Bought a new Sony laptop with Vista Business loaded, I was not given the backup CD with the sale.
The salesperson told me that all new systems sold now do not include the O/S CD, is this true?
I do have the product key, would I need to go to the MS downloads site to burn a copy?

Your computer might have a hidden recovery partition on the hard drive instead of a recovery CD.

I sure hope that it does, does anyone know how I can check on this?

First thing I would do is to go to the Sony website and look up the specs for your model.

Didn't that system come with any literature at all?

Usually, there's a "start here" manual of some sort that describles how to create a restore CD.

Download Belarc Advisor http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
It will tell you the specs of your computer. Look for Local Drive Volumes.

If you have c: (NTFS) and d: (FAT32), then you have a recovery partition.

Hi

I have just purchased a Vaio and what you have been told is correct. There is a hidden partition on your hard drive, and if you check your literature you are instructed to create a recovery disk set.

regards

Steve

Thanks Steve -

we appreciate that feedback.

hi there,

new systems come with nothing these days, i got a new Acer desktop system in January 07 and all that was in the box was Tower, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers and a Works 8.5 CD and that was it, everything else was in the system including the manual. How crap.

This is mainly becuause over time many lose all that. Though having a copy on a disc feels more secure to many including myself.

The recovery stuff is hard to find on the VAIO's these days.

Open up Help and Support on the start menu.
In the window that opens, there'll be a backup and recovery thing in the upper right of the different icons - click on it.
In the next page that shows up, scroll down to the bottom and there'll be a link to the Sony recovery stuff and you can make recovery CD's from there.

hehe i had to laugh at that usasma.......i contacted Acer with mine to do recovery discs and they say you can't burn them or something....so i hope Sony is better with that.....

I got all the drivers from there website and got a copy of Vista and installed it so if something were to happen like a hardrive failure at least i have something, although i could have done an image of my drive when i first got it but didn't have an external drive, and the programs don't do it on Discs (like the recovery ones)....

I'll have to look at the Acer's tomorrow. We just started carrying them when Vista launched - so I'm not real familiar with them.

The Sony thing took several days for 5 of us techs to figure it out - it was so frustrating because it wasn't in the Start menu - but we knew it was in there somewhere.

Have you tried checking the Acer for a hidden partition? I recall that our desktop Acer at work has a recovery partition on it.

i don't have a hidden partion now because installing vista (upgrading from XP MCE to HOME PREMIUM) destroyed it.....as it was purchased just before Vista, only because my old PC gave up a month to short.

Acers do have a recovery partition. when the machine is started for the first time, it will run the recovery utility and ask if you want to make the recovery disks. If this has been turned off, it will never ask again.

Here is a link to the e recovery manual:

http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/data/7117...for%20%20DT.pdf

This is just for one model

If this is not yours, go here, and select the correct model:
http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/forms/por...id=3425#results

When i first used my PC it never asked to burn recovery disks.....even when you go into the eRecovery it always said that this service isn't available and when i contacted Acer about it they said that you can't burn recovery disks....this was for Aspire E700 Pentium D version with Media Center.......either that or they don't know what's wrong one or the other.

Just looked up your model. the first link that I gave uses the same guide as your model.

if you formatted the hard drive completely, your recovery partition is no longer there.

if you just upgraded, use the {ALT-F10} combination to access the recovery partition, just remember, this will format the c partition and restore the computer to factory original specs.

you will then again have the option to burn recovery disk(s)

Whoever you talked to at acer is full of it.

the booklet that came with it "Express Upgrade" says "Vista" Upgrade destroyes the hidden partion bla bla bla then comes along and says to burn the recovery disks if haven't already done so before upgrading.......that's where i came across the problem that i couldn't burn these discs because of this eRecovery feature wouldn't work....and that is where i contacted Acer......which clearly stated in reply:

"Burning recovery CD's is useless because Upgrading to Vista will destroy the hidden partion and these recovery discs will not work bla bla bla......and i asked can i burn these discs anyway.....i never got an actual answere "Yes" and then instructions on alternative method.....i just got the impression they didn't want me to burn these discs....i also asked, well what if the hardrive died and no discs no nothing where does that leave me, and he says, well, you will have to send it to Sydney at your own costs, and a new hardrive installed and a new installion of you OS and drivers bla bla bla....in my opinion that guy stink and the company stink....my next PC, i'm sure its not going to be an Acer.........


They told me i didn't qualify for the Express Upgrade thing because i didn't have a purchase reciept becuase i got the buy it now, pay later......bla bla bla, so went and bought the Vista Upgrade DVD, downloaded the drivers, and did it that way....any way some couple of weeks later, i recieve a little package with an express upgrade DVD.......now that really stinks.....i'm not sure it its leagally allowed to sell on eBay or not but i'll try, didn't cost much....


So i agree FULL OF IT.