Hidden Partition on TP's

[Gus]

The following is from IBM's site:

TP General - Purpose of the non-DOS service partition on the hard disk
drive

Symptom
IBM ThinkPad systems may come pre-configured with a non-DOS partition
known as the service partition on the hard disk drive. This partition is
used to store original system files necessary to restore the system to
its out of the box condition should the need arise.

Affected configurations
IBM ThinkPad Machine Types:

ThinkPad A21e (2655), A22e, A22m, A22p
ThinkPad A30, A30p, A31, A31p
ThinkPad G40
ThinkPad R30, R31, R32
ThibnkPad R40
ThinkPad R50
ThinkPad T22, T23, T30
ThinkPad T41
ThinkPad X20, X21, X22, X23, X24, X30
ThinkPad i Series 1171

Not all models come with this partition. Most newer models have the
service partition. There are two ways to check your system:

If your machine displays the message "Press F11 to invoke the IBM
Product Recovery Program" or "To start the product recovery program,
press F11" during system startup, then your system has the service
partition.
If the instructions located in the User's Guide concerning recovering
preinstalled software state to recover your system by choosing F11 at
bootup, then your system came pre-configured with the service partition.

Solution
For systems with the service partition, to restore your system to its
original state, please use the following instructions.

NOTES:

All files on your hard disk drive will be deleted and unrecoverable once
this procedure is initiated.

Please refer to the section on Recovering preinstalled software in your
user's guide before starting this procedure.
During system power on, press the F11 key while the message referencing
to press F11 as noted above in this document is displayed.
Continue to follow the instructions provided on screen.

Additional information
This service partition should not be removed.

Applicable countries and regions
Worldwide

Document id: MIGR-4W5QVB
Last modified: 2003-10-07
Copyright © 2003 IBM Corporation