Solved No restore or recovery options

[asharp03]

Not sure where I should be posting this so I am taking a guess. My entire compter (laptop) crashed lastnight. No disks came with my system at all. I hit the f8 key and went to fix computer. It did its thing and everything seemed to be working just fine til I noticed my computer is no longer creating restore points and when I go to create one myself it says that it can not be created in safe mode. I am not in safe mode. Now when I go to my f8 there is no option for repairing my computer and when I try to do a recovery it says it can not be done because there are no recovery files. Any one have any idea what the heck is wrong or how I can fix this?

I have a Toshiba satellite L505-ES5018 with windows 7 64 bit

 

[Night Hawk]

Hello asharp03 Welcome to the Seven Forums!

When looking up the specifications for that model seen at Toshiba Satellite L505-ES5018 Laptop the mention of a Toshiba Recovery Disk Creator is included in the prepackaged software. That's listed under "Software, Support and Security>Software on the page there. Or you could order one through Toshiba for a price.

That should be able to reinstall Windows back to factory if you can still use that option. Another would be borrowing another 64bit Home Premium disk but still enter the product key found on the sticker attached to the bottom of the laptop itself to most likely end up seeing a clean install.

Lately I ended seeing that done on to see a clean install of Vista on an older Satellite A205 model. If you are unable to perform any further repairs to see 7 running normal again these would be the first options to consider.

The Recovery Disk Creator option would be the first thought however since that would solve the repair/reinstall situation as well as provide a reocvery disk.

 

[asharp03]

I made the Repair disk when I got the laptop even running that has not done the trick. I guess I will buy the recovery disk from Toshiba. I was just hoping that there was something that I could do other then that. Thanks for the help!

 

[SIW2]

Post ascreenshot of the contents of the recovery partition - if you can't see inside it with windows - then use explorer++

http://www.explorerplusplus.com/

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-how-post-screenshot-seven-forums.html

 

[asharp03]

Sorry but I have no idea how to even find the recovery partition.

 

[Night Hawk]

That's a small 8-14gb partition either at the very front or rear of the main drive. You should be able to see that by going into the Disk Management tool since it generally never sees a drive letter added to it.

The other alternative option mentioned before would be using another 64bit 7 HP disk for the install and simply using the key on the sticker to replace the original preinstall or pay out for Toshiba to send you a premade recovery disk.

Another option would be buying your own 7 dvd outright and simply performing a clean install. That would even allow you to change editions.

 

[mjf]

Windows explorer and possibly explorer++ may not give you a complete picture of your hard drive.
The Partition Wizard mini tool's "Explore Partition" will let you poke around harmlessly and look at what's in your partitions. This includes a recovery partition if you have one (which you probably do).
Best Free Partition Manager Freeware for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition.

Just explore and don't apply any operations.

 

[asharp03]

When I go to disk management it shows that I have 1.46GB recovery partition and it says that it is healthy.

 

[Jacee]

Click on computer from the start button. What is next to 'Local Disk C:' ?
Does it show another icon that looks the same?

 

[asharp03]

No it does not show anything else.

 

[Jacee]

I read this on a Toshiba forum:

When your notebook starts press F8 and “Advanced Boot option” will be shown. Choose option “Repair your computer and follow the menu on the screen.
After two or three steps you will see “System Recover Options” . All you need is there.

 

[mjf]

When I go to disk management it shows that I have 1.46GB recovery partition and it says that it is healthy.

I cannot see how 1.46GB alone could perform a factory restore without additional DVDs.
F8 generally gets you into the standard windows repair but Toshiba may have added a "Restore my computer to factory conditions" under the repair computer option. Let us know.

As a long shot you could try this
https://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/bulletinDetail.jsp?soid=2737864&pf=true

 

[Night Hawk]

A 1.46gb partition that size would only hold various device drivers and some OEM information not perform a full factory restoration. Are you sure it wasn't 14.6gb instead?

