[wuufer001]

hey all,
i'm kinda of in a problem here.
i have a sony vaio vista laptop.
my disc drive is not working and i have no recovery discs.
so now i want to restore windows vista.

have been to the vaio support website and it is saying that if i want to do a "complete syste restore" i need to have restore discs but since i don't have and can't create, the only option i have is "Restore C: drive". since i only have 1 drive (C on my laptop, will there be a difference for me if i choose the "complete syste restore" or "Restore C: drive"?

please help

thanks in advance

[wuufer001]

Originally Posted by got psi

You are kinda stuck if you want to restore vista without using a disk. I have a Vista ISO that you can mount, but even then, it wouldnt work because the computer needs to reboot to go through the process. My suggestion is for you to a) fix your disk drive b) run to best buy and get a cheap external USB based dvd drive and get the restore up and running.

after going onto the website i followed their instruction, restoring the C:.
don't know what the big difference between that and restoring the whole system though, it looked the same to me
everything clean and fresh now but have to get rid of the useless pre-installed programs

thanks for the suggestions though.

[Xiaofeng]

The Sony Vaios don't come with any restore CDs/DVDs, but have all the restore info on a separate partition on your hard drive. The "Restore C:" function you ran is the same thing as "Restore System", in that it will erase everything in your C: drive and reinstall Vista and anything else the computer originally came with.

After you run the Restore process, there should be a Sony program in Windows that lets you make a set of Restore Discs. I would urge you to make yourself a set and keep them somewhere safe, so in the case your hard drive physically fails, you can replace the hard drive and still restore your laptop.

Likewise, you can also go to the Sony Parts and Accessories website and purchase a set of Restore Discs for around $20, but making them yourself is only about $0.50, and a lot faster.

Hope that helps!