computer wont recognize my sony vaio system restore disc for vista


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I installed ubuntu on my sony vaio laptop but i accidently partitioned the whole hard drive so i have no access to my vista anymore

i inserted one of the 3 system restore point dvd discs (sony didnt come with any form recovery discs, i had to make one) but it says its not for my pc model.

how could i get vista back?

i was going to divide the partition into 2 and have 70gb of vista and 70gb of ubuntu but i cant even get vista working

im a beginner on the whole linux deal so any help will be appreciated!

thanks

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You may be out of luck.

Usually to save money the manufacturers create a hidden partition on the drive that contains the compressed os and all the rescue disks do is enable you to un-compress the files in the hidden partition.

If you didn't get a full copy of the os then this is probably what happened.

If you have wiped the whole disk then obviously you have deleted the hidden partition so restoring vista won't be possible.

Post the terminal output of the following command

sudo fdisk -l

This will show a list of all partitions/disks on the machine and we can see if you have indeed wiped the whole drive.

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smith@smith-laptop:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xcf440686

   Device Boot	  Start		 End	  Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *		   1	   18704   150239848+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2		   18705	   19457	 6048472+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5		   18705	   19457	 6048441   82  Linux swap / Solar

thats what i got

after sudo fdisk -1

do i still have the hidden partition?

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  • 2 months later...

heyyy diz... did u resolve the restore isue???

i got the same problem with a fz285u..

i get the 3 restore dvds from the manufactor and it doestn work

im now running a fresh vista install, but i wish to have the restore dvds working fine, cuz they have all the original drivers and manufactor software....

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It may not recognize things because you still have Ubuntu on it. 3 dvds should have the OS on it somewhere. Lenovo gave me 7 cds that wipe all partitions and creates it's own partitions. You can try to reformat it in NTFS then see if it works. **I'm not responsible for anything that get's worse.** I hate how manufacturers do crap like that. It takes ~2.5 hours to reinstall XP using the 7 Lenovo cds versus 30min from an XP cd. I got creative though. I'm not sure about Vista, but Microsoft has a tool to update the key for XP. Good luck. I had to use GParted to partition AFTER I reinstalled XP with the Lenovo cds.

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Prime example of just how user-friendly (NOT) Linux still is to those who aren't savvy or patient enough to go through every user action they initiate with a fine tooth comb. I would call Sony, describe the CDs to them and ask whether they contain the complete recovery images. If they do then Sony should be able to tell you how to initiate them, and if they do not then they should be able to send you the proper discs.

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your best bet is to find a vista install disc and use your serial number under the laptop to activate your version of vista. either that, or buy a full vista installation package, grab the drivers of Sony's website and do a fresh install.

Prime example of just how user-friendly (NOT) Linux still is to those who aren't savvy or patient enough to go through every user action they initiate with a fine tooth comb. I would call Sony, describe the CDs to them and ask whether they contain the complete recovery images. If they do then Sony should be able to tell you how to initiate them, and if they do not then they should be able to send you the proper discs.

Partitioning a HDD is simple and really doesn't come down to linux, it up to the user to find the right information about how to prepare their own machine and how to partition the HDD (s) when installing another OS.

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Partitioning a HDD is simple and really doesn't come down to linux, it up to the user to find the right information about how to prepare their own machine and how to partition the HDD (s) when installing another OS.

You are entitled to your opinion. I just hope you aren't a Linux developer expecting your OS to ever become main stream, if this is how you think.

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You are entitled to your opinion. I just hope you aren't a Linux developer expecting your OS to ever become main stream, if this is how you think.

Vista is capable of partition management. The same problem could exist if someone were to create...say a FAT32/ext partition then try to use system restore discs. It may be something as simple as the MBR (or whatever Vista uses) and not have anything to do with partitions.

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Prime example of just how user-friendly (NOT) Linux still is to those who aren't savvy or patient enough to go through every user action they initiate with a fine tooth comb.

...

You do realize that the Linux install is fine. It is the stupid OEM Windows configuration (hidden partitions with critical data) that is the problem, right?

So, either you weren't paying attention to the problem, or are just ignoring the facts to disingenuously state it is a Linux issue and troll the forums.

Either way, it doesn't reflect well on you. ;)

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It would sound like a similar issue I had with the SONY VAIO recovery DVD's in my case but just the same may be similar to the issue you are having with the recovery cd's not allowing you to perform a recovery. I would recommend if you want to restore the PC to it's factory restored condition remove the existing drive partitions and leave them unformatted as the recovery will format them and re-partition them back to factory. If you try to perform a recovery with an existing OS on it, (at least in which in my case was a Windows Vista 64 bit installation that I later wanted to perform a factory restore and was unable to do so. Found removing partitions from the c:/drive and then perform the factory restore and it worked.

I hope this helps.

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  • 5 months later...
It would sound like a similar issue I had with the SONY VAIO recovery DVD's in my case but just the same may be similar to the issue you are having with the recovery cd's not allowing you to perform a recovery. I would recommend if you want to restore the PC to it's factory restored condition remove the existing drive partitions and leave them unformatted as the recovery will format them and re-partition them back to factory. If you try to perform a recovery with an existing OS on it, (at least in which in my case was a Windows Vista 64 bit installation that I later wanted to perform a factory restore and was unable to do so. Found removing partitions from the c:/drive and then perform the factory restore and it worked.

I hope this helps.

A great thanks to NeoFyle. I am trying to find a solution since Friday with Sony Support and today they booked to get my laptop back to their repair depot as (The hard disk was defective). Of course eveything was working exect for that I couldn't resote to the original OS because I had deleted the recovery partition. Following you instructions it seems to be working and the restoration is now at 64%. Many thanks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello,

I have Sony Vaio VGN-SZ430N. I can see the backup partiotion on my hard drive. But i can't install it. I installed the Fresh copy of Vista Business edition. but it can't reconize the drive's partiotion. Please let me know what should i done?

Thanks in advance

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Hello,

I have Sony Vaio VGN-SZ430N. I can see the backup partiotion on my hard drive. But i can't install it. I installed the Fresh copy of Vista Business edition. but it can't reconize the drive's partiotion. Please let me know what should i done?

Thanks in advance

Welcome to Neowin! You can start your own topic, you know. ;)

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