t400 create recovery/rescue

i just tried to create the rescue disks for my vista/t400
but it only made the start up disc and exited

is that all thats necessary?

 

If anything like my x61t it shound make 2 dvd full of stuff you might want to go into try burn disk again

when i start creat rescure and recovery media it give you

you option of rescure media type cd /dvd

below that give you opton of createing recovery disk

 

it also says NOTE: DVD-RAM IS NOT SUPPORTED

 

I had trouble with this too. Lenovo has changed it around, so you have to use a different program to create the product recovery discs. You want to use the "Create Product Recovery Media" tool under Thinkvantage to create the discs.

 

Yes dvd ram disk are not + and - are

mean only single layer disk

dvd ram = dail lay 8 gig they not support for recovery disk

 

ok thank you

 

I think since the T400 is so new, Lenovo hasn't dialed in this whole recovery process yet. I've made the 2 recovery DVDs (as you guys said DVD+R isn't supported). Then when I went to recover, they were trying to execute a script on the C:\ drive. However, the script is on the S:\ drive of my Lenovo (and that's how it came from the factory). The ThinkVantage recovery console doesn't work at all for me.

I'm interested in how Lenovo helps me out as I'm sitting here with a big brick of uselessness.

 

wait, i though DVD-R and DVD+R are supported

 

http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2003/DVDFormatsExplained.asp

dvd-ram are "discs can be recorded and erased repeatedly but are compatible only with devices manufactured by the companies that support the DVD-RAM format", i guess (not supported)

 

tried again but same result..only made START UP disk and exited

and now the Lenovo Partition is gone..hiding?

 

When you type 'recovery' on the search box, you have to click 'Create Product Recovery Media.' There were two recovery options shown.

It should create 1 start up disc (very small) and 2 product recovery discs (very large).

You should just do a custom factory install; it will let you choose applications and drivers of your choice.

I'm first time Lenovo user (been Vaio user for past 8 years) and I had hard time trying to figure out after I deleted the partition.

 

I found two: Create Product Recovery Media and Create Product Recovery Media

the first one I thought was uselss: it made two disks like 20 MB each....

the second one is the one that only make one kinda big 200MB


i can no longer access the Create Recovery Media because it only let me burn it once......DAM

 

You can make discs through Create Recovery Media. it should ask you for three DVDs in total. I don't have the exact number, but first one was few hundred MB and other two were about 4GB each.

If you can't access Recovery Media, you'd have to do a factory install, I believe, to access it again.

 

suppose i dont burn these discs....can i still use thinkvantage if something goes HORRIBLY WRONG or I wipe C: and install XP

 

If you should still have recovery partition in tact, you can do factory or custom factory through R&R after the boot.

 

a better way to make your own recovery disc IMO is to do a clean install of the OS, install all the drivers & make all the tweaks in the OS(disable unnecessary services, custom startup programs/services, advanced power settings, fixed page file size, etc....) then use a program like norton ghost or such to make an image of the drive. When you need to restore your laptop, just pull out the drive and make a clone with the saved image, put it back in then you're good to go.

The advantage of using this method over the built-in one are:
- no bloatware
- saves you time on doing all the customizations after the recovery
- faster & more efficient system

 

You can do custom factory install with new Lenovo laptops though. You can basically choose whatever applications/drivers you want to install. X200 alone had about 75 drivers available if you were to download and install them.

 

how do i do a custom factory install, it sounds nice

EDIT: i just read above, through boot right?

 

Yes. You should see two options available: Full Factory or Custom Factory.

 

ok so i had a quick question about my T500 then!

i picked the option with Windows Vista Business with the Windows XP recovery DVDs. if i was to screw something up on my laptop, what would be the best way to reinstall VISTA? through r&r??

 

if it works, yea for sure
it's the only way...there are a couple way to do RnR:

disks
thinkvantage boot

 

Do you guys really need to make recovery media discs when there's already the hidden partition for reinstalling anytime.

 

That's not much good if the drive itself goes bad and has to be replaced or if you decide you want to upgrade to a larger drive.

 

my recovery partition is not working there is no F11 button

 

Really? So with the recovery DVDs I've burned I could reinstall Vista and the drivers I want from those without the bloat? That's handy.

Not as much bloat as I expected though, so far I'm more or less deciding against a clean wipe & install.

 

how is RnR suppoused to work?
press thinkvantage > f11 ??

 

I'm guessing that it is supposed to be the new feature(?) offered by Lenovo. Sony has been offering free clean install through CTO. So I guess it's the new trend.

 

If you have recovery partition, you should be able to do it directly by pressing ThinkVantage button.

