new t410 backup and image

I just recieved my new t410. if i make a system image, do i need to make a system repair disc as well? do you guys recommend making both or one or the other? thanks

also, i read somewhere (the search function couldn't find it), the boot disc can only be made on a cd-r, but the data discs can dvd+r. is that true?

 

I would do both, and do the image before you do the repair disks (which can only be made once, presumably, per image). The repair disks are handy if you want to remove your Recovery partition, and just restore from the CD/DVD repair disks.

My repair boot disk is DVD-R. The repair data disks are 2 single-sided DVD-R.

 

oh shoot i made my repair disks first and i haven't made a backup of the recovery partition. does this mean that when i create a backup of the recovery partition and restore it to a hdd the partition still won't allow rescue disks to be created?

 

Your recovery disks will recreate the recovery partition (it did for me). I don't think the recovery disk limit (i.e. you can only create one set of disks) is stored within the recovery partition itself, my guess is this is stored on the primary file system or Windows registry. But just a guess.

My point earlier was, if you image an entire HDD (i.e. Acronis) before you create the Recovery disks, your HDD image should not have a record of the Recovery disks ever being made, in any partition, so presumably you should be able to create Recovery disks again (and again) using a fresh copy of the image.

 

thanks for the feedback guys. when i choose to make a system image from the control panel, i get the option to backup 3 drives... System_Drv, Windows 7 OS C:, and lenovo Recovery Q:. by default, the recovery is NOT selected. should i select or not select to back that up? will it have an effect on the repair discs that I'll make after the image and will it effect when I reimage on to a SSD?

 

My experience are:

- Create the set of recovery disc by think advantage (you need one CD for the boot and one DVD for the system). Keep these CD/DVD in safe place.
- Use Acronis to backup image of the C:\ by using the backup partion.

In the future, in case you want to restore the laptop to the original factory, you can use the above set of disc.

In case you want to have quick restoration to what you plan before backup then use Acronis.