Sony VPCL234FX Recovery Guide - Page 1

4-297-283-11 (1) Recovery, Backup and Troubleshooting Guide Printed in China © 2011 Sony Corporation Introduction Creating Recovery Media Recovering your computer About recovery What is recovery? Recovery is the process of restoring your computer back to its original factory condition. There are two ways to recover your computer:  From Recovery Media  From the recovery area When do I have to perform recovery?  If your computer has been unstable  If your computer has been infected with a computer virus  If your computer is experiencing problems which cannot be solved through troubleshooting  If you have formatted the C: drive by mistake Which software should I use to maintain and recover my computer? Use the following software. VAIO Care  Creating Recovery Media  Checking your computer hardware VAIO Care Rescue  Rescuing (backing up) your data  Recovering your computer  Erasing all the data on your built-in storage device See the help file included with VAIO Care and VAIO Care Rescue for more information. What is a recovery area? The recovery area on the built-in storage device contains data for system and application recovery. Typically, you cannot modify or delete data in this area, however, there is commercially available software designed for this purpose. Why do I have to create Recovery Media? Recovery Media are used to restore your computer back to its original factory condition. If Windows does not start and you have deleted the recovery area, you will need the Recovery Media to perform recovery. Create the Recovery Media immediately after the computer is ready for use. About backup What is a backup process? The backup process creates a backup copy of your data stored on the built-in storage device and saves it to another location. Why do I have to back up my data? Due to unexpected events or computer viruses, you might lose various data stored on your builtin storage device. To restore the lost data, its backup copy is needed. It is strongly recommended that you back up your data regularly. You cannot use Blu-ray Disc™ media, DVD-RAM, CD-R, and CD-RW discs as Recovery Media. You can use optical discs and a USB flash drive as Recovery Media. However, it is recommended that you use optical discs, such as DVD-R, since you may accidentally delete the data on the USB flash drive. The number of necessary discs, the types of media you can use, and the capacity of the USB flash drive you need will be displayed during the Recovery Media creation process. 1 Connect your computer to the Internet, download and install the latest updates using VAIO Update. 2 If you create Recovery Media (optical discs) on the model without a built-in optical disc drive, connect an external optical disc drive (not supplied) or the Docking Station with a built-in optical disc drive (supplied with selected models) to the computer and to an AC power source. 3 Click Start , All Programs, and VAIO Care. If the User Account Control window appears, click Yes. It may take some time to display the current status of the procedure. Do not eject or disconnect the media while creating Recovery Media, as doing so may result in a failure of the process. Keep the Recovery Media in a secure place. You may not be able to create Recovery Media with a USB flash drive depending on the drive you use. See the help file included with VAIO Care for more information. If you are currently logged onto your computer as a standard user, you may be prompted to enter an administrator name and a password. 4 Click Advanced Tools, Restore and recovery, and Create Recovery Media. 5 Read the on-screen instructions carefully, and then click Next. 6 Follow the on-screen instructions. To restore your computer back to its original factory condition, follow one of the recovery methods below. Recovering your computer will delete all the data on the built-in storage device. To recover from the recovery area To recover from Recovery Media 1 Press the ASSIST button while your computer is off to launch VAIO Care Rescue. If the language selection window appears, select your desired language and click OK. 2 Click Start recovery wizard. To perform the custom recovery, select Tools and click Start advanced recovery wizard. 3 Follow the on-screen instructions. 1 If you recover your computer from Recovery Media (optical discs) on the model without a built-in optical disc drive, connect an external optical disc drive (not supplied) or the Docking Station with a built-in optical disc drive (supplied with selected models) to the computer and to an AC power source. 2 Insert the disc into the optical disc drive or connect the USB flash drive to the USB port on the computer while the computer is in Normal mode. 3 Turn off the computer and turn it on once again. 4 If you are using the external optical disc drive or USB flash drive, press the F11 key repeatedly until the VAIO logo disappears. The Windows Boot Manager screen is displayed. 5 Press the  or  key to select Start VAIO Care Rescue and press the Enter key. If the language selection window appears, select your desired language and click OK. 6 Select Start recovery wizard. To perform the custom recovery, select Tools and click Start advanced recovery wizard. 7 Follow the on-screen instructions. See the back side.