Today one of my employees got his new laptop - a Sony Vaio.

Imagine my surprise when not only didn't it come with a disc for XP
Pro (expected that) but it didn't even come with a recovery disc! And
it's not an "imaged" one that you run from the drive...

When you boot it up, the first thing it tells you is that you have to
create your rescue disc. It informs you that you need 10 (yes, TEN)
CD's and each will take approximately 15 minutes to create.

So up to 2.5 hours you have to spend making your own recovery discs
when you get your new laptop...

What an insult.

John

Reminds me of the mid-1980s when the company I worked for received new
desktop computers. Headquarters had gotten a "deal" on them, but then spent
hundreds of dollars for all the floppies needed to "save" the entire install
so we had something to restore if it went bad. I believe we needed to make
something like 128 floppies for each computer. Even the individual program
floppies weren't sent. The company never bought that brand again. 8-)
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP/Tablet PC
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
Associate Expert
Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone


"JDTHREE [MVP]" <john@removeforspam.engagenet.com> wrote in message
news:0mdte0htq6ftdm2edqd8mmr4bb6vsiv7r3@4ax.com...
> Today one of my employees got his new laptop - a Sony Vaio.
>
> Imagine my surprise when not only didn't it come with a disc for XP
> Pro (expected that) but it didn't even come with a recovery disc! And
> it's not an "imaged" one that you run from the drive...
>
> When you boot it up, the first thing it tells you is that you have to
> create your rescue disc. It informs you that you need 10 (yes, TEN)
> CD's and each will take approximately 15 minutes to create.
>
> So up to 2.5 hours you have to spend making your own recovery discs
> when you get your new laptop...
>
> What an insult.
>
> John
>

On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 08:40:45 -0700, "Chris H." <winxpnews********.com>
wrote:

>Reminds me of the mid-1980s when the company I worked for received new
>desktop computers. Headquarters had gotten a "deal" on them, but then spent
>hundreds of dollars for all the floppies needed to "save" the entire install
>so we had something to restore if it went bad. I believe we needed to make
>something like 128 floppies for each computer. Even the individual program
>floppies weren't sent. The company never bought that brand again. 8-)

It's amazing just what lengths a company will go to in order to save
them the cost of those couple nickles for the CD media. And we all
know that CDR's we make ourselves aren't as tough as a real pressed
CD, they don't last as long, and aren't as resistant to things like
heat.

Oh well - back to making the recovery CD's. Only have another 2 hours
or so to go...

:D

John

IBM has been doing this for a while. I bought a Thinkpad A31p then a X31
neither shipped with recovery CDs, there was a recovery partition on the
hard drive. IBM will mail them to you at no cost, but you need to call and
that doesn't usually happen until a drive failure ;)

For my next notebook/tablet, getting the full install CDs is going to weight
heavily in my decision. With the Thinkpads, the recovery CDs are helpful,
but if you set up multiple partitions, it all gets erased; I rarely use one
partition.

Regards-Michael G.



"JDTHREE [MVP]" <john@removeforspam.engagenet.com> wrote in message
news:0mdte0htq6ftdm2edqd8mmr4bb6vsiv7r3@4ax.com...
> Today one of my employees got his new laptop - a Sony Vaio.
>
> Imagine my surprise when not only didn't it come with a disc for XP
> Pro (expected that) but it didn't even come with a recovery disc! And
> it's not an "imaged" one that you run from the drive...
>
> When you boot it up, the first thing it tells you is that you have to
> create your rescue disc. It informs you that you need 10 (yes, TEN)
> CD's and each will take approximately 15 minutes to create.
>
> So up to 2.5 hours you have to spend making your own recovery discs
> when you get your new laptop...
>
> What an insult.
>
> John
>

"JDTHREE [MVP]" wrote:

> Today one of my employees got his new laptop - a Sony Vaio.
>
> Imagine my surprise when not only didn't it come with a disc for XP
> Pro (expected that) but it didn't even come with a recovery disc! And
> it's not an "imaged" one that you run from the drive...
>
> When you boot it up, the first thing it tells you is that you have to
> create your rescue disc. It informs you that you need 10 (yes, TEN)
> CD's and each will take approximately 15 minutes to create.
>
> So up to 2.5 hours you have to spend making your own recovery discs
> when you get your new laptop...
>
> What an insult.
>
> John
>
>

