Cleaning Hard Drive...Am I right/wrong??

[beauty.zahrah]

My Sony Vaio VGN-CR21S/W didn't come with a recovery disk. When I opened it Vista was already installed.

I am wanting to reformat my hard drive. Firstly because I just want it  to feel new all over again and over the years I did get the odd virus  but had a massive attack last year with VBS/Generic through someone's emails and even  though I got rid of it using AVG, Malawarebytes etc, I still would like  to just clean up and reset everything.

So this is what I will do (please correct me if I'm wrong)

1. I will first make a copy of all my files I want to keep.

2. My Vaio has a recovery wizard. Before I clean the drive, I  will make a set of Recovery Discs with the wizard (the wizard says I  will need 2 discs so I have bought the right ones)

3. I will then go ahead and let the wizard reformat the Hard Drive.

4. I then put my recovery discs in and turn my laptop on so that everything is installed again.??

I have some questions;

-How do I know when and which disc to put in?

-Will these recovery discs install Vista again and back to the original factory settings?

-Will I need any serial numbers (I'm guessing not since it will be whatever was installed when I bought it)

-What do I do if the discs don't work?

-Will Cleaning the Hard Drive get rid of the partition?? I DONT want that to happen - I just need it to be cleaned and get it how I bought it.

I would love your help and sorry for all the questions.

Thank you.

[Thalamus. · Accepted solution]

Hi beauty.zahrah,

welcome to Questions & Answers..:smileyhappy:

Backing up all of your personal files, documents, photo's, Music files, etc that you want to keep is important and should be done before comencing the recovery process.

To do a system recovery on your vaio you can use either the recovery wizard or a the set of recovery dics's (once you've created them) you do not need to use both.

To use the HDD recovery partition you can either -

Restart your vaio and when you see the Vaio logo press the F10 key repeatedly..

This should start the recovery process using the hidden HDD recovery partition.

Then follow the recovery instructions to complete the process

Or

Click Start, All Programs, Vaio recovery centre and follow the instructions to complete the process

Or

Insert the first recovery disc and start your vaio, the recovery process should begin and again follow the instructions to complete the process..

If you interested here is a link to the Troubleshooting and Recovery guide page Page 33 emplaines the recovery process and should answer your questions, if not post again and we'll try to help further..

[beauty.zahrah]

Hi,

Thanks for welcoming me.

I think I will go with option 1...they are all essentially the same right, so going with option 1 isn't going to cause any issues will it?

Also, going with option 1 will put everything back t the way I bought it...so Vista will be installed (as it was when I bought the laptop)...??

Would you also recommend making a set of recovery discs just incase I do option 1 and everything is gone (I'm very pessimistic).

Finally, will option 1 also clean the Hard Drive for me and how long do you think the whole process will take?

Thank you so much for your help and sorry for all the questions.

Zahrah

[Thalamus.]

I think I will go with option 1...they are all essentially the same  right, so going with option 1 isn't going to cause any issues will it?

No it shouldn't do..

Also, going with option 1 will put everything back t the way I bought it...so Vista will be installed (as it was when I bought the laptop)...??

Yes the Vaio recovery utility should restore your back to the as new state.

Would you also recommend making a set of recovery discs just incase I do option 1 and everything is gone (I'm very pessimistic).

It's not necessary before running the restore but it's always wise to create a set of recovery discs at some time so if you would feel more comfortable creating a set before starting the recovery process then that's ok..

Finally, will option 1 also clean the Hard Drive for me and how long do you think the whole process will take?

The process can vary between models but make sure you connect your Vaio to AC power before comencing the recovery process.

Once the recovery process has finished you'll need to install any Vaio or MS updates that are available..:smileywink: