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Recovery Partition.



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 3rd 16, 02:40 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Big Al[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,588
Default Recovery Partition.

I have a Sony Vaio laptop that came preloaded with Windows 8.1 64bit home.

I never did anything to the OS except all the updates, but now after 3-4
yrs the 'assist' button to open the Vaio Center or whatever it's called
so that I can make my recovery CD's does not work. I can't even get the
menu item to work. And by "work" I mean make the DVD's. The
program loads and I can get to the backup&recovery option as the manual
instructs me, but the only things on the page then are the options to
recover from the CD's and restore to factory settings. Obviously this
is what I want but I don't have those DVDs yet.

There are several partitions of ~500M on the drive. I'm sure one is
some program to do the work and one may be the image?

OEM Partition 260 MB
Recovery Partition 1.44GB
EFI System 260MB
Recovery Partition 833 MB
Recovery Partition 36.32 GB
C: partition 462.06 GB
D: Data 197.34 GB


Anyway since I can't get to it normally is there any way to get this
working so I can make my windows 8.1 CD's like I should have done on day
one when maybe everything worked?

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  #2  
Old August 3rd 16, 04:20 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
PAS[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 83
Default Recovery Partition.

On 8/3/2016 9:40 AM, Big Al wrote:
I have a Sony Vaio laptop that came preloaded with Windows 8.1 64bit
home.

I never did anything to the OS except all the updates, but now after
3-4 yrs the 'assist' button to open the Vaio Center or whatever it's
called so that I can make my recovery CD's does not work. I can't
even get the menu item to work. And by "work" I mean make the
DVD's. The program loads and I can get to the backup&recovery option
as the manual instructs me, but the only things on the page then are
the options to recover from the CD's and restore to factory settings.
Obviously this is what I want but I don't have those DVDs yet.

There are several partitions of ~500M on the drive. I'm sure one is
some program to do the work and one may be the image?

OEM Partition 260 MB
Recovery Partition 1.44GB
EFI System 260MB
Recovery Partition 833 MB
Recovery Partition 36.32 GB
C: partition 462.06 GB
D: Data 197.34 GB


Anyway since I can't get to it normally is there any way to get this
working so I can make my windows 8.1 CD's like I should have done on
day one when maybe everything worked?

Yesrs ago I bought an HP desktop after the release of Windows Vista.
There was a time-period within which I had to make the recovery media.
After the period, say 90 days, the option to make the recovery media no
longer worked. Oddly, after a major service pack update to Vista, the
message pop-up to make the recovery media returned for the 90-day period
as if the service pack "reset" the option.

  #3  
Old August 3rd 16, 06:08 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Good Guy[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,354
Default Recovery Partition.

On 03/08/2016 14:40, Big Al wrote:
I have a Sony Vaio laptop that came preloaded with Windows 8.1 64bit
home.

I never did anything to the OS except all the updates, but now after
3-4 yrs the 'assist' button to open the Vaio Center or whatever it's
called so that I can make my recovery CD's does not work. I can't
even get the menu item to work. And by "work" I mean make the
DVD's. The program loads and I can get to the backup&recovery option
as the manual instructs me, but the only things on the page then are
the options to recover from the CD's and restore to factory settings.
Obviously this is what I want but I don't have those DVDs yet.

There are several partitions of ~500M on the drive. I'm sure one is
some program to do the work and one may be the image?

OEM Partition 260 MB
Recovery Partition 1.44GB
EFI System 260MB
Recovery Partition 833 MB
Recovery Partition 36.32 GB
C: partition 462.06 GB
D: Data 197.34 GB


Anyway since I can't get to it normally is there any way to get this
working so I can make my windows 8.1 CD's like I should have done on
day one when maybe everything worked?


There is no need for the recovery disks if you are prepared to download
the full Windows 8.1 from Microsoft Website. I have done it once when I
wanted to upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1. The download is the full version and
your current OEM serial number would work.



--
With over 350 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

  #4  
Old August 3rd 16, 07:02 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
PAS[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 83
Default Recovery Partition.

On 8/3/2016 1:08 PM, Good Guy wrote:
On 03/08/2016 14:40, Big Al wrote:
I have a Sony Vaio laptop that came preloaded with Windows 8.1 64bit
home.

I never did anything to the OS except all the updates, but now after
3-4 yrs the 'assist' button to open the Vaio Center or whatever it's
called so that I can make my recovery CD's does not work. I can't
even get the menu item to work. And by "work" I mean make the
DVD's. The program loads and I can get to the backup&recovery
option as the manual instructs me, but the only things on the page
then are the options to recover from the CD's and restore to factory
settings. Obviously this is what I want but I don't have those DVDs
yet.

There are several partitions of ~500M on the drive. I'm sure one is
some program to do the work and one may be the image?

