Recover

[seven8]

Lost all preinstalled programs ( new harddisk ) how to recover?

[Blencogo]

Hi seven8 and welcome.

Did you make a set of Recovery DVDs when you first bought the Vaio?

The recovery software is in a hidden partition on the hard disc, so if the hard drive fails, you will need a set of recovery discs.  Sony asks you to burn a set of recovery discs.

If you didn't make a set of discs, the only way to get all the preinstalled software back is to buy a replacement set of discs from Sony Support.  I think the cost is around £55.

Alternatively, you could buy a retail version of Windows and download the drivers from the Support website for your model - I can't give you a link as you haven't told us which model you have.  Unfortunately, not all the preinstalled applications can be downloaded and you would just have a basic setup.

[seven8]

Hi, yes I make the Recovery DVDs. When the hard disk was replaced and a new operating system installed - win7 instead of the Vista - the Recovery disk don't work it start up but then abort. And when I try to find a way to erase everything from the hard disk (F10 even tryed F8 buttom) was it impossible to reach and create à new installation. The model is à Sony vaio vgn-fw21m. Tank you for your respons and information.

[rich912]

Hi seven8,

Do you know the type and size of the replacement hard drive? The original drive would have had a 512-byte per sector structure and if the replacement drive is 'Advanced Format' having 4096-byte structure then the recovery media you created from the old drive will not work.

Rich

[seven8]

Hi Rich, the company that make the replacement informed me that the differens was from 400gb to 500 gb on the new one. No other specifikations only this that the new harddisks since 2-3 years back in time all are in Advanced Format as a standard...

[rich912]

Hi seven8,

You can check the sector format of the drive by clicking Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information > Expand Components > Expand storage > Disks – look for the internal hard drive and under Bytes/Sector the valve.

Long and short is that if this is a 4K bytes per sector drive the recovery disks will not work – whether created by you or supplied by Sony.

Although Advanced Format drives have been available for 3-4 years the 512-byte drives are still available. As a matter of fact I purchased a Travelstar 500MB drive with 512-byte sectors back in February of this year and this drive is still available.

Your options:
1.    Swap the drive for one that has a 512-byte structure.
2.    Install a retail copy of Vista and then download and install all Sony Drivers and utilities from the support site – bundled software is not available for download.
3.    Stick with Win 7 plus available Sony drivers and utilities.
Rich

[seven8]

Hi Rich, it's a 512 bytes per sector drive. It's hard for me to find out ( what to do and how to handle the adekvat and good information you send over to me ) depending on that my knowledge is very limited in this area. Been trying to load down drivers from the support side but failed of different reasons - feeling to unsecure might be one of them...

[seven8]

I did what you told me to do and it shows that it is a 512 byte per sector, in another check ( some weeks ago ) about the size of the drive, it told me that the size was 400 gb, it's seems to me that the information about the newly changed hard drive was inadekvat and not uppdated on my machine.

[rich912 · Accepted solution]

Hi seven8,

In that case the recovery disks should work unless of course they are faulty.

How are you trying to use the disks? You need to boot the computer with the first disk in the drive. Below is an extract from your manual:

To recover your computer system using recovery discs

1 Insert a recovery disc to the drive while the computer is on, turn off your
computer, and turn on the computer again.The Windows Boot Manager is displayed.

2 Press the M or m key to select Start VAIO Recovery Center and press the Enter key.

3 Follow the steps after step 1 in “To restore the C drive” on page32 or “To restore your entire computer system” on page 32, depending on your computer state.

Troubleshooting and recovery guide can be downloaded from the following link:

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/vgn-fw21m

If the disks you created are faulty a replacement set can be ordered from Sony support at a cost of approx. £50.

Rich