Vaio Recovery Center

Is there a way I can download the program. I accidentally uninstalled it and would like it back to make recovery disks.

 

i'm not sure, tried searching on the sony site?

Is it possible to boot from the recovery disk and do a recovery from there?

 

The Recovery Center only works on the computer it was intended for. If your computer has a recovery partition, you can use that to do a full factory reset. You can also order a recovery disk from Sony if you don't feel like reformatting.

 

won't he need to recovery centre to recover the computer?

 

No. If the hidden partition is still there all he needs to do is power up the machine and as it is booting up hit the F10 Key. (That's the procedure on the FZ series and I believe it is the same on the others as well.)

Gary

 

If you want to recover the computer to factory settings, will the pre-installed software like Microsoft Office Home/Student be deleted as well?

 

It will return the machine to exactly the same state it was in when you took it out of the box. Whatever was on your machine then is what you will have after a "recovery". Anything you added (including the virus) will be GONE. It literally wipes the hard drive clean.

Gary

 

Okay I am doing that right now haha. Thanks so much for this vital piece of info!

 

Alright my computer seems to to go amazingly fast now! Took awhile but it was well worth it. Now I have to reuninstall the bloatware=[

 

Follow the guide in my signature. It can take a few hours, but it's worth it.

Leaves absolutely no trace of the bloatware on your system, because it prevents it from installing in the first place. This is much better than simply removing the programs.

 

Thanks for all the help. I contacted Sony support and was informed that I can't download the vaio recovery center from anywhere. So I ended up paying for the recovery disks. Even though I got ripped off (disks cost $28 plus shipping and tax), I felt the disks will be worth it if something did happen that required me to use them. BTW, Sony support also informed me that recovery disks can not be made without the Vaio Recovery center so I had no other option.

 

The Japanese discs cost around 6000 Yen, which is ~$50 US. So, Sony USA is not charging that much.

 

Had you already deleted the "hidden partition" as well? If not, you could have imaged your existing hard drive, restored from the hidden partition (by hitting F10 during a boot), create the DVD set, restore your drive from the image. A long process, yes but it would save you the $$$.

Gary

 

actually the part about the recovery center file not working on a different comp is wrong.

as long as you have the partition still left on the drive you can use a copy of the recovery center on any computer.

I know this because I made a copy of recovery center from an FE and last night I used it on my FZ. Worked fine.

 

after creating the recovery disc the partition is of no use(virtually) one can easily delete it & can reclaim that 20 gb+- space

 

More like 7GB.

 

but my CR is showing hard disk space after deducting almost 20 gb from it. although i have 80 gb hdd but computer shows only 62 gb that's why my wild guess i guess n after creating recovery disk i am going to delete it fully

 

First, it's only 7 gig (on an FZ series machine) not 20. Second it can still be VERY useful if you loose or damage your Recovery DVD's.

Gary

 

It's not all due to the recovery partition. If you have been uninstalling and installing applications (as most of us do in the first few days) the rest of that 18 gig is most likely Vista System Restore points. I am guessing you have 7 gigs of Recovery Partition and 11 gigs of System Restore points. If you are hell bent on deleting the hidden partition, I;d be sure to make TWO copies of the recovery DVD's and hide one set in a really safe place.

Gary

 

but i think the operating system in those recovery disks(+ carefully secured in that partition) is a sheer waste of MHz & MBs. bloatwares are not useful for every one(or atleast for those who knows something better).now it looks like that after u purchase a laptop firstly create recovery dvd--secondly delete partition and that os n install fresh os from market only then u will have the full power of ur laptop working for u. IMHO

 

They might be a waste of MB, but they are not wasting Mhz by leaving the partition intact. Trust me, I am a big proponent of doing a clean install. (Check my signature below.) But I also think that the 7 gig partition is a cheap insurance policy should the need arise (this is especially true for many of the novices here). If you are comfortable that you will never need to restore the machine from that partition, then blow it away.

Gary

 

The hidden partition is still there. I didn't want to go through that entire process you just mentioned. But it is nice to know that it is possible.

 

Yep, 'twas the proverbial trade-off of time versus money. Sounds like time won and you were willing to spend the money. ...big ol' grin...


Gary

 

Further information with regard of recovery:
I recently restored my PC using recovery DVDs that I previously prepared. Guess what? after recovery, I was able to see again a small Eisa partition similar to the original hidden partition that I had previously totally removed.
Right now I can't tell whether the new hidden partition is fully functional or not.

 

Try booting to it. Power off and during the boot process hit F10. It will bring up a menu to let you restore. At that point you will know if it is truly functional and can reboot in the normal fashion. I can't imagine that it would not be functional.

Gary

 

I will do that after I receive my PC back from Sony workshop. I just thought of posting this interesting information (at least to me), so users who would like to make use of the space taken by the hidden partition, know that they can re-gain it in the future if they need. What matters is only the possession of recovery DVDs.
Now I am still not sure about the functionality of that newly drawn Eisa partition, but soon I will.
I wonder what was the experience of those who upgraded their hard drives. Were they able to use recovery DVDs to install in the new drives? Were they able to get a functional hidden partition in these new drives?

 

I hit f10 and don't see where you can burn yourself some recovery disks. I can only use the partition to restore. Where is the option to burn recovery disks?

 

I am not sure if you can have this option only by hitting F10. You can only recover the whole system. After recovery, you will find the recovery utility software, among the other original software, which will enable you to burn DVDs.

 

If the VAIO Recovery Center is still operational in Windows you can create your own discs.
If you use the discs it will recreate the hidden partition if you erased it.

 

I hit f10 during bootup and restored from the hidden partition on the hard drive, but I do not see the vaio recovery center anywhere after a total factory reinstall image. Where is it, exactly? I am referring to the SZ-650. Vaio Recovery center was easily found in the earlier SZ series.

 

pufftissue, possible file paths are listed at the link I have in my signature. Try those and tell me what you find.

-Peter

 

In Vista the VAIO Recovery Center can be accessed by going to Start/Help & Support/Backup & Recovery/Launch VAIO Recovery

In XP go to the Control Panel and switch classic view to locate VAIO Recovery

 

I thought I would be smart and install VISTABOOT PRO so I could have Vista Aand XP on the same notebook. Of course I only read the instructions as I did them...

Anyway, all went well but then it asks you to insert the Vista DVD so you can recover the original Vista boot information. Uh oh - it's a Sony and I have no disk. I have the 5GB hidden partition with the recovery on there but can you think of anyway to get to it and salvage this or is my only choice to recover from that partition, trash everything, and start all over?

 

You can't get it from the recovery partiton. Maybe you can borrow a Vista disk from someone.

Gary

 

hey, guys,

i own a VGN-FZ21Z (equivalent to VGN-FZ210CE US model) and i was wondering if there's a way to create my recovery discs using a blu-ray disc. when i'm trying to burn them, the only options provided are DL DVDs and simple DVDs. see the attached picture.



thanks