Problem external drive for recovery/clean install

I just got the new Vaio Z (SVZ) and I also bought an external disc drive with it. This one is also from Sony: BDX-S500U.

I burnt the recovery data on 3 DVD+R DL using the Vaio Care recovery tools. When I now try to boot the recovery discs using the external drive, the WinPE environment loads from the disc but when I choose to start the recovery process I get an error saying no recovery image can be found.
You also get the option to point the installer to the recovery images but then the external drive is not listed.

To be short: I can boot from the external drive but inside the WinPE environment the external drive is no longer available.

I tried the same discs on an older Sony laptop that has an internal drive and on this machine the recovery discs just run fine. So the discs just look fine.

Any ideas how to get the external drive detected during installation? There are no special drivers required for the drive (in Windows 7 it just uses the default driver from Microsoft).

 

OK, I think I figured it out. Seems like only one of the 2 USB ports are compatible with the Windows installation/recovery environment. It probably has something to do with differences between USB 2.0 and 3.0.

The port further at the back doesn't work during installation, the one to the front does.

Lesson learned after a couple of hours blood, sweat and tears.

 

What you have is rather straightforward.

x1 USB 2.0 is provided by Intel Chipset. Windows knows it and requires no drivers.

x2 USB 3.0 ports are provided by an extra controller because Intel didn't support USB 3.0 in their 2011 chipsets. You probably have Renesas USB 3.0 controller. Windows doesn't know it and therefore requires drivers.

When you start a PC the control of the devices comes from BIOS. Up until the moment the core Windows starts and takes control of the system, at which point it loses Renesas controller. That's why you're able to boot but unable to proceed after that.

I recently went through a similar trouble to give Windows PE environment Renesas drivers. It did work but I had a partial control over the composition of the boot media. I don't think you can do that with the Sony recovery environment as it doesn't let you interfere in the process. If you were able to get to a command line prior to starting the recovery process, you would have been able to dynamically load Renesas drivers.

Simple answer: yes, you can only use the one USB 2.0 port, but now you know why.