"JDTHREE [MVP]" wrote:

> Today one of my employees got his new laptop - a Sony Vaio.
>
> Imagine my surprise when not only didn't it come with a disc for XP
> Pro (expected that) but it didn't even come with a recovery disc! And
> it's not an "imaged" one that you run from the drive...
>
> When you boot it up, the first thing it tells you is that you have to
> create your rescue disc. It informs you that you need 10 (yes, TEN)
> CD's and each will take approximately 15 minutes to create.
>
> So up to 2.5 hours you have to spend making your own recovery discs
> when you get your new laptop...
>
> What an insult.
>
> John
>
>

The more recent "redo" CD/DVDs I've seen ask if you wish to repair,
reinstall or completely wipe the hard drive back to factory specs. Nice to
be able to have multiple partitions, and only format the C: drive itself
leaving everything else alone.
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP/Tablet PC
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
Associate Expert
Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone


"Michael Gerbasio" <mwgerbasio********.com> wrote in message
news:OXcMAFeZEHA.2844@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> IBM has been doing this for a while. I bought a Thinkpad A31p then a X31
> neither shipped with recovery CDs, there was a recovery partition on the
> hard drive. IBM will mail them to you at no cost, but you need to call and
> that doesn't usually happen until a drive failure ;)
>
> For my next notebook/tablet, getting the full install CDs is going to
> weight
> heavily in my decision. With the Thinkpads, the recovery CDs are helpful,
> but if you set up multiple partitions, it all gets erased; I rarely use
> one
> partition.
>
> Regards-Michael G.

I couldn't agree more and this is NOT a Sony nor OEM issue.

This is a MICROSOFT issue.

"JDTHREE [MVP]" <john@removeforspam.engagenet.com> wrote in message
news:0mdte0htq6ftdm2edqd8mmr4bb6vsiv7r3@4ax.com...
> Today one of my employees got his new laptop - a Sony Vaio.
>
> Imagine my surprise when not only didn't it come with a disc for XP
> Pro (expected that) but it didn't even come with a recovery disc! And
> it's not an "imaged" one that you run from the drive...
>
> When you boot it up, the first thing it tells you is that you have to
> create your rescue disc. It informs you that you need 10 (yes, TEN)
> CD's and each will take approximately 15 minutes to create.
>
> So up to 2.5 hours you have to spend making your own recovery discs
> when you get your new laptop...
>
> What an insult.
>
> John
>

"Michael Gerbasio" <mwgerbasio********.com> wrote in message
news:OXcMAFeZEHA.2844@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> IBM has been doing this for a while. I bought a Thinkpad A31p then a X31
> neither shipped with recovery CDs, there was a recovery partition on the
> hard drive. IBM will mail them to you at no cost, but you need to call and
> that doesn't usually happen until a drive failure ;)
>
> For my next notebook/tablet, getting the full install CDs is going to
weight
> heavily in my decision.

As it rightfully should. You realize that decision automatically EXCLUDES
TabletPCs as none come with a full XP install CD. That's due to MS and not
the OEMs.

Toshiba seem to be ok with the recovery disks ....


"root" <postmaster@buchanangc.com> wrote in message
news:em5azIfZEHA.2444@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>I couldn't agree more and this is NOT a Sony nor OEM issue.
>
> This is a MICROSOFT issue.
>
> "JDTHREE [MVP]" <john@removeforspam.engagenet.com> wrote in message
> news:0mdte0htq6ftdm2edqd8mmr4bb6vsiv7r3@4ax.com...
>> Today one of my employees got his new laptop - a Sony Vaio.
>>
>> Imagine my surprise when not only didn't it come with a disc for XP
>> Pro (expected that) but it didn't even come with a recovery disc! And
>> it's not an "imaged" one that you run from the drive...
>>
>> When you boot it up, the first thing it tells you is that you have to
>> create your rescue disc. It informs you that you need 10 (yes, TEN)
>> CD's and each will take approximately 15 minutes to create.
>>
>> So up to 2.5 hours you have to spend making your own recovery discs
>> when you get your new laptop...
>>
>> What an insult.
>>
>> John
>>
>
>

At least in IBM's favor you said they'll ship them for free. Sony
gives you a nice link to their website where you can BUY them if you
want to get the factory pressed ones...

