Lenovo T430s Q drive recovery low on disk space

[Topjack]

Hi everyone,
I am new here and looking for a fix for my problem. I recently bought a New Lenovo Thinkpad T430s for my wife. It has a 3rd gen i5 intel and 500GB hard drive. After setting it up all went well and on the second day upon start up it showed a message of low disk space on Q drive. That recovery area began with approx 16GB of space but for some reason its showing 1.6GB remaining. I made NO changes and need to know how to expand Q drive so that the warning goes away, and some how check if other things are being directed to that space. If you need more info please ask. Thanks for your help

 

[VistaKing]

Topjack welcome to SevenForums

Right-click on Computer on the Desktop or click on rb: then right click on Computer inside the Start Menu and select Properties. Then click on System Protection on the left upper hand side . Everything but the C partition should be off.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/330-system-protection-turn-off.html

Does it say Q drive as being On ? If it is click on Drive Q and click on Configure . On the System Protection for Q click on Turn off system protection then click on Apply and Ok buttons

 

[Topjack]

VistaKing,
Thanks for your reply to my problem and after doing what you said it looks like only the C drive is active, so now back to square one. It's hard to believe that Lenovo would create a system restore area and leave it with so little room in case of problems such as this.Since I made back up disks I can delete the Q drive but with my luck I would loose those disks or they just didn't work. Anyone with more ideas?

 

[VistaKing]

Can you upload an image for disk management ?

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

 

[Topjack]

VistaKing, I was able to take an image of the drive management but am lost as to how I can post it here. I saved the image onto a USB drive and hope you or someone can guide me as to posting the image on here.

 

[VistaKing]

Take a look at the tutorial below

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

 

[Topjack]

I have no idea if I sent this right or not.. please let me know if wrong and as to how to send the right way

 

[gregrocker]

Recovery should never have a letter so that nothing can write to it and clog it. I would remove the drive letter now in Disk Mgmt. Drive Letter - Add, Change, or Remove in Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

It may also have just been a matter of turning off System Restore on Q so that SysVolInfo file was deleted.

Generate your Recovery media now to see if it functions.

But be aware that partition supports the Lenovo preinstalled Win7 which is a corrupt install to begin with larded with bloatware and duplicate utilities that have better versions built into Win7. For that reason most tech enthusiasts choose to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 . Until then you can regain some of Win7's native performance by Cleaning Up Factory Bloatware .

 

[VistaKing]

Can you show a prnt screen of the Q drive ?

What files are inside Drive Q ? It should only have recovery files

 

[gregrocker]

Can you show a prnt screen of the Q drive ?

What files are inside Drive Q ? It should only have recovery files

It likely had a SysVolInfo until you wisely had OP turn it off, Vista. Has the warning gone away?

To see inside you would need to unhide Hidden files in Folder Options>View, while the partition still has a drive letter.

 

[Topjack]

One other thing.. after looking at system restore Drive Q shows as being off. just to let you know.

 

[VistaKing]

Did you try to look inside the Q drive to see what type of files it has inside ?

 

[Topjack]

I have tried to open the Q drive but in doing so it looks to be empty. I'm sure that the files and such must be hidden. Do I just go to files and folder and look to show all? Its been a long time since I last did that.

 

[VistaKing]

Yes .

 

[Topjack]

Gregrocker,
I thank you for the advise you have given me, but as far as not replying back to your suggestion for what ever reason I seem to be having a problem how and where my replies end up. I have looked at your posts and suggestion and have no problem doing what you say might work. My problem is the T430s in question belongs to my wife and such only wants the warning to go away without me removing programs I myself would have done at the beginning. You stated that I can get the problem gone by removing the Q letter. Will the recovery on that partition store work if she has to hit the recovery key? Also as I said earlier I did make back up disk and as far as I know the only way to test them is to run them which almost seems pointless since it will only reinstall the same problem over.
Once again I am New here and I'm sure not near the level of your knowledge in these matters so Yes I am thankful to you and others here for listening to my gibberish.

 

[gregrocker]

When you made your Recovery Media did it prompt you with a choice to delete the Q partition afterwards?

Researching hiding the Recovery partition finds a variety of complicated solutions for many different models. To be certain I'd ask Lenovo Tech Support which is included free for the first year.

 

[Topjack]

Gregrock,
To answer your question if I was given the option after making the backup disk to delete the Q: drive patition the answer is yes. as of yet I haven't done so only out of concern the backup disks don't work or the darn things get misplaced. I call Lenovo tech support and sad to say the tech was more clueless than I am lol. So much for Thinkpad being supported by the old IBM tech team.

 

[gregrocker]

Normally a Recovery partition should not have a drive letter. Apparently Lenovo creates one when you generate its disks. So the question has been asked how to hide it again so nothing writes to the partition. The closest to your model I can find information on this is here: How to re-hide OEM partition? - Lenovo Community

However I don't think I would want to mess with changing the partition type without a lot more expertise on Lenovo's which are complicated by OKR to begin with. And judging by the discussion here and in other search results for "Hide the lenovo Win7 Recovery partition" it isn't as easy as removing the drive letter.

So you might want to read up on it to see if pursuiing it interests you, perhaps start a new thread at Lenovo which will draw others with more recent expertise for your model or line.

What we specialize here with is a vastly superior install to the preinstalled Win7 which is a corrupt install to begin with, making futzing with the Recovery Partition akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Only with a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 will you have native Win7 performance without the smothering bloatware and duplicate utilities with much better versions built into Win7. However I can understand if you're hesitant to do this for your wife's PC. Perhaps you can help her see she will enjoy Win7 much more in its native state.

 

[Topjack]

So sorry to have taken so long to respond back, and once again Thank you for all your info and help. I will work at trying to get her to let me do a clean install of Win7 pro on her Pc. Not having a fresh Win7 pro disk will make doing that much more of a pain.Earlier in this post you gave directions on cleaning up an install, so will try doing that if she gives me the go ahead.I have to say that the programs they put on Thinkpads are much more complicated than those installed on ideapad or I am just used to having that version on my laptop.

 

[gregrocker]

The latest official installer for your licensed version is provided in the Clean Reinstall OEM tutorial.