This is based on the Recovery Disc set included with the PCG-FXA47 System Recovery CD #1, Things of Interest: CD Root Directory- Contains a few files that are explained below. "autorun.inf"- human-readable text file that instructions Windows to load a program when the CD is loaded if Autorun is enabled. "sony.img"- compressed image of something, 550MB. I really can't think of what it could be, unless is Windows XP Home Edition, compressed separately from its supporting directories to impede copying. "win51"- human-readable text file of no apparent importance. "win51ip"- see above. "winbom.ini"- human-readable text file, no apparent use, identical to the one found in \I386. \I386- Directory that stores an installable image of Windows XP Home Edition, along with a few extra configuration files to instruct the reocovery program how to install it. \sony- Directory contains proprietary binaries and program resources to facilitate system restoration. "*gb.dpt"- files are human-readable text files that give instructions for disk formatting. These comprise the list of partitioning options in the pull down menu. Concievably, one could write their own and add a menu entry. Keep in mind, this would require the creation of a customized clone of the CD. "default.lst"- human-readable text file that lists the entries in the disk partitioning pull down menu."autorun.exe"- executable that runs when the CD is autorun inside Windows. "recovery.exe"- apparently, the recovery program itself. "resource.dll"- my guess, a dynamicly loaded library of system resource usage for recovery.exe "cmx.dll"- my guess, a command parsing library for recovery.exe "blitter.dll"- my guess, a library for recovery.exe that handles error and option codes. "blitter.lng"- human-readable text file, apparently the listing of those codes. System recovery CD #2: CD Root Directory- Contains a few files that are explained below. "autorun.inf"- human-readable text file that instructions Windows to load a program when the CD is loaded if Autorun is enabled. "sony.i01"- 647MB compressed image, no doubt containing Windows installation and configuration data. The naming convention suggest that's the third System Recovery Disc will be named "sony.i02". \sony- Identical to the directory of the same name on the first disc. System Recovery CD #3: CD Root Directory- Contains a few files that are explained below. "autorun.inf"- human-readable text file that instructions Windows to load a program when the CD is loaded if Autorun is enabled. "sony.i02"- 171.9MB compressed image, no doubt containing Windows installation and configuration data. "sonydnt.img"- 273KB (yes, KB) compressed image, no way of knowing what it contains without a hex editor, which I don't feel like getting into now. I may ammend this later with more detailed information on the image files. \sony- Identical to the directory of the same name on the first disc. Driver Recovery CD: CD Root Directory- Contains a few files that are explained below. "version.txt"- human-readable text file that contains the laptop models the drivers are compatible with (basically, its neighbors in the series). This does not necessarily exclude similar Sony models, as we have discovered with BIOS updates. It also includes some odd text (for me, "G9284.0.0.EMU"), which I can't completely explain. My Recovery Discs all have "Version G92.0" on the label. \backup- Filled with numerous sub-directories, some of which seem to correspond to language encoding abbreviations, and two configuration files (one human-readable, one not) that have no apparent significance. The directories' contents are encoded. \drivers- Contains sub-directories for each component of the model (and some seemingly extraneous ones) which utilizes an non-Windows driver, the contents of which are not encoded. \support- Contains sub-directories which appear to hold supplementary applications to the drivers, no encoding present. Application Recovery CD #1: CD Root Directory- Contains a few files that are explained below. "autorun.inf"- human-readable text file that instructions Windows to load a program when the CD is loaded if Autorun is enabled. "install.exe"- program that seems to govern program installation, thus negating individual setup programs. \bin- Contains some odd files, only some of which I can explain. The ones I can explain are listed below. "BITINDEX.INI"- seems to list the locations of the applications on the disc, possibly the key to an encoding mechanism to prevent copying of application installation materials. "module.ini"- seems to list installation instructions for individual applications. Pay special attention to the "cmd=" line for each entry. "SonyInstall1.ini"- similar to module.ini, lays out programs that can be installed as well as more installation configuration instructions. Appears to identify the CD volume itself, apparently corresponds to SonyInstall.exe. Notice the 1 in the name, appears to be part of a naming convention to identify which Application Recovery CD it corresponds to. "SonyInstall.exe"- install program that seems to take its cues from the other contents of this directory, no information on how it relates to install.exe in the disc's root directory. \image- Only contains one file, described below. "SONY.PAC"- 478.3MB compressed image, which apparently contains all program installation resources included on this disc. Its existence explains SonyInstall.exe, as this is in a proprietary format. Application Recovery CD #2: CD Root Directory- Completely empty. \image- Only contains one file, described below. "SONY.PAC"- 314MB compressed image, which apparently contains all remaining program installation resources. Its existence explains SonyInstall.exe, as this is in a proprietary format. Hope this first version helps everyone. When I finalize this, I'll release it in a more easily read version. -Robert H. Haener IV