Sony Vaio OS Issues - lost recovery media

So, I'm having some problems with my Vaio laptop. I bought it around 2008, and it never failed me for around 2 years. Unfortunately, it started acting crazy, and every time I used it, I had to boot it up in safe mode. I obviously got tired of this, and since my warranty had voided already, I took it to some shady dude that claimed to fix computers, who agreed to do so for a relatively cheap price. It seemed too good to be true, and to my utter surprise (sarcasm), it was. I guess the guy used some pirated or customized OS, because when I booted my laptop for the first time, it was completely different. Instead of fixing it and leaving everything where it was supposed to be, he deleted/formatted my hard drive and mounted some pirated version of XP. After looking through the files, it seemed he also deleted the files necessary to recover my laptop to factory settings. So...now for the actual question haha.
I was wondering whether it was possible to somehow find the files he deleted. I completely regret taking the laptop to him, and I want to revert it to factory settings. I'm not sure whether he deleted or simply moved them to another place. If that's not possible, then maybe some of you guys now whether you can actually download the files necessary to revert the computer to factory settings. My laptop is a Sony Vaio VGN-NR310E. Originally running on Windows Vista home Premium.

 

Why don't you ask your question in the SONY forum below?

 

Hopefully you have a Windows Vista DVD somewhere. The official links that I had before are no longer active. After installing Vista, you can use the key on the bottom of the laptop and call MS to activate.

You can find all the drivers needed here: Sony eSupport - VGN-NR310E - Support

 

Unfortunately, for VAIO computers, all the files necessary for recovery are in a hidden partition in the hard drive, and it was deleted by the guy who "fixed" my computer. Would there be a way of downloading Vista from the Microsoft website? I mean, the computer had the legitimate Vista OS.

 

As long as you still have the sticker from the original Vista installed in the computer you can download an ISO from Microsoft - make sure it's the exact same version as what was originally in your computer - and then you can enter the product key on the MS Vista sticker when prompted and you will have a new, clean install of the version of Vista that came with your computer. Read this if you want additional info and links to the MS website - or one of many authorized partners like softpedia or download.com.

Depending upon how daunting you find the above, you can probably buy recovery DVDs from Sony for about $25. It's highway robbery since you can do it for free, but hey, sometimes we pay for convenience. BTW, if you do re-install it via the ISO, once it's up and running, have the first thing you do to create a system image/recovery media so you'll have it if this happens again.

Or...you can probably buy a cheap, legal copy of Windows 7 on eBay and it's a MUCH better OS. That's what I would do, anyway.

Good luck.

 

How can I make sure what version of Vista my computer was running?

 

you said it was originally running Windows Vista home Premium, so download that. As far as i know, a vista key can be used on either the 32 or 64 bit versions of vista, just like win7 keys.
The problem you may run into is your key on the sticker is for a OEM vista install and might not work with a different (retail, upgrade, etc) cd.
Your best bet is to just try it and see if it works.

 

Alright, well I tried looking for places where I could legitimately download the Vista OS, but I couldn't find any. The only solution I can think of is actually torrenting the OS, but I'm not sure if the key on my computer's sticker will work on the torrented OS. Will it?