For Vista and 7 the recovery partitions would be larger in size to hold not only the Windows setup files, drivers but also the addons(bloatware) for things like trial versions, Toshiba utilities, etc..

If something happen to corrupt the recovery partition that would explain the failed first attempt at restoration you made initially. Then you need to borrow a full or upgrade version of the 64bit Home Premium or order a disk from Toshiba to see Windows running again if you don't opt to buy a retail or OEM disk outright.

The retail package will contain both 32bit and 64bit disks while you opt for a single 64bit OEM disk. Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - Operating Systems

The first thing to advise when first buying a portable these days since recovery disks are rare is to look into seeing one made up. For simply creating a repair cd however to fix a startup problem 7 has that option included or you can download a separate iso to burn to cd from Download Windows 7 System Recovery Discs — The NeoSmart Files

The repair cd will include the automatic Startup Repair tool you can try running a few times to see Windows will load normally. For a full clean copy without recovery options available you would have to borrow or purchase a separate disk.

 

[asharp03]

When I go into f8 I do not have an option to fix computer. It was there when the initial crash happened. I went into f8 went to fix computer and ended up having to take it back to factory settings. After it did that I no longer have the fix computer option and I have no system restore.

 

[Night Hawk]

That was likely a one time restoration option or somehow it was lost due to a problem on the drive of some type. The partition table or bad sectors?

If you are simply having trouble booting into Windows try downloading the repair cd image from Neosmart and boot from the repair cd to run the Startup repair tool. For anything else it seems you will need to consider the other options to see a fresh copy of Windows go on.

The first thing may be contacting Toshiba support and let them know your recovery option is no longer working and ask what it would cost for a recovery disk. For avoiding the Toshiba prepackaged softwares you would borrow or buy a separate disk on your own to have onhand.

The plus side of that however is being able to upgrade into a new drive at some point and still be able to install Windows fresh or even restore a system image onto a new drive especially if this one is having a problem.

 

[asharp03]

I have no problems with anything on the computer. I can use it just like there was nothing wrong. I just have no restore options and no recovery options. Thanks for the help everyone. I think I am gonna have to buy the recovery disk from Toshiba. I really do not understand why they do not ship disks with the system when you buy them.

 

[mjf]

If everything runs ok then make a couple of system images to an external HDD. Then you can always get back to your current state.
Try 2 imaging programs
1) Windows inbuilt imaging
2) Macrium Reflect (Free). This is highly regarded.

Getting restore disks from Toshiba is still a good idea and download a system repair DVD iso as suggested above.

 

[Night Hawk]

That's a cd option for a 700mb repair cd. The option for burning a repair is seen in 7 however.

The second option for that is right under the option to create a full system image in the Control Panel>Backup & Restore section. If you were unable to boot into Windows and didn't a repair then you could download the disk image to burn to a blank cd-r on another machine. Originally that was made available for Vista laptops without the repair cd option and no recovery disk included with a laptop or notebook at the site there.

When the previous version Vista was first out many companies were introducing the press select key combination at post option for factory restoration at the time as a way of saving on support requests as well as on the costs of providing the recovery disks themselves. The Toshiba Recovery Disk Creator was the software option to create one of your own at the cost of a blank dvd.

At least you can go back to Toshiba and provide customer info to order one from them easy enough. To bad you didn't use the disk creator option when first buying the laptop however.

After you get a recovery disk you may still want to keep a system image handy as suggested since that can save a good deal on downtime by not needing to reinstall everything from scratch. The recovery will likely only see Windows put back on but not all your programs plus files!

 

[pilotman]

Can someone help me? I have repaired my system and when it loads up to the start screen it comes up with a restart error and when i go to restart the computer and press f8 there is no repair option??? is there a way of getting around it? so atm i have nothing but it trying to start up but this error keeps coming up. The laptop can pre loaded with windows 7 so i dont have a disk.

 

[Night Hawk]

Welcome to the Seven Forums! pilotman

You may want to start a separate thread for your problem there however since this one is still ongoing. We're trying to help asharp03 on this one. Someone will help you there.