ThinkVantage button (partition) and Windows 7

Hey guys (and gals, Renee! I didn't forget! )

Pretty sure someone has figured this one out, so easier if I ask than try and reinvent the wheel.

I'm about to put a new drive in my T400 and put Windows 7 on it. However, I'd really like to have the recovery partition that is linked to the ThinkVantage button (currently labeled as SERVICEV003 (S: ) on my machine) on the system.

According to what I've heard here in the forum, Lenovo's latest recovery media uses a snapshot, rather than allowing for a custom install, so I'm guessing that's out. Is my only option to use Ghost or Acronis TrueImage to clone the partition to the new disk? What methods have worked for you?

Thanks, all.

 

Hi Lonewolf and thanks for remembering me. I know you'll shoot me, but I did a clean install on the t61 and have been very pleased that I did. Are you sure you want to go through the extra hasles and increased dependency on the recovery file for a less than totally professional result?

If I had it to do all over again, yes I'd make a back up of the orginal disks and make that my working copy. Before making the copy for the your system, I'd make sure that I had what was necessary for me.
-Renee

 

I kept the recovery partitions and just overwrote the original Vista installation partition. If you use the recovery disks they'll put the (S: ) partition back as well.

 

I wouldn't be so sure. I would think and I'm admittedly no expert, if you install Windows 7 it's going to mess with the MBR, which in turn would cause the blue button to not work. This has been the case on the machines I've done.

 

I had the same experience last time as you mention, but I wasn't paying super close attention to what I was doing, so it could have easily been my fault. I also did it as a dual-boot between Win7 and XP; this time, I plan to have only one OS --if I need a compatibility mode, I'll either use the WinXP add-on for Windows 7, or I'll use VMWare Player.

Since my previous post, I cloned the original drive with Acronis TrueImage, keeping all partitions the exact same. Shortly, I'm going to boot from the Win7 disc. I plan to try leaving the SERVICE003 partition intact, but delete the Vista partition and the LENOVO partition, and then create a new single partition for the Windows 7 OS. If it works, great --if not, I've wasted some time, but learned a lesson, and either way, maybe others will benefit from my experience.

 

UPDATE: Found out if I delete the LENOVO partition, ThinkVantage button stops working too. It appears that both partitions need to be present.

Decided it was no longer worth my time. Windows 7 is now installed clean.