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November 27th, 2020 08:00
Is Dell Recovery Partition still usable after cloning disk and resizing main partition to smaller SSD?
Hello everyone. I want to replace my laptop's HDD to an SSD of smaller size. As the size is smaller, I'll have to shrink the main partition. I'd like to know if Dell Recovery will still work with the new partition scheme, as I find it very handy to refresh the laptop from time to time. Thanks.
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ejn63
12 Elder
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31.1K Posts
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154K Points
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November 27th, 2020 10:00
The answer depends on the system, its operating system and on the type of recovery software that's present.
On many older systems with Dell Backup and Recovery installed (pre-Windows 10), the software cannot restore to a physical disc smaller than the one on which the image was delivered. On others, Dell encrypted the recovery partition such that it cannot be cloned at all.
You're better off preparing a separate, bootable flash drive with the recovery software and image from the system before you do anything else. That has two advantages: subject to the above, it will work (though test it), and it's usable even if the reason for recovery is a failed/replaced drive.
Kflash08
5 Journeyman
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683 Posts
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November 27th, 2020 10:00
It will, but for whatever reason the recovery partition will no longer be bootable from the BIOS, regardless of the drive type or size that you install.
There are a few alternates. One is to use the Dell OS Recovery Tool and use it to reboot the computer to the recovery partition. The other is to also use the Dell OS Recovery Tool and create a USB flash drive, which contains an updated recovery image (latest version of Windows 10) for your model. You can then boot off that USB flash drive and use it to recover the system.
Furthermore, you can enable BIOSConnect <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>, which downloads an updated image directly from the Dell servers and recovers the system outside of the operating system. Turning this on disables SupportAssist OS Recovery from the BIOS, but this becomes your only option after replacing the hard drive as BIOSConnect does work.
You can also use the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool to create installation media and reinstall Windows. However, it will not contain pre-loaded apps and drivers, and those must be downloaded individually from Dell's website and manually installed.
pvjl
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November 27th, 2020 12:00
Thanks!