My experience with the "half-clean" install was different from Matta's, but the end result is the same. Thanks for Matta for the post. Maybe Sony has changed the disk image.
I bought a SZ 450N/C a week ago and have spent many hours over the past week trying different options (i.e., half-clean install, clean install using Vista Ultimate upgrade, upgrade using Vista Ultimate upgrade). The half-clean install is by far the easiest and worked the best for me.
Half-clean install
First make recovery DVDs. I made two sets which turned out to be critical as one set always hangs at 22% of the process no matter what options I select. Boot from the DVD and select VAIO system recovery. Next wipe the harddrive clean to eliminate the backup crapware from the partition. Then select Restored complete system, skip the three lesser options and do complete system restore. You then get a box screen that asks do you want to keep the "VAIO Value-added Contents" (marketing-speak for crapware) in the partition. It tells you that you by saying no you can then only get that stuff from the recovery DVD. Select no. The next screen asks whether you want to keep the factory recommended default partition. Select yes. It will ask you a few times do you really want to do this, say yes and the process starts. Once done it tells you to remove the DVD and say ok. It reboots twice then you come to the screen Matta described - "Reinstall programs or drivers" - cancel. You then see the VAIO Recovery Center screen - x it off which leads to an auto reboot.
The system reboots twice. Only a minimum of crapware is on the system and it is easy to deal with. Uninstall Napster; delete CNN Pipeline, Gametrap and MobiTV files and icons as they are only shortcuts. You will need to reinstall the apps and drivers described in the posts above. I found these at
www.esupport.sony.com. My factory install had 125 GB free of 142 GB with a 7 GB partition. The half-clean install with the good apps and drivers installed has 136.5 GB free of 147.5 GB total with a 1.46 GB partition. Everything works great.
Clean install of Vista Ultimate upgrade
I tried to follow the other thread on clean installs but never could get all the drivers working. I gave up.
Upgade install of Vista Ultimate upgrade
I thought Ultimate would not be that different from Business but Sony software has a lot of problems. The problems weren't as great as the clean install, but still a mess.
Thanks to everyone for your posts. It has been a great help.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
