The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    No Vista DVD. How do I create one?

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by JibJab, Jun 19, 2009.

  1. JibJab

    JibJab Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I just bought a new Vaio. I want to upgrade the hard drive to a 500GB but there is no Vista DVD in the box.

    Is there a way to create a DVD and then install Vista on the new hard disk?

    Thanks for your help!
     
    JibJab, Jun 19, 2009
    #1
  2. ScuderiaConchiglia

    ScuderiaConchiglia NBR Vaio Team Curmudgeon

    Reputations:
    2,674
    Messages:
    6,039
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    Did you read the instructions that came with the machine? Sony tells you to create a set of system recovery DVD's in those instructions. They can be used to restore the machine back to it's out of the box state on the existing or a new larger hard drive. You will NOT be able to create a Vista DVD, as such. All you can create is this recovery set.

    If you have already set up the machine with some of your own programs and customizations, the recovery set won't do you much good. In that case you can use something like Acronis to make an image copy of your current C: drive to DVD's. You can also create a bootable CD with Acronis on it. After you complete those two steps, you can install your new drive, boot from the Acronis CD, and restore the C: drive to the new HDD from the DVD's.

    Even if you use Acronis, I would also create the Sony system recovery dvd set. That way if you ever decide to sell the machine, you can easily return it to its original out of the box state.

    Gary
     
    ScuderiaConchiglia, Jun 19, 2009
    #2
  3. Derrida

    Derrida Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    251
    Messages:
    833
    Likes Received:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    31
    P.S. Did you notice that firmware update for a couple of the BD drives? Well, if you read the fine print, I understand that without that firmware DVD+R disks don't write properly. Someone posted on one of these blogs that they tried to rebuild after a crash and the disks read as having been written but nothing was on hald of them. (Can you imagine?)

    So, don't forget the firmware update first!
     
    Derrida, Jun 19, 2009
    #3