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Since IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad laptop does not ships with recovery CDs/DVDs. The factory restore image is store in the hidden partition. If you buy a 40GB IBM ThinkPad, end up you only get 33.xGB hard disk space. For a laptop, 4GB disk space is a precious waste. Furthermore, for geekery people like us(ahem), it’s hardly for us to perform factory restore state.

In order to throw away the hidden disk space, first you have to go into BIOS to remove hidden partition protection in Security > PreDekstop something and select Disable. A scary warning message will popup when you choose to disable it, don’t worry, it’s just a warning message, it won’t make you naked. Just select Okay!

WARNING! Before you decided to format the hidden partition, please create recovery CDs/DVDs for the sake of factory restore thingy in the future. Click here to learn how to create IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad Recovery CDs/DVDs.

Now, you can run FreeBSD/Ubuntu/Fedora/Mac OS X/Gentoo/DesktopBSD on the additional partition and dual boot with Windows XP.

When you purchase an IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad X40 series laptop, it doesn’t come with restore CDs or operating CD like Dell/HP have. After you have purchased Thinkpad X40 series laptop, you have to call and request from IBM Centre for recovery CDs within 14 days from the day you bought the laptop. If you are like me, forget to do so, don’t worry, you can create the recovery CDs by yourself.

If you are planning to create recovery CDs, prepare 5-6 CDs or if you prefer to build it in DVDs, you only need 2 DVDs. Make sure you have Thinkvantage Rescue and Recovery installed. If not, download from IBM download site.

To create IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad recovery CDs/DVDs, just click Start > Programs > ThinkVantage > Create Recovery Media. Follow the instruction, it will take around 30-45 minutes to complete the process, depend on your CD/DVD burner speed.