Sony VAIO (Recovery, Backup and Troubleshooting Guide) User Manual

Recovery, backup and troubleshooting guide, Introduction, Recovering your computer

Advertising
background image

132Q_Win8_EU_Recovery, Backup and Troubleshooting Guide 4-467-289-11 (1)

Recovery,

Backup and

Troubleshooting

Guide

See the back side.

Printed in China
© 2013 Sony Corporation

Introduction

Refresh your computer first if the computer

becomes unstable. If the problem persists,

recover the computer.

Recovering your computer will delete all the

data on the built-in hard disk drive or SSD.

The main settings and personal data on

your computer are retained when you

refresh the computer.

To refresh your computer

1

Press the

ASSIST button while your

computer is off.
The

VAIO Care (Rescue Mode) screen

appears.

2

Select

Start troubleshooting (recovery).

Follow the on-screen instructions until
the

Choose an option screen appears.

3

Select

Troubleshoot and Refresh your

PC.

For details, refer to the on-screen

User

Guide.

Save important data in advance. Copyright

protected data, such as digital broadcast

data or music files organized by digital

media playback apps, may not be available,

even if the data is retained in the same

location after you refresh your computer.

Refer to the help file included with the app

you are using for instructions.

The apps installed at the time of delivery

and installed from

Windows Store are

retained, whereas all Desktop apps that you

installed after the purchase will be erased.

2

Turn off your computer.

3

Press the

ASSIST button to display the

VAIO Care (Rescue Mode) screen and
select

Start from media (USB device/

optical disc).
Follow the on-screen instructions until
the

Choose an option screen appears.

4

Select

Troubleshoot and VAIO recovery

solutions.
Follow the on-screen instructions until
the

VAIO Care (Rescue Mode): VAIO

recovery solutions screen appears.

If the display language selection window

appears, select your desired language

and

OK.

5

Select

Start recovery wizard.

6

Follow the on-screen instructions.

To perform the custom recovery, select

Tools and Start advanced recovery wizard.

If you cannot recover your computer using

the USB flash drive, connect the drive to

another USB port on the computer and try

recovering the computer again.

To recover from the

recovery area

1

Press the

ASSIST button while your

computer is off.
The

VAIO Care (Rescue Mode) screen

appears.

2

Select

Start troubleshooting (recovery).

Follow the on-screen instructions until
the

Choose an option screen appears.

3

Select

Troubleshoot and VAIO recovery

solutions.
Follow the on-screen instructions until
the

VAIO Care (Rescue Mode): VAIO

recovery solutions screen appears.

If the display language selection window

appears, select your desired language

and

OK.

4

Select

Start recovery wizard.

5

Follow the on-screen instructions.

To perform the custom recovery, select

Tools and Start advanced recovery wizard.

To recover from Recovery

Media

If you use Recovery Media (optical discs) on
the model without a built-in optical disc
drive, connect an external optical disc drive
(not supplied) to your computer. If an AC
adapter is supplied with the external optical
disc drive, plug the AC adapter into a power
source.

1

Insert Recovery Media (optical discs) into

the optical disc drive or connect a USB
flash drive to the USB port on your
computer while the computer is in
Normal mode.

About recovery

What is recovery?

Recovery is the process of restoring the
built-in hard disk drive or SSD back to its
original factory condition. Refresh is the
process of reinstalling the operating system
with the main settings and personal data
retained.
There are two ways to recover your
computer:

From Recovery Media

From the recovery area

The 64 GB or 128 GB SSD equipped models

do not support the refresh function. If you

check the capacity of the SSD, press the

ASSIST button while your computer is off to

display the

VAIO Care (Rescue Mode)

screen, and select

Start BIOS setup.

When do I have to perform recovery

or refresh?

If your computer has become 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

What is a recovery area?

The recovery area on the built-in hard disk
drive or SSD contains data for system and
app recovery. Typically, you cannot modify
or delete data in this area, however, there
are commercially available apps 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 hard disk
drive or SSD 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 the built-in hard disk drive or SSD. To
restore the lost data, its backup copy is
needed. It is strongly recommended that
you back up your data regularly.

Creating Recovery Media

You can create Recovery Media using

VAIO

Care. For detailed information how to create
the Recovery Media, refer to the on-screen

User Guide. Connect your computer to the
Internet and update the computer using
VAIO Update before creating the Recovery
Media.

You cannot use BD-RE, BD-RE DL,

DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, CD-R, and

CD-RW media as Recovery Media.

You can use optical discs or a USB flash

drive as Recovery Media.

On the model without a built-in optical
disc drive:
Use a USB flash drive.

On the model with a built-in optical disc
drive:

It is recommended that you use DVD-R

media, because data can be accidently

deleted from a USB flash drive.

The types of media your computer supports,

the number of necessary discs, and the

capacity of the USB flash drive you need will

be displayed during the Recovery Media

creation process.

USB ports that are compliant with the USB

3.0 standard do not support recovery with a

USB flash drive that is compliant with the

USB 3.0 standard. On models without the

USB ports that are compliant with only the

USB 2.0 standard, be sure to create

Recovery Media using the USB flash drive

that is not compliant with the USB 3.0

standard.

4-467-289-

11 (1)

Recovering your computer

Advertising