OEM Partition 260 MB
Recovery Partition 1.44GB
EFI System 260MB
Recovery Partition 833 MB
Recovery Partition 36.32 GB
C: partition 462.06 GB
D: Data 197.34 GB


Anyway since I can't get to it normally is there any way to get this
working so I can make my windows 8.1 CD's like I should have done on
day one when maybe everything worked?


There is no need for the recovery disks if you are prepared to
download the full Windows 8.1 from Microsoft Website. I have done it
once when I wanted to upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1. The download is the
full version and your current OEM serial number would work.


Recovery media also contain drivers for the specific computer the OP
has, Windows 8.1 may not natively have all the drivers the OP needs.
  #5  
Old August 3rd 16, 07:14 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Big Al[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,588
Default Recovery Partition.

On 08/03/2016 02:02 PM, PAS wrote:
On 8/3/2016 1:08 PM, Good Guy wrote:
On 03/08/2016 14:40, Big Al wrote:
I have a Sony Vaio laptop that came preloaded with Windows 8.1 64bit
home.

I never did anything to the OS except all the updates, but now after
3-4 yrs the 'assist' button to open the Vaio Center or whatever it's
called so that I can make my recovery CD's does not work. I can't
even get the menu item to work. And by "work" I mean make the
DVD's. The program loads and I can get to the backup&recovery
option as the manual instructs me, but the only things on the page
then are the options to recover from the CD's and restore to factory
settings. Obviously this is what I want but I don't have those DVDs
yet.

There are several partitions of ~500M on the drive. I'm sure one is
some program to do the work and one may be the image?

OEM Partition 260 MB
Recovery Partition 1.44GB
EFI System 260MB
Recovery Partition 833 MB
Recovery Partition 36.32 GB
C: partition 462.06 GB
D: Data 197.34 GB


Anyway since I can't get to it normally is there any way to get this
working so I can make my windows 8.1 CD's like I should have done on
day one when maybe everything worked?


There is no need for the recovery disks if you are prepared to
download the full Windows 8.1 from Microsoft Website. I have done it
once when I wanted to upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1. The download is the
full version and your current OEM serial number would work.


Recovery media also contain drivers for the specific computer the OP
has, Windows 8.1 may not natively have all the drivers the OP needs.


One of my other Dell laptops had win7 OEM and I tried installing a
retail copy of win7 once with the License on the sticker and it didn't
work. OEM gets their automatic activation from the motherboard or some
kinda feature like that?! I never put in a key on OEM machines.
Besides, any one of those key finder programs I ran always gave me a
different key than the one printed on the back of the laptop. Luckily
in that machine I had been given DVDs.


  #6  
Old August 3rd 16, 07:57 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
dadiOH[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 88
Default Recovery Partition.


"PAS" wrote in message ...
On 8/3/2016 1:08 PM, Good Guy wrote:
On 03/08/2016 14:40, Big Al wrote:
I have a Sony Vaio laptop that came preloaded with Windows 8.1 64bit
home.

I never did anything to the OS except all the updates, but now after 3-4
yrs the 'assist' button to open the Vaio Center or whatever it's called
so that I can make my recovery CD's does not work. I can't even get the
menu item to work. And by "work" I mean make the DVD's. The
program loads and I can get to the backup&recovery option as the manual
instructs me, but the only things on the page then are the options to
recover from the CD's and restore to factory settings. Obviously this
is what I want but I don't have those DVDs yet.

There are several partitions of ~500M on the drive. I'm sure one is
some program to do the work and one may be the image?

OEM Partition 260 MB
Recovery Partition 1.44GB
EFI System 260MB
Recovery Partition 833 MB
Recovery Partition 36.32 GB
C: partition 462.06 GB
D: Data 197.34 GB


Anyway since I can't get to it normally is there any way to get this
working so I can make my windows 8.1 CD's like I should have done on day
one when maybe everything worked?


There is no need for the recovery disks if you are prepared to download
the full Windows 8.1 from Microsoft Website. I have done it once when I
wanted to upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1. The download is the full version and
your current OEM serial number would work.


Recovery media also contain drivers for the specific computer the OP has,
Windows 8.1 may not natively have all the drivers the OP needs.


Ay, there's the rub. Perhaps a driver saver/restorer such as DoubleDriver
or DriverBackup would fill the bill.


  #7  
Old August 3rd 16, 08:04 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
PAS[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 83
Default Recovery Partition.

On 8/3/2016 2:14 PM, Big Al wrote:
On 08/03/2016 02:02 PM, PAS wrote:
On 8/3/2016 1:08 PM, Good Guy wrote:
On 03/08/2016 14:40, Big Al wrote:
I have a Sony Vaio laptop that came preloaded with Windows 8.1 64bit
home.

