Have I created the recovery disk from recovery partition correctly?

I was creating recovery disk from recovery partition on my Lenovo T400 with Windows 7. 6.5 GB of the recovery partition has been occupied.

But in the process, I created three DVDs. I might remember wrong, but the first two DVDs were called by the wizard as disk 1, and the third one was called disk 2.

The first one has been written 0.22 GB only. Following is the content of the DVD (right click the image and select view the image in a bigger size): enter image description here

The second one has been written 3.97 GB as follows: enter image description here

The third one has been written 2.44 GB as follows: enter image description here

I am allowed only one time to create recovery disk. So I cannot try again. So I was wondering if I missed something? How is the creation process supposed to be like? Thanks and regards!

Tim

Posted 2011-02-04T13:05:01.657

Reputation: 12 647

Answers

Looks correct to me, the first disc is a Windows System Repair Disc, the other 2 are the Lenovo Recovery Discs. I would label the discs 1,2 (1= 3.97gb, 2= 2.44gb) which is the order you need to use them when restoring. You could install another blank hard drive in the PC and use the discs, see if it will restore the PC. Disc 1 that you created should be labeled Windows System Repair Disc.

Disc 2, you boot from this disc, it loads the recovery manager and verifies the discs are for this that particular system, it will have some sort of menu with recovery options, at some point it will ask that you insert disc 2 to finish the recovery process. There may be reboots and black screens during the process, do not interrupt it, depending on the system it can take 1 to 4 hours.

EDIT: After looking at a Windows System Repair Disc I have, it appears that your Disc 1 you created is similar, so I think Shinrai has it correct, the first Disk is a Windows Recovery Environment System Repair Disk, nothing to do with Lenovo Recovery but is good to have for minor repairs to W7, Disk 2 is Bootable and is actually the 1st disk of the Recovery set.

Special thanks to Shinrai

Moab

Posted 2011-02-04T13:05:01.657

Reputation: 54 203

Thanks! I am allowed only one time to create recovery disk. So I cannot try again. But is it possible to copy the recovery partition on to a removable disk and can this be used for recovery? – Tim – 2011-02-04T14:47:39.667

Don't know if proper to ask here. Could you look at my comment on your reply here about recovery partition and dual install with Ubuntu: http://superuser.com/questions/241383/partitions-for-dual-boot-install-ubuntu-with-windows/241391#241391 ? Thanks!

– Tim – 2011-02-04T14:50:46.450

1@Tim - You can't do that unfortunately. It only works resident on the disk as far as I'm aware. Your disks should be fine. (FYI for you, disk one is bootable and just gets you the same thing F11/ThinkVantage do at startup - the Rescue and Recovery interface. Other two disks have ALL the files and unless they've changed this disk 2 should be bootable as well - that small first disk is actually entirely optional.) In the event your disks, for some reason, don't work, you can call support and they should replace them free of charge while you're in warranty (although you might have to fuss). – Shinrai – 2011-02-04T15:17:17.083

@Tim, I get notifications of your comments, no need to post here. – Moab – 2011-02-04T15:36:51.160

@ Shinrai, so is the first disc just a W7 system repair disc? I need to edit my answer if it is. – Moab – 2011-02-04T15:39:15.027

@Moab: Thanks! Is the first disc, which you said to be Windows Recovery Environment System Repair Disc, same as the Windows System Repair Disc created from "Create a system repair disc" under "Control Panel\System and Security\Backup and Restore"? – Tim – 2011-02-06T02:07:32.247

@Tim - Not exactly. It's Lenovo custom. But, it's largely the same idea and functionality. – Shinrai – 2011-02-07T19:28:33.793

@Moab - Didn't get the notification due to your extra space there. ;) But see above. Thanks for the shoutout on the edit, by the way - I'd +1 you again if I could hahah – Shinrai – 2011-02-07T19:30:04.133

0.22GB (200Mb) definitely doesn't sound like enough to hold a Windows recovery partition. I would expect several Gb

Could you give a little more info on how you attempted to create this recovery disk? Were you using some Windows program the manufacturer supplied for this purpose or were you just copying files from the recovery partition into some burning software.

Pricey

Posted 2011-02-04T13:05:01.657

Reputation: 4 262

Thanks! I clicked the recovery partition and followed the instructions to burn the CD. I have created more than one CDs. The first two were both called disk 1, and now the third is called disk 2, by the wizard. So I am still confused what the whole creation process is like. – Tim – 2011-02-04T13:55:06.170

Most software I have used in the past gives clear instructions for labeling and forces you through a verification stage where it checks the burnt disks. Has this not happenned? – Pricey – 2011-02-04T13:59:09.567

I am not sure it the wizard gave clear instructions or not. Could it be possible I accidentally launch the wizard twice? But in the end when I was told the process was finished, I had three DVDs. The first two were called disk 1 and disk 2. I updated my post to give pictures of how they looked like. – Tim – 2011-02-04T14:22:30.077

That certainly looks better. Try booting from one. It 'may' ask you whether you want to verify your set of disks before restoring. – Pricey – 2011-02-04T14:30:07.907

Do you know what order of these disks are inserted during recovery? – Tim – 2011-02-04T14:39:31.653

Moab seems like he's on the right track. You initially confused me by posting about there only being one disk of a small size. His explanation as to each's purpose definitely makes sense. – Pricey – 2011-02-04T14:55:12.820

I used to support these machines; I can confirm @Moab's answer is 100% correct. – Shinrai – 2011-02-04T15:17:54.120