VGN FZ21M hidden partition

[Gesmi]

Hello, I have a question about the hidden partion in my vaio NB.

I have the FZ21M model with 174GB (200GB) of disc space. But when I check the size of all the stuff I have on c: it has 126GB and 15GB free (total 141GB), so there is 33GB missing. Is it all in this great hidden partition?

It gets me little bit mad that there is such a space waste What is the partiotion for? Is it any good or can I just get rid of it? I already googled some information about that, but it is rather confusing. So I would like opinion from other Vaio users.

Thanks for any answer.

[william17]

Hello Gesmi

I recently had a problem with a hard drive on an FZ21M unit. Actually not really about the HDD but more with the fact that my HDDR's (hard disk drive recovery system) EISA hidden partition (10.08 Gb) was 100% healthy but somehow totally empty, so I couldn't even proceed with creating a recovery DVD set. Not even F10 on boot time was doing anything. I've been then obligated to pay a hard fee to exchange my unit for an FZ21Z two weeks later, after that everything went fine with the recovery matter.

So what I suggest in this case, even if 33 Gb appears almost not that excessive to me (I have a supposedly 300Gb HDD and I actually have 268Gb of free usable space), is obviously to keep everything related to the recovery partition on your Vaio or you will find yourself looking to buy an expensive (around 45 Euros) recovery DVD to replace what you just deleted. You need it, otherwise you're not planning to get your machine to factory default settings at least once during your Vaio's life. And as you probably already noticed, it seems impossible with an OS like Vista.

Cheers -

[Blencogo]

Hi Gesmi,

You only have 7.5GB space in your Recovery Partition, so it is worth keeping it if you can because you can lose Recovery Discs, they can become damaged or your optical drive may fail.

Your hard disc has 200,000,000,000 bytes capacity.

Your computer's operating system (Windows) cannot count properly, Windows counts in Binary (everything to the base of 2)

Because Windows uses the binary system, the nearest it can get to 1,000 bytes (a kilobyte) is 1,024 bytes - calculated as two to the power ten (2^10=1024). So it uses 1024 bytes of your storage to count a kilobyte. Similarly, it counts 1,024 KB as 1MB and 1,024MB to get 1GB. This means your operating system is counting 1,073,741,824 bytes (2^30=1073741824) of your storage as 1 GB. Windows measures your 200GB drive as only 186GB.

To check more accurately, Go to:

Control Panel -> Administrative Tasks -> Computer Management -> Disc Management

to see exactly what capacity you have and how much is used.

You will probably find a Recovery Partition of about 8GB and total drive C:\ capacity of about 175GB.

[Gesmi]

Hi William,
well I will keep the partition now I already made the recovery disc first before using the computer. So in case of HDD problems I should be able to boot from them.
G

[Gesmi]

Hi Blencogo,

thanx for the answer. Yes the capacity shown in disc management is 174GB, my disc shows 159GB full, 15GB free. It doesnt show the partition, but I guess you were right

I was just recently trying to find out, where the hell all my GB are Looks likes Microsoft takes a bunch of it not Sony

Thanks for help
Vaio forever