I never did anything to the OS except all the updates, but now after
3-4 yrs the 'assist' button to open the Vaio Center or whatever it's
called so that I can make my recovery CD's does not work. I can't
even get the menu item to work. And by "work" I mean make the
DVD's. The program loads and I can get to the backup&recovery
option as the manual instructs me, but the only things on the page
then are the options to recover from the CD's and restore to factory
settings. Obviously this is what I want but I don't have those DVDs
yet.

There are several partitions of ~500M on the drive. I'm sure one is
some program to do the work and one may be the image?

OEM Partition 260 MB
Recovery Partition 1.44GB
EFI System 260MB
Recovery Partition 833 MB
Recovery Partition 36.32 GB
C: partition 462.06 GB
D: Data 197.34 GB


Anyway since I can't get to it normally is there any way to get this
working so I can make my windows 8.1 CD's like I should have done on
day one when maybe everything worked?


There is no need for the recovery disks if you are prepared to
download the full Windows 8.1 from Microsoft Website. I have done it
once when I wanted to upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1. The download is the
full version and your current OEM serial number would work.


Recovery media also contain drivers for the specific computer the OP
has, Windows 8.1 may not natively have all the drivers the OP needs.


One of my other Dell laptops had win7 OEM and I tried installing a
retail copy of win7 once with the License on the sticker and it didn't
work. OEM gets their automatic activation from the motherboard or
some kinda feature like that?! I never put in a key on OEM machines.
Besides, any one of those key finder programs I ran always gave me a
different key than the one printed on the back of the laptop.
Luckily in that machine I had been given DVDs


I believe that the product key on the sticker on your laptop is
different than the one on the installed OS is die to the computer maker
using imaged hard drives.
  #8  
Old August 4th 16, 05:53 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Good Guy[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,354
Default Recovery Partition.

On 03/08/2016 19:02, PAS wrote:

Recovery media also contain drivers for the specific computer the OP
has, Windows 8.1 may not natively have all the drivers the OP needs.


I have just checked my machine which I want to wipe clean and install 10
and there is a n OEM folder and it contains a big fat file that is pure
100% iso that can be burned in the normal way. See this pictu

OEM Folder http://i.cubeupload.com/Jpocjx.png

Best thing is to see if there is such a folder and if so is there a big
fat file in it. If there is then try to unzip it using FileZilla to see
what does it contain. FileZilla can unzip an ISO file so it saves you
about 20 minutes to burn it. If you can unzip it then you can then
either save it, burn it, or even create a USB bootable flash drive from
it. It is possible to create a flash drive from ISO file using the
Microsoft method rather than using any third party tools.

Interesting thing is that file has survived since 2013 despite upgrading
the machine from 8 to 8.1 and to 10 and now I want to wipe clean and
install the anniversary edition.

--
With over 350 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

  #9  
Old August 5th 16, 07:02 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Ken Springer[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,817
Default Recovery Partition.

On 8/3/16 7:40 AM, Big Al wrote:
I have a Sony Vaio laptop that came preloaded with Windows 8.1 64bit home.

I never did anything to the OS except all the updates, but now after 3-4
yrs the 'assist' button to open the Vaio Center or whatever it's called
so that I can make my recovery CD's does not work. I can't even get the
menu item to work. And by "work" I mean make the DVD's. The
program loads and I can get to the backup&recovery option as the manual
instructs me, but the only things on the page then are the options to
recover from the CD's and restore to factory settings. Obviously this
is what I want but I don't have those DVDs yet.

There are several partitions of ~500M on the drive. I'm sure one is
some program to do the work and one may be the image?

OEM Partition 260 MB
Recovery Partition 1.44GB
EFI System 260MB
Recovery Partition 833 MB
Recovery Partition 36.32 GB
C: partition 462.06 GB
D: Data 197.34 GB


Anyway since I can't get to it normally is there any way to get this
working so I can make my windows 8.1 CD's like I should have done on day
one when maybe everything worked?


If no one comes up with a good answer, how about this?

Copy your data somewhere. Make a system image of what you have now.

Run the recovery, I don't know what options you will be given for
recovery options such as retaining your programs and data, formatting
the hard driver, etc.

Burn your DVDs, then reinstall the image. Or, reinstall your programs
and copy your data back.


--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 44.0
Thunderbird 38.0.1
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
and it's gone!"
  #10  
Old August 5th 16, 09:12 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Big Al[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,588
Default Recovery Partition.

On 08/05/2016 02:02 PM, Ken Springer wrote:
On 8/3/16 7:40 AM, Big Al wrote:
I never did anything to the OS except all the updates, but now after 3-4
yrs the 'assist' button to open the Vaio Center or whatever it's called
so that I can make my recovery DVD's does not have that option.

Anyway since I can't get to it normally is there any way to get this
working so I can make my windows 8.1 DVD's like I should have done on day
one when maybe everything worked?


