"could not obtain a recovery drive letter" Z Series

Hi all,

I have wiped out the entire hard drive of my sony vaio vgn-z820G

I ordered the original disks from sony but when I try to do a complete restore it doesnt work I get the message "could not obtain a recovery drive letter"

I know I wiped it but shouldnt it try and repartition.
What if it was a new hard drive I put in?

Any ideas?

 

Have you tried using the NST recovery disk?

 

No.

Network Security Toolkit? How do I go about it?

 

try this... Network Security Toolkit (NST v2.13.0)

Make sure you burn this using ImgBurn. don't process it from the zip file (iso format) - option should be write image file to disc.

After you reboot, you should be ok. If not, have your BIOS set to boot CD/DVD before HDD.

To enter your BIOS, press F2 or a similiar key at the first splash screen you come to at startup. Then simply find the "boot sequence", "boot order", or something worded a little different, and set your CD/DVD drive to boot first, instead of the HDD.

 

Thanks, John.
I will give it a whirl.

 

Just to make sure.

I am downloading an iso file that is about 1380.0 MB
then burning with IMGBurn?

 

Did you try this link?

Browse Network Security Toolkit (NST) Files on SourceForge.net

 

yes that is what I am downloading now.
Then burn onto disc

 

How did you wipe the disk? Deleting the partitions isn't enough. Did you leave the MBR (master boot record) intact?
If so, the recovery CD may have problems because it sees the primary partitions in the MBR. In particular, if you used PartitionMagic (*ptui*), it will change the partition type marker to 3C, which hides the partition from the OS. Similar for Acronis (*ptui*) and a couple of other tools. The drive will look wiped, but really has hidden partitions that may conflict.

You can try a tool like gparted to zonk the actual MBR too, after which your disk should really be seen as empty/new.

 

Are you trying to do a complete restore or a complete restore? Yes, it sounds funny intentionally. There are 3 options, if I remember right, the two lighter options, even the "complete restore" need the recovery partition to be there. There's the real "complete restore" that repartitions the drive and makes the drive the same as it was from the factory. That option does not need the recovery partition. During my fight to restore hibernation, I've must have gone through all the steps 5 times if not more and I'm totally familar with that error message. It's a hassle to have to make it restore the recovery partition only to delete it again.

 

I did a fresh install with a Windows 7 Ultimate. I deleted partition using that disk when asked to create partition. I deleted all and created new for the fresh install.

I dont know much about MBR - I didnt do anything that what I wrote above so I dont believe I touched it. I did do a chipset driver update from sony?

I didnt use partition magic.

Did that help you help me?

The set of discs from Sony have "complete restore" and "restore c drive" etc.

It doesnt matter what I choose - it still cannot obtain drive letter?


I admit I am a little lost here.

Any direction based on my answers?
So can I restore the recovery partition again only to delete with Sony disks? that will work right?

 

Ok, changing gears back to John and his helping me out.

I have the ISO burned onto disk.

It would appear I need directions from here. Option to choose on startup?

etc

Thanks John

 

Thanks guys.


Its fixed.



I used the disk that John suggested I put together. Although I think I just muffed things up and thought it was more complicated than it was.


So I went into Windows and created a restore point because there wasnt one.

Got the Sony disks, it NOW recognized driver letter and Voila!
It started installing.


Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

 

Ah, that explains it. The Windows install CD doesn't really wipe the disk; it only removes and adds standard partitions. Running a Linux tool (like you did) is one way of fixing that. Glad to hear that it worked out.

 

Just curious.

I had a Windows 7 Ultimate disk. If I would have installed that which I did.
Then gone and saved a restore point it would have fixed the same problem, correct?

Thats what I did with the disk I created from John.

 

Yes, and no. Depending on how you did it, you might have been left with an extra hidden partition in the front, with the boot loaders and nothing else on it. Which would work fine -- it'd just be a waste of space.

In a couple of years, this should all be problems of the past -- we'll be using EFI boot and GPT partitioning, which isn't limited to exactly four primary partitions of which only one can be a boot partition and only the first be a tools partition. The recovery disk can place the restore partition at the end, or anywhere there's space. And with a little logic to the EFI boot, you can even have separate recovery partitions for Windows 7 and Windows 8.

 

I see. Should I check to see if there is a wasted partition? If so, how?

Thanks for the interaction/info.

 

Well, you could do the following:

Open a command prompt (CMD).
cd /
dir /a

If you see "Boot" and "bootmgr", you have the boot files on the C: drive, and all is probably well.
If you don't, chances are they are on a small hidden partition.

You can't trust the Disk Manager, unfortunately, as it hides hidden "special" partitions. But if you boot a Linux CD, the distro's graphical partition manager (often gparted) should tell you how many partitions you have and how big they are.

 

Hi guys.
I'm having the same problem here after changing hard drives. Installed NST and don't know what to do now. How do you create that restore point?? I would really apreciate your help.

 

Hey, its been a while. Still need help?

 

Thanks for your reply. I don't know. Working on it now. I managed to install W7 Enterprise without any problems and it is so much better then Home so I decided to keep it. But it's only for 90 days so I will have to face that problem again. I'll keep you informed.

 

It was as simple as hitting skip to get to the next step and start formatting the drive! takes time though!

My big problem is how do i recover my lost files after format? Someone please advice.

 

You don't. Formatting implies a permanent removal of all data, and unless you have a backup, you can consider the files lost.

(If it was a "quick format" and not a full format, there are forensic tools and companies that may be able to get you back some of the data, by scanning blocks one by one and trying to piece them together. But it will cost you an arm and a leg, without any guarantee.)

 

There was a software I found off the net (can't recall the name now, 2 years or so ago) that did that for me. Google is your friend there.

Ran through a Trasncend 2.5' 250GB external drive which had the NTFS header corrupted, so Windows would say I needed to format before use, despite the fact that there was data in there. I didn't format in the fear of losing irreplacable research files (which back then I only stored on the HDD; now I know better).

Anyways, from 230GB of data stored, I lost 12GB, with those 12GB only partially recovered in unusuable 'pieces'. And the entire process took 14 hours to scan block by block, and another hour for the host machine to try and piece them together. I got back the odd 215GB though, some with bad CRC checks but somewhat working nonetheless.

You can recover data using the above method even after a full-format, though you'll recover less as full-formats are far more intense. Heck, once you write something to any media (including flash chips), and even after formats and deleting, you can get back some files / pieces using software like above. Which is why you sometimes read in memory stick manuals the disclaimers about safe disposable and risks about on-selling such media.

 

To renew this question, I have the same problem as the OP. I've used GParted and have the NST working, but I have no idea what to do in NST to fix the problem. Anyone? I'm desperate and need more info. As detailed as possible.

Thanks!