Sony vaio VGN-NW24s new windows 7 install

the laptop had a HDD failure. all signs pointed to it. so i installed a new one (WD scorpio blue 500gb sata). one i used on my own before, this one is abrand new one.

done a fresh install using the code from the bottom of the laptop. i expected to have to sort all the drivers out so i installed them from the sony website.

the only problems i have left is

-base system device is unrecognized in device manager. i found online its to do with the card reader but an SD card works fine (not SDHC). havent tried a memory stick pro though

-i have connected the old HDD through USB in order to retrieve old data but cant find the users documents in c:/user/. there is a public folder but this is empty. i search for 'documents' and 'pictures' but found nothing. i wouldnt have thought the HDD failure wouldve lost all this data in one go (itunes library, pictures, docs etc.) next step is to try something like get data back to see if i can find file. could the failure have caused the loss of the c:/users/Gary line of information and therefore cant 'see' the folder.

-mousepad doesnt have the scroll feature working (slide your finger along the right side of the pad to srcoll web pages up and down).

cheers

 

ive just run get data back and it has found the HDD but only seems to see a few hundred MB of data.

yesterday i was getting two HDDs showing in my computer when plugging the HDD in through USB. one was this data. the other was what you would normally see when you open my computer. program files, windows stuff etc.

this isnt looking too good.

 

You do know that this is the Panasonic forum, Don't you?

 

Try this Sony Laptop Forums - Sony Notebook Computer Discussions

 

You know, he might have come here because he wanted to ask people who appeared to know something about computers, not just Sony fanbois cackling over how much bigger their proprietary ports are. :wink:

Steven -

Welcome to the forum!

I see several possible causes for your issues:

A corruption of the FAT file; this is most likely, it could lose the root directory of your user account, and therefore everything under it.

You could have encrypted the user account, and the new install doesn't have the correct decryption software or decryption key.

A virus. I don't know of one which will only wipe out a single account on a PC, but its entirely possible it had to do with account privilege levels at the time of infection. I've seen weirder things. Privilege levels could also be the reason why you can't see that folder on the old drive; Windows may be hiding it.

It could just be a phenomenon we in the tech industries call "Sony Suckage". They're worse about trying to maintain a proprietary control over their products than Apple; it's entirely possible they used a custom build of Winblows and your generic build is missing some critical component.

Just out of curiosity, what version of Windoze are you running?

Also, have you tried exploring the HDD plugged into a different computer?

(EDIT) I see it's Win7. HMMM... I also see that some Mod has moved this thread to the Sony forum while I was replying to it; I guess it's too late to take back my incendiary remarks at the top of the post. I don't know that Sony has their hooks that deep in Windows 7 yet, so I'm gonna see what others think... Good luck.

mnem
Time flies, but pizza flies farther.

 

You need to install all the drivers from Sony support. The base system device might be Sony firmware extension parser or Memory stick controller driver.

 

sorry about the wrong forum business. I just have it as a shortcut as im a toughbook owner myself.

windows 7 home premium.

I have the HDD hooked up via USB now. running a scan using get data back. I wasnt sure of the difference between physical and logical drive as the program found them both some im doing some scan for defective parts on the HDD and hopefully retrieve some files.

i used get data back before to find old deleted files but i cant be sure it was from a password protected account, although it was also an older windows. 98 possibly so its bound to be a different game altogether now.



also the strangest bit. I plugged in the HDD via USB the first time and 2 drives appeared in my computer. i found the usual folders where you would expect to find the docs. Next time i plugged it in, only 1 drive appeared and not the one i just mentioned.

i suspected the fault on the HDD could be the bit that hold the file path for the documents which is why it cant find it??