 

sh*t
i guess i dont have the recovery partition
because when i press i get three options:

Startup Interrupt Menu
Press one of the following keys to continue:
ESC to resume normal stratup
F1 to enter the BIOS Setup Utility
F12 to choose a temporary startup device

Press ENTER to pause ....

 

So wat specific type of DVD you need for creating those recovery disc?

 

You can use F12 to select DVD drive to boot first after you switch boot option by using F1. I didn't have F11 option. I think those F options varies from manufacturers to manufacturers.

My X200 shows the recovery partition [Q:] on Windows, so I think you should be able to see if you should still have one.

 

dont mean to double post but i want to let anyone know to be careful and make sure the discs work.

 

my disks don't work either AND
my recovery partitioned was made unfunctional/hidden/deleted after it made the crappy disks

So the people at IBM don't have any recovery disks?

 

they probably do but no one was able to find them. cuz the HM has the part numbers. thats why i am gona wait a bit before i reorder hopefully enough returns will make them fix it.

 

Call Lenovo technical support. They sent me a free recovery disc using UPS 2-3 day (probably because I live in Hawai'i) which includes 3 DVDs; one was operating system disc, other was product recovery disc, and there was one more, but I don't remember the name.

 

In my opinion, Rescue and Recovery was bit confusing compared to other manufacturer's recovery system (tried Sony, Toshiba, and HP). I've been doing my family's laptops without a single problem until this point. This was the first laptop that I ran into problem.

Although I somehow figured out before getting the discs from Lenovo, I think it can be misleading for many consumers. Isn't it normal to assume when you select 'cancel,' it means to cancel the recovery? I'm not sure how many people would have thought that it would proceed to next step without any notice of proceeding.

 

What cancel?

 

I was talking about a step where you need to select cancel in order for you to insert 'product recovery' disc.

When you're supposed to insert your recovery disc, it firsts ask for 'Operating System disc,' which you don't have unless you received/bought original recovery disc from Lenovo directly.

So you select cancel, then it asks to insert DVD (this time it is asking for product recovery disc, which you burnt on your own) - but it doesn't ask for PRODUCT RECOVERY. It just asks you to insert a DVD. This part is where it got me confused and took few days to figure it out why.

Once product recovery discs are done, it asks for supplemental disc, which you don't have. I read the manual they sent me along with original recovery disc - it says not all models have supplemental disc. (Even the original X200 discs they sent me did not have one).

So I don't know why they added operating system and supplemental options in the first place.

I've been basically trying to make product recovery disc work on operating system portion of recovery. Thus, my own burnt disc didn't work.

 

so when i try to make recovery discs it says D:hl-dtst rw/dvd mu1on 1.05 then proceeds to give me. then proceeds to give me the error drive is not ready or busy performing another operation. I'm assuming my cd drive doesnt can read DVD's but cant write onto dvds?? but on the recovery it says "this utility allows you to recover this space on you have made a copy of this software to DVD" but i cant burn dvds??

 

what kind of DVD did you try to burn, DVD-RAM?

 

DVD-R 120min/4.7gb

 

hmm idk sorry
try opening up a new thread to get more exposure

 

is it possible to use cds only? since my dvds are getting rejected.
also i can do a factory reinstall by just doing f11?

 

You can use CD-Rs, but it'll take around 9 of them.

 

I just got a set of 3 DVDs from Lenovo after I tried to use my recovery discs and they didn't work. They sent them for free and they took a couple days to get here after I called.

 

what number should i call?

 

Did the DVDs they sent you include a Vista DVD, or only recovery discs?

 

can someone post the number? i called lenovo a few days ago. they said they would send recover media to me for free, but that the part number wasn't in the system yet since the t400 was so new ... ugh. maybe i called the wrong line? sounds like a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing

 

I think I called 1 800 426 7378 (you can find the number on the site, it's the tech help number they list)

Three discs:
1: Start Recovery Disc
2: Operating System Recovery Disc Windows Vista Business SP 1 (64 bit software only)
3: Applications and Drivers Recovery Disc

The guy I spoke with said he didn't have anything he could send me (Vista Business 64 was not in the system for him to be able to send it to me) but after I said I would only take the 64 bit media he said he would put it through to the techs and that it could take a few days. Obviously they found what I needed and shipped it quickly.

 

dammit no wonder i cant burn these recovery dvds. i dont even have the recordable drive. i didnt get a recordable because with my old laptop, i never recorded anything.

and i just went out and bought some DVD-Rs thinking i needed those instead of the DVD+Rs.

i guess i'll call lenovo cause i dont have an external dvd burner.