Remove A Partition - Sony Vaio

[Guest]

The Sony Vaio PCV-RS 411 we bought came with 2 partitions on one drive; C: is
about 35% of the capacity. I've successfully removed logical D: (second
partition) using WindowsXP administrative utilities. I've NOT, however, been
able to reclaim the remaining 65% storage capacity of the physical drive.
Since XP was bundled on the machine when we bought it, there's no XP CD-ROM
to attempt a new install. If anyone can point me to the correct utility,
aside from purchasing Partition Magic, we would be sincerely appreciative.
Bob-n-Landrum

 

[Richard Urban]

The correct utility is the one you don't want to purchase (-:

--

Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[John E. Carty]

The Sony Vaio PCV-RS 411 we bought came with 2 partitions on one drive; C:
is
about 35% of the capacity. I've successfully removed logical D: (second
partition) using WindowsXP administrative utilities. I've NOT, however,
been
able to reclaim the remaining 65% storage capacity of the physical drive.
Since XP was bundled on the machine when we bought it, there's no XP
CD-ROM
to attempt a new install. If anyone can point me to the correct utility,
aside from purchasing Partition Magic, we would be sincerely appreciative.
Bob-n-Landrum

The Vaio comes with a hidden partition which holds the image to recover your
system. If the partition is still viable you can boot to it by repeatedly
tapping the F10 key on boot. From here you can create recovery CD's which
can be used to reload drivers, preinstalled applications, or the entire
operating system. If you choose a complete system recovery (which is
destructive only) you can select the custom option and resize the C and D
partitions (or just give all the space to C drive) at that point.

If the partition is no longer accessible you can call Sony PC Support and
they can give you the required information to order the CD's for your
particular model

 

[Bob Hunt]

John there are two problems, maybe just one though. 1. If the computer is
still in warranty it won't cost anything, but if its not, the you have to
pay about $25 for support call and just "hope"you can understand the person
on the other end (been there, done that). or 2. contact them via Sony
support email and 98% of the time never get a return answer.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to all who answered.
John: Are you saying that a full system restore using the Vaio utilities (I
have a backup DVD-R) will wipe out everything on C:?
Through WinXP administrative tools, I'm can see the unused and unnamed
space, but am not sure if any data, etc. is there (don't recall if I did a
'format').
What's needed is, as you say, to resize C:. Thx again.
Bob

 

[John E. Carty]

Thanks to all who answered.
John: Are you saying that a full system restore using the Vaio utilities (I
have a backup DVD-R) will wipe out everything on C:?

When you run the Vaio Recovery Wizard you have several options:
1) You can perform a C (or C and D drive recovery if you choose custom
options)
2) you can do an Application Recovery (from the custom menu)
3) You can perform a Driver Recovery (from within the application
recovery menu)

Anything other then the application or driver recovery does a
destructive recovery, which means the drive(s) are formatted and the
system is put back to its factory defaults. It then should be exactly
as it came new out of the box as far as th OS and installed
applications.

Through WinXP administrative tools, I'm can see the unused and unnamed
space, but am not sure if any data, etc. is there (don't recall if I did a
'format').
What's needed is, as you say, to resize C:. Thx again.
Bob

Just choose the custom option and then C and D drive recovery. You
will be prompted for how large to make the C partition, which includes
the option to allocate all the available space to the C drive.

 

[John E. Carty]

John there are two problems, maybe just one though. 1. If the computer is
still in warranty it won't cost anything, but if its not, the you have to
pay about $25 for support call and just "hope"you can understand the person
on the other end (been there, done that). or 2. contact them via Sony
support email and 98% of the time never get a return answer.

LOL. Sony no longer uses India for phone support, so hopefully you
will now be able to communicate effectively with the support
technichan on the line. However, email and chat support is still
routed through India and is something I would personally avoid if at
all possible.

PC Support for out of warranty units is currenty $19.95 per incident.
However, there is no gaurantee for any resolution to the issue for
which you've called