Single File Restore - what is it?

[Teflon]

Having successfully muddled through (with the help of this NG) a
number of issues with my own machine, my wife asked me to look at her
machine - an older Thinkpad T41 laptop with a 20GP HDD and XP Pro - to
see if I could get rid of some of the files on it so she could defrag
it - 90% full.

I found this directory with a weird star-like icon (it doesn't act
like a directory - no specs when I right click on it) on the C: drive
labeled 'Single File Restore'. In it were two sub-directories
'Cumulative Backup date 01/11/05' and 'Most Recent Backup' dated
03/02/05. Within each of those directories are folder trees that look
a lot like her C: drive's folder list. All have the weird icon.

She had been an MS Live One Care subscriber until MS stopped the
service. Since that was a one-stop-shop that did everything, AV, AS,
backup, tweak, etc., I am assuming this 'Single File Restore' is a
residual of that service, therefore, no longer viable, but I can not
delete it.

It doesn't say how large it is, but being a backup of the C: drive,
I've got to believe it is fairly large.

Can anyone tell me what it is and how to delete it?

Thanks,

 

[Teflon]

Having successfully muddled through (with the help of this NG) a
number of issues with my own machine, my wife asked me to look at her
machine - an older Thinkpad T41 laptop with a 20GP HDD and XP Pro - to
see if I could get rid of some of the files on it so she could defrag
it - 90% full.

I found this directory with a weird star-like icon (it doesn't act
like a directory - no specs when I right click on it) on the C: drive
labeled 'Single File Restore'. In it were two sub-directories
'Cumulative Backup date 01/11/05' and 'Most Recent Backup' dated
03/02/05. Within each of those directories are folder trees that look
a lot like her C: drive's folder list. All have the weird icon.

Minor correction, this mysterious object (directory? - folder? -
file?) is not listed under the C: drive, which is 20GB, it is listed
under My Computer.

C: Properties show 12.9 GB Used, 1.64 GB Free of the 20GB HD. I take
it that roughly 5.5GB is being used by this mystery, or something else
I can't see.

Would appreciate your best guesses, comments and suggestions.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Minor correction, this mysterious object (directory? - folder? -
file?) is not listed under the C: drive, which is 20GB, it is listed
under My Computer.

It's hard to visualize exactly what you mean by that sentence, but
perhaps the "mysterious object" you are looking at is a partition.

 

[Teflon]

It's hard to visualize exactly what you mean by that sentence, but
perhaps the "mysterious object" you are looking at is a partition.

Ken, you are absolutely correct. After a lot of Googleing and then
looking in the Disk Management area, I discovered it is a 9.7GB
partition (no format), probably a Host Protected Area (HPA) that IBM
used on ThinkPads to store the WinXP Restore files, versus providing a
CD. Perhaps MS Live One Care also used it to store those backup
images.

Whatever, we've burnt a set of recovery disks, so those files are no
longer needed, and being an ex-OneCare customer, that stuff (if it is
their residue) is obsolete history.

So the question becomes, how does one 'safely' (it's my WIFE'S
computer) remove this HPA?

Another reason to remove the HPA is, I've got this 160GB Seagate
Maximus drive that I would like to use to replace the 30GB drive in
her computer, however, I've read that there could be problems cloning
that old drive to the new drive via an ext enclosure on the USB, due
to this HPA. I've got both Acronis True Image and Norton's Ghost, but
neither of those vendors, nor their support forums, address this
issue. Weird, since there are probably millions of IBM ThinkPads out
there, and I'd think that at least several have had HDD problems and
the drives had to be cloned, or re-loaded (been there, done that - I
would prefer to clone).

Any ideas on how to get rid of it, OR, overcome the cloning issue - if
there is one? If I can clone that drive, getting rid of the HPA
become less of a problem, but I would still like to get rid of those
backup images. Will use True Image to do the back-up imaging task in
the future.