Recovery media for the SVE1511D4E?

[bpountney]

Is there anywhere where I can buy ISO files for recovery media for the SVE1511D4E?

[Blencogo]

No, Sony have only installed a Recovery Partition on the hard disc of modern Vaios with instructions to burn physical recovery discs for use if a disc fails. Many users do not heed these instructions and have two choices:

1. Purchase a compatible set of Recovery Discs - but these usually don’t work with a SSD or Advanced Format HDDs using sector sizes larger than 512 bytes.

2. Purchase and install a Retail Copy of Windows and download the available drivers and software from the Sony Support site specific to your model. However, not all the original software is downloadable.

The only way to get an ISO disc image is to create one from your old HDD before upgrading it using something like Acronis True Image.

[bpountney]

Hi @Blencogo

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@Blencogo wrote:

No, Sony have only installed a Recovery Partition on the hard disc of modern Vaios with instructions to burn physical recovery discs for use if a disc fails. Many users do not heed these instructions and have two choices:

1. Purchase a compatible set of Recovery Discs - but these usually don’t work with a SSD or Advanced Format HDDs using sector sizes larger than 512 bytes.

2. Purchase and install a Retail Copy of Windows and download the available drivers and software from the Sony Support site specific to your model. However, not all the original software is downloadable.

The only way to get an ISO disc image is to create one from your old HDD before upgrading it using something like Acronis True Image.

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How exactly do you mean "The only way to get an ISO disc image is to create one from your old HDD before upgrading it using something like Acronis True Image." ?

[Blencogo]

Hi bpountney.

Can you tell us exactly what you are trying to do?

Recovery Discs, both those created by you or purchased from Sony, are only designed to work on one Vaio model. Additionally, they will only work on a hard drive of the same specification as the one originally installed when the Vaio was new. An upgraded HDD or SSD is sometimes not compatible with the Recovery Media if the Sector Size is different.

Older HDDs are formatted into ‘sectors’ of 512 bytes and if the original HDD in your Vaio was of this type, then any Recovery Discs will only be compatible with this specification of HDD.

More recent, high capacity, HDDs now use larger sector sizes so the capacity can be made bigger - these are called ‘Advanced Format’ HDDs and most new drives are of the AF type. These drives are incompatible with older Recovery Discs.

To get round any incompatibility issues when upgrading to a SSD or an AF HDD one answer is to make an ISO Image of the old HDD. An ISO Image, or ‘Mirror’, of the drive is an exact copy of of the drive byte by byte which can then be restored onto the new drive and will include all programs, settings, software keys, drivers etc.

Acronis is just one of many applications you can use to make such a ‘mirror’. You would usually borrow a USB external hard drive to create the temporary image on before changing the drive in the Vaio and restoring the image.

It would be very handy these days to be able to buy an ISO Image of a Vaio as it was when it left the factory so it can be installed on any specification hard drive but, sadly, I don’t think this is possible.

[bpountney]

Hi @Blencogo

Thanks for replying,

I am basicly trying to restore my VAIO to complete factory condition as I am refurbishing it for myself. The original HDD is not booting into the recovery partition but it is still there so I can use another PC to image it if possible.

What I am trying to ask is basicly if I can buy recovery media in ISO format so I can easily burn a disc with another PC but you were talking about Acronis, what exactly can I do with Acronis True Image at this stage or what can I do exacly other than buy recovery DVD's?

Thanks,

Benjamin

[Blencogo]

Hi Benjamin

If your hard disc is faulty, there is no point making a mirror image as the fault will be transfered to the new drive. Acronis would only help to transfer the contents of a working drive to a replacement HDD.

I assume you have tried turning off the Vaio and then pressing the ASSIST button? Does nothing happen? Have a look at the Troubleshooting Guide for your model here:-

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/res/manuals/Z001/Z001841111.PDF

If ASSIST doesn't work it looks like you need to purchase Recovery Discs or obtaon a retail copy of Windows and download the drivers from the Support website for your model here:-

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/laptop-pc-sve-series/sve1511d4e?downloads-num=95

[bpountney]

I have already tried the ASSIST button and the ALT+F10 key combo, It does look like I will need to get recovery media. But I have 1 question, the laptop was previously sent in to a repair store. How exactly did they recover it without recovery media? Surely they don't have recovery media for every model?

[Blencogo]

You would have to ask the repairers.

I have found that they often install a retail version of Windows - not the Sony version.  Did everything work properly after the repair?

It is also possible to get a bootable repair disc which could fix any problem with Windows software.

https://techfleece.com/2011/05/06/download-windows-7-repair-disk/

[bpountney]

They installed the Sony OEM version you would usually get with recovery as it added a recovery partition to the drive and everything was the same and all, it came with VAIO gate and all the other great programs I love. That's why I am looking around for the Sony version, but that disc would be a good try. I have also found the following things I think might work, is it ok if you have .a look at them so I can verify which one is the best.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Recovery-Windows-Computer-Laptop/dp/B01I26CWWC

https://neosmart.net/EasyRE/

Which one would be the best?

Thanks,

Benjamin