a copy of Vista. Check out Stallen's clean install below of Vista, it is geared towards a T61.

    Stallen's Guide
     
    The Fire Snake, Aug 11, 2008
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  5. illini71

    illini71 Notebook Consultant

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    Well i was afraid of that, So there is no way to do a clean install from the recovery? I should have just bought a oem vista disc.
     
    illini71, Aug 11, 2008
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  6. dohuy

    dohuy Notebook Consultant

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    No, you should still be able to do a clean Vista install. All you do is go Rescue and Recovery on boot by hitting the blue Thinkvantage button immediately after you power on. Then basically what you want to do is do a recovery to factory settings. You'll then be able to choose what software you want installed along with Vista. If you don't want anything along with vista, then just uncheck the boxes.
     
    dohuy, Aug 11, 2008
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  7. The Fire Snake

    The Fire Snake Notebook Virtuoso

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    Yes, I really hate this trend of no media and on top of that not getting an official Windows disk(without any other software) after paying for it!! :mad:

    There is supposed to be another way to do a clean install using one of the Thinkvantage utilities called "Base Software Administrator", but I don't know anything about it. You could experiment with that....
     
    The Fire Snake, Aug 11, 2008
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  8. keltix

    keltix Notebook Deity

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    just download vista oem disc

    i dont know if that is legal; maybe since you already have the license??
     
    keltix, Aug 11, 2008
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  9. illini71

    illini71 Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks alot guys for the info on this. I will do the recovery and try it that way.
     
    illini71, Aug 11, 2008
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