I have a toshiba recovery wizard running but it said to preparing, initializing the partition. please wait but it have been two hours saying that, how long does it take before i can do a recovery on my toshiba satellite a505.

Most Toshiba laptops with come with the factory software recovery image stored in a special hidden partition on the hard drive of the laptop. The factory software recovery image allows the user to recover the laptop to its factory fresh condition as when it was new.
This partition may also be referred to as the Partitioned Recovery Method or Free Recovery option.
IMPORTANT: The recovery process deletes information stored on the internal storage drive. Be sure to save your work to external media before executing the recovery.

1. Make sure the computer is turned off ("Shut-down" from the Windows Start menu)
2. Remove any peripherals such an external mouse, keyboard, monitor, USB flash drive etc.
3. Make sure the AC Adapter is plugged in and working.
4. On machines with the F key numbers on the top edge of the keys and in White:
   • Press and hold the 0 (zero) key and power up the laptop.
   • Release the 0 (zero) key when the recovery warning screen appears.
   On machines with the F key numbers on the bottom edge of the keys and in Gray:
   • Power up the laptop.
   • When the initial TOSHIBA screen displays, press the F12 key to enter the boot menu.
   • Use the arrow keys to select the HDD Recovery option and press the enter key to begin.
5. The TOSHIBA recovery wizard warning screen appears stating that when the recovery is executed all data will be deleted and the original factory software image will be rewritten. If the recovery process offers a choice of Operating Systems, select the appropriate one for you.
6. After you are sure you have everything you want from the laptop saved, click Yes.
7. When the Toshiba Recovery Wizard opens, the default and recommended option is "Recovery of Factory Default Software".
8. After selecting your desired recovery method, select Next.
9. On the next screen you may have recovery method options. The default and recommended method is to Recover to Out of Box state.
10. Select next to continue.
11. Follow the on screen instructions as you navigate through the system recovery steps.
12. The laptop will restart multiple times and install the needed components.

yeah but what if you accidentally used the recovery wizard and deleted everything, partitions and all? No recovery partition left to use, and now getting... checking media [Fail]... followed by No bootable device--please restart system- I have bootable windows cd's but it won't read them for some reason, not even on a usb . this toshiba laptop is only 1 month old and daughter got virus.

Don't stop the presses during recovery
its too bad to stop
wati more than 3 or 5 hours


cuz it depends on your pc specs

Dear Friend,

Might sure you save all your important data before performing this recovery!. You can access to the recovery partition simply by tuning of your computer, press F10, wait for the Toshiba BIOS logo to show up and you should have access to recovery.

If F10 does not work, try to do the same steps with F8 and it would show you different option but, the one that you are looking for is Toshiba recovery wizard.

Good Luck!

As soon as you press the power button on your notebook, Keep tapping F8 repeatedly. Another screen should pop up with a list of commands (safe mode / start up repair etc) Near the bottom of the list you should see an option to ReInstall windows / Reset to factory Default. Select which one you prefer and follow the simple instructions.

Hope this helps and please rate thanks.

Hi,

try using ActiveBoot suite v5.0.5, when turnig on your computer. This program will scan your computer and show u all the errors,missing files, wrong dll,...and repair them. It worked very well for me as I had a TROJAN virus on my Toshiba satellite 300 and couldn't even boot anymore.
After that try use the RegistryBooster tool witch solves every windows problems.

I hope this will help. Good luck :)

Hi,


The VAIO model is shipped with recovery partition called VAIO Recovery Wizard, You can use the same to get back the factory installed settings in the computer.

Please restart the computer and press and hold the F10 key to access the Recovery Wizard, if you have not changed preinstalled OS, you must be able to access the Recovery partition. Once you access the partition, please select "Restore C Drive" to perform a system recovery to set the computer back to factory settings. This will erase all the data saved in the hard drive of the computer.

You can also purchase the recovery discs for the computer by contact the Sony parts center at:
Priority Service: 1-239-768-7691
Toll Free Service: 1-800-488-SONY (7669)
Phone Hours:
Monday to Friday - 8:00 am to 12 am (Midnight) ET
Saturday and Sunday - 9:00 am to 8:00 pm ET

Thanks!!!!