If no one comes up with a good answer, how about this?

Copy your data somewhere. Make a system image of what you have now.

Run the recovery, I don't know what options you will be given for
recovery options such as retaining your programs and data, formatting
the hard driver, etc.

Burn your DVDs, then reinstall the image. Or, reinstall your programs
and copy your data back.


Problem is I don't have a way to make the recovery DVDs. That's the
main issue. The data is there, but the software to trigger it isn't.
  #11  
Old August 5th 16, 10:25 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Good Guy[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,354
Default Recovery Partition.

On 05/08/2016 21:12, Big Al wrote:
Problem is I don't have a way to make the recovery DVDs.


Most idiots have this problem so don't worry about it.



--

If you want to filter all of my posts then please read this article:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/organize-your-messages-using-filters
In step 7 select "Delete"

With over 350 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

  #12  
Old August 6th 16, 12:12 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Big Al[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,588
Default Recovery Partition.

On 08/05/2016 05:05 PM, Ken1943 wrote:
On Wed, 3 Aug 2016 09:40:47 -0400, Big Al wrote:

I have a Sony Vaio laptop that came preloaded with Windows 8.1 64bit home.

I never did anything to the OS except all the updates, but now after 3-4
yrs the 'assist' button to open the Vaio Center or whatever it's called
so that I can make my recovery CD's does not work. I can't even get the
menu item to work. And by "work" I mean make the DVD's. The
program loads and I can get to the backup&recovery option as the manual
instructs me, but the only things on the page then are the options to
recover from the CD's and restore to factory settings. Obviously this
is what I want but I don't have those DVDs yet.

There are several partitions of ~500M on the drive. I'm sure one is
some program to do the work and one may be the image?

OEM Partition 260 MB
Recovery Partition 1.44GB
EFI System 260MB
Recovery Partition 833 MB
Recovery Partition 36.32 GB
C: partition 462.06 GB
D: Data 197.34 GB


Anyway since I can't get to it normally is there any way to get this
working so I can make my windows 8.1 CD's like I should have done on day
one when maybe everything worked?


Did you look to purchase the dvd from Sony. Probably can't get them
anymore, but worth a try.
You could also buy a new computer with Windows 10 AND SUFFER with the
rest of us. HaHaHa replaces lol


Ken1943

That's kinda what we did. We did the upgrade and oddly enough the Sony
Care software came over. I wonder if I got it to work, would it still
make the 8.1 DVD's.
I did find a thread on a site that gave a favorable suggestion to delete
the sony care folder completely and then run the update utility and it
should reload the most recent version of sony care software. That too
is a problem that the update program fails with an error when trying to
update the Sony Care program. So it might work if I try this and get
the Sony Care software working. I'm sure it will make DVD's from the
partition it has, not from the OS I have (win 10).

Anyway, it's an option. I've got images of both the old win 8.1 and win10.

  #13  
Old August 10th 16, 12:15 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
David
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 31
Default Recovery Partition.

On Wed, 03 Aug 2016 09:40:47 -0400, Big Al wrote:

I have a Sony Vaio laptop that came preloaded with Windows 8.1 64bit
home.

I never did anything to the OS except all the updates, but now after 3-4
yrs the 'assist' button to open the Vaio Center or whatever it's called
so that I can make my recovery CD's does not work. I can't even get the
menu item to work. And by "work" I mean make the DVD's. The
program loads and I can get to the backup&recovery option as the manual
instructs me, but the only things on the page then are the options to
recover from the CD's and restore to factory settings. Obviously this
is what I want but I don't have those DVDs yet.

There are several partitions of ~500M on the drive. I'm sure one is
some program to do the work and one may be the image?

OEM Partition 260 MB


Recovery Partition 1.44GB


EFI System 260MB


Recovery Partition 833 MB


Recovery Partition 36.32 GB


C: partition 462.06 GB


D: Data 197.34 GB


Anyway since I can't get to it normally is there any way to get this
working so I can make my windows 8.1 CD's like I should have done on day
one when maybe everything worked?


You list 3 separate recovery partitions.

This may be why the software can't locate the correct one.

You could always try having a look inside all 3 to see which one looks the
most likely to be the real recovery partition.

You could then image all three, then delete the least likely two and try
again.

By deleting and restoring each partition you should be able to eventually
test all three; perhaps one of them will work.

Of the three, the 36.32 GB one looks a tad large.

For guidance, a W7 Pro 64 bit ISO is just over 3 GB and a W10 Pro 64 bit
ISO is around 3.6 GB. So neither of the small ones looks big enough, and
the big one looks 10 times too large (unless you mis-typed the size). If
it was 3.632 GB that would look about right for an install with extra Sony
goodness bundled in.


Cheers

Dave R


--
Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box
 




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