John

On Fri, 9 Jul 2004 14:19:20 -0400, "Michael Gerbasio"
<mwgerbasio********.com> wrote:

>IBM has been doing this for a while. I bought a Thinkpad A31p then a X31
>neither shipped with recovery CDs, there was a recovery partition on the
>hard drive. IBM will mail them to you at no cost, but you need to call and
>that doesn't usually happen until a drive failure ;)
>
>For my next notebook/tablet, getting the full install CDs is going to weight
>heavily in my decision. With the Thinkpads, the recovery CDs are helpful,
>but if you set up multiple partitions, it all gets erased; I rarely use one
>partition.
>
>Regards-Michael G.
>
>
>
>"JDTHREE [MVP]" <john@removeforspam.engagenet.com> wrote in message
>news:0mdte0htq6ftdm2edqd8mmr4bb6vsiv7r3@4ax.com.. .
>> Today one of my employees got his new laptop - a Sony Vaio.
>>
>> Imagine my surprise when not only didn't it come with a disc for XP
>> Pro (expected that) but it didn't even come with a recovery disc! And
>> it's not an "imaged" one that you run from the drive...
>>
>> When you boot it up, the first thing it tells you is that you have to
>> create your rescue disc. It informs you that you need 10 (yes, TEN)
>> CD's and each will take approximately 15 minutes to create.
>>
>> So up to 2.5 hours you have to spend making your own recovery discs
>> when you get your new laptop...
>>
>> What an insult.
>>
>> John
>>
>

I think there are some legal or license problems.

"Alex B" <Freeflyer91********.com.NOSPAM> wrote in message
news:ccn0a8$utf$1@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Toshiba seem to be ok with the recovery disks ....

Toshiba's are still recovery/image restore disk and NOT clean OS install
disks.

> "root" <postmaster@buchanangc.com> wrote in message
> news:em5azIfZEHA.2444@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> >I couldn't agree more and this is NOT a Sony nor OEM issue.
> >
> > This is a MICROSOFT issue.
> >
> > "JDTHREE [MVP]" <john@removeforspam.engagenet.com> wrote in message
> > news:0mdte0htq6ftdm2edqd8mmr4bb6vsiv7r3@4ax.com...
> >> Today one of my employees got his new laptop - a Sony Vaio.
> >>
> >> Imagine my surprise when not only didn't it come with a disc for XP
> >> Pro (expected that) but it didn't even come with a recovery disc! And
> >> it's not an "imaged" one that you run from the drive...
> >>
> >> When you boot it up, the first thing it tells you is that you have to
> >> create your rescue disc. It informs you that you need 10 (yes, TEN)
> >> CD's and each will take approximately 15 minutes to create.
> >>
> >> So up to 2.5 hours you have to spend making your own recovery discs
> >> when you get your new laptop...
> >>
> >> What an insult.
> >>
> >> John
> >>
> >
> >
>
>

"Massimo Santin" <msantin@~N~O~S~P~A~M~santineassociati.~N~O~S~P~A~ M~com>
wrote in message news:Xns95221960E30massimosantin@207.46.248.16...
> I think there are some legal or license problems.

Yes and MS is behind that problem.

> The more recent "redo" CD/DVDs I've seen ask if you wish to repair,
> reinstall or completely wipe the hard drive back to factory specs. Nice
to
> be able to have multiple partitions, and only format the C: drive itself
> leaving everything else alone.

No such luck with my X31 which I just needed to reload since I've upgraded
the harddrive. IBM now has a rapid restore program that can be downloaded
which I believe does save the partitions. It isn't restore to factory
settings, it is a drive image so you have to do a backup prior to the
restore (using the latest version-won't work with older versions).

I'm not sure who is at fault, MS or the hardware vendors, but it really
sucks when you don't get the full install disks. Very user unfriendly.

Regards-Michael G.