The EISA partition is a partition that a computer manufacturer places on the disc to assist in recovery of that maker's files. It is not necessary to have this partition if you do not intend to perfrom a factory recovery. I will include a guide below to assist you in a deletion of that partition. To initialize a disc, it can be done ways, boot the computer and it will advise you the disc has not been initialized and will initiate a wizard to assist. I attach the hard drive to another computer using an EIDE/SATA to USB adapter, it will be recognized as an external drive but will not give it a drive letter because it is not initialized. You have to go to the control panel > administrator tools > computer management > disc management. Look in the right lower pane and it will show the drive with a grayed out box to the left, it may label the drive as drive 03 or 04 etc. Right click on the drive number and choose initiate. The computer will initiate the drive and give it a letter. It will also ask you if you want to initiate the drive as a bootable drive, choose yes. Below is the guide to delete that EISA partition so you can use the drive in any laptop you see fit.

EISA Partition Delete

1. Open a command prompt as administrator.
2. Run Diskpart application by typing Diskpart in the command prompt.
3. In the “Diskpart” prompt, enter rescan command and press Enter key to re-scan all partitions, volumes and drives available.
4. Then type in list disk and press Enter key to show all hard disk drive available.
5. Select the disk that contains the partition you want to remove. Normally, with just 1 hard disk, it will be disk 0. So the command will be:
select disk 0
Finish by Enter key.
6. Type list partition and press Enter key to show all available and created partition in the disk selected.
7. Select the partition that wanted to be deleted by using the following command, followed by Enter key:
select partition x
where x is the number of the EISA based recovery partition to be removed and unlocked its space. Be careful with the number of this partition, as wrong number may get data wipes off.
8. Finally, type in delete partition override and press Enter key.
Once the partition has been deleted, exit from Diskpart, and now users can use the much familiar and much easier Disk Management tool in Windows (diskmgmt.msc) to manipulate the freed unallocated partition. Users can create a new volume (partition) with this space, or simply merge it to existing partition by extending the size of the existing partition.

There are two ways to reset your Toshiba Laptop to factory settings.
First is using Recovery Media Disc and the second is the hidden partition on your hard drive.

If you're going to use Recovery Media Disc follow these steps:

If you have two or more recovery media disc try to insert first the disc that has a label of 1 of 2 or 1 of 3. Then turn of your laptop.
Make sure that the disc is inside. After that try to find the letter "C" key on your keyboard. Now turn on your laptop and keep tapping the letter "C" key. If you have successfully accessed the Boot Menu choose Toshiba Recovery Wizard.
After choosing the Toshiba Recovery Wizard there will be a big warning screen that will appear choose the option yes and after that you will have a series of option. Remember to choose always the first option after the big warning screen appears.

That's it. You will have a message that the Windows is initializing files.
That process will take 1-2 hours for it to finish.

Hidden Partition on the Hard Drive.

Turn on the laptop and as soon as the laptop turns on press and hold down the number 0 key (the number 0 it should be on the top of the keyboard beside the number 9 key) keep 0 pressed until Toshiba leading innovation appears. Usually you will have a beeping sound when you are trying to access the System Recovery of the Hard Drive. That's an indication that you have successfully accessed the Systrem Recovery of the laptop.
Wait for the screen that say Windows is loading files.
After that you will see a big warning screen the choose yes and
Choose 1st option always.
Cx able to initialize the partition.
Disconnect cables and turn off the wireless switch.
Recovery would take 1-2 hours for it to finish.

Complete the recovery again but leave the discs in the computer. That way if the computer needs some files while rebooting it will take them off the cd....if not it will load and that will be the end of that. Just remember when you boot the computer for the first time to initiate the recovery, when it says to boot from cd touch any key...that is only done one time when you first initiate the recovery...after that do not touch any key if it says that...just let windows boot on it own. Once windows boots on its own, then you can take the recovery disc out and put it away.