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    how to get recovery DVDs off after installing XP

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by waterfallzen, Sep 30, 2008.

  1. waterfallzen

    waterfallzen Notebook Guru

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    My SONY VGN-FE880E was unable to start. In order to save my data, I decided to install XP to it. Before I settle on XP, I would like to get the recovery center's DVD out. With no original system, how can I retrieve the DVD as a backup?

    Thanks,
     
    waterfallzen, Sep 30, 2008
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  2. b|lly

    b|lly Notebook Deity

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    Do you have recovery partition still available?
     
    b|lly, Sep 30, 2008
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  3. waterfallzen

    waterfallzen Notebook Guru

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    I saw the partition while installing XP. I didn't change anything so it should still be there. Now, there is no application like Recovery center to access it. I would like to make a backup copy of the recovery Vista DVDs before start over again.

    Thanks for any suggestions,
     
    waterfallzen, Sep 30, 2008
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  4. Dagatech

    Dagatech Notebook Geek

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    I know you can access the recovery partition during bootup by pressing F10?, but I doubt it gives you a way to burn cd's from there. Do you have the Sony Recovery folder anywhere? Um...otherwise, maybe you could use a partition manager to make the partition visible and access the program on there...
     
    Dagatech, Sep 30, 2008
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  5. b|lly

    b|lly Notebook Deity

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    As Dagatech said, while booting press F10 and it should go into recovery console. There you shoud have an option similar to: Backup your data. Which means you can make a copy of all data on your HDD.
     
    b|lly, Oct 1, 2008
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  6. waterfallzen

    waterfallzen Notebook Guru

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    Thank you for the suggestion. F10 goes to the same page when my laptop stopped working. It has options: Windows System Restore, VAIO Hardware Diagnostics, Restore C: Drive, and Rescue Data. There is no option to create recover DVDs. I guess I can restore C: Drive to get my old system back. Then, make DVDs from there. Thanks for the tip to gain access to Recovery Center again.

    Do the recovery DVDs (2) you create do the same thing as the recovery center in the hidden partition? What is the drawbacks of deleting the hidden paritition if you have DVDs made from the partition?

    Thanks again for the help.
     
    waterfallzen, Oct 1, 2008
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  7. Dagatech

    Dagatech Notebook Geek

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    My understanding is that yes, once you've created the recovery DVD's they serve the same purpose as the partition. One advantage to the dvd's, however, is that you can do a semi-clean install very easily by just not re-inserting them at the end. No extra software, yay! Plus it frees up hard drive space to remove the partition.

    Try Rescue Data...maybe if you dig through enough menu's you'll find an option to create the recovery dvds. Doubtful, but it doesn't hurt to look.
     
    Dagatech, Oct 1, 2008
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  8. b|lly

    b|lly Notebook Deity

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    I think rescue data is the thing you are looking for. It should go into a menu where you can choose folders/files which you want to copy onto external drive.
     
    b|lly, Oct 1, 2008
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