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.

    Restore C: drive and Restore Complete System

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by hendra, Jan 18, 2007.

  1. hendra

    hendra Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    157
    Messages:
    2,020
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    56
    1. With Sony SZxxx, what is the difference between "Restore C: Drive" and "Restore Complete System". It seems the former is redundant.
    2. If I install my own copy of XP Pro, can I use the Recovery DVD to install only certain applications or drivers ?

    Thanks in advance!
     
    hendra, Jan 18, 2007
    #1
  2. TinyRK

    TinyRK Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    32
    Messages:
    329
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    1.: Restore Complete System" - It rebuilds all partitions, so it deletes everything and rebuilds it like just coming out of the box.

    2.: Yes.
     
    TinyRK, Jan 18, 2007
    #2
  3. Mikey94025

    Mikey94025 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    3
    Messages:
    56
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I didn't find any solution to this earlier while searching the forum archive so I'm documenting it here for the next person -- I discovered that when using VAIO Restore to perform a restore of an SZ460N/C and it's Vista Business installation, do not leave a Memory Stick Duo in the machine. Otherwise, the restore process will get pretty far but eventually cease with a black Windows background and moving mouse pointer (and if the screen saver activates, the screen will never turn back on). At that point if you hard reset the machine by holding down the power button it will restart and tell you that the Windows installation failed.

    I performed the restore process many times with both the recovery partition on the hard drive and with my restore DVDs. I tried different combinations of the stamina and wireless switches (in case the restore required specific a configuration). I tried both "Restore C: Drive" and "Restore Complete System" in case it had to do with fixing the hard drive partitions. But in the end, it was the 4GB Memory Stick Duo that I had left in the slot that stopped the restore from going to completion. I hope this helps the next person...

    Incidentally, my SZ was never able to upgrade successfully to Vista SP1. I downloaded the complete SP1 installation and installed everything in Windows Upgrade before running it. But the SP1 installation would always fail with "Installation was not successful" and some error code that I unfortunately cannot recall anymore. Searching the forum and the web did not come up with a solution. The underlying problem may also have caused my other SZ/Vista issues (e.g. no Model.txt and an error in Model.log, CPU devices showing failed driver installations in Device Manager).

    But the good news is that after reinstalling Vista I was able to get to SP1 successfully. I will now create checkpoints with System Restore frequently!
     
    Mikey94025, Apr 13, 2008
    #3