The backup device that DELL sent with my new laptop is 8GB. DELL says I need a 16GB device.

It is probably used to recover the system.  If you try to create a recovery drive, it will erase the one you have..

Does it have files on it and is it labeled when you look at it in Explorer?

Here is what is on the ABOUT link:  Precision 7520,  PC name Desktop-AG5Mg91. Edition Windows 10 Pro. Version 1703. OS Build 15063.540. Product ID  00330-50629-21938-AAOEM. Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.8GHz  2.8Ghz. Installed RAM   16.0 GB. System type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor.

The packing label for the backup device is: CN-QVJ3VF-01167-788-001H-A00. The device itself has on the side: DELL Menior Media 8GB.

The following is from my invoice:

Operating System Recovery Options

No OS Media Kit

Included in price

Windows 10 OS Recovery 64bit – USB

+ $14.00

The above device is what I paid for. It is only an 8 GB memory stick, but the system requires a 16 GB stick. I just need a 16 GB stick mailed to me.

Thanks for helping.

What system do you have, do not give service tag, but the complete model number including the 4 digit in addition to the model and version, i.e. XPS 13 9365.  Maybe we can check.

If it has no files on it, there was a time when you could use the drive.  I will check to see if there is a downloadable OS media which might fit.  I will assume the Win 10 Recovery drive will also need the 16 GB version.

OK, I won't post again so someone from Dell might have a response.  The Dell Recovery drive I have for one of my new systems is 8 GB.  I used the downloadable Operating system file you can get from the Drivers page in Dell Support.  You need to allow the utility which downloads also to create the drive.

If this is what you mean by "Dell" then maybe that file is larger for your system, but I cannot check the size.

Good Luck..

I do not know if you have the OS Recovery Tools app on your system but it also makes a USB recovery drive.  Since you state you are doing something from the boot options, this would be a different process.

When I reboot I tap the F12 to get to the backup option (per online instructions.) At that point it begins the setup on my laptop for the backup to begin. But it then stops, saying I my 64-bit system requires a minimum storage device of 16 GB. That is my issue. I was sent an 8 GB storage device but I have paid for a 16 GB device. Thanks again.

^ Exactly.  If you think about it, of course the storage requirements for a backup application are going to depend on how much data you want to back up, so it wouldn't really be possible for Dell to include large enough flash drives for everyone's use case.  Keep that flash drive somewhere in case you ever need to reinstall your operating system from scratch.  For backups, get some other storage media.  You may also want to back up your data using a solution that is not proprietary to a specific vendor, fyi.  I'm a big fan of Macrium Reflect.  The Free version supports cloning and capturing images of whole partitions, and the paid versions add the ability to back up individual Files/Folders and add some extra features, such as Incremental backups, encryption, email notifications, and some others.  One particularly nice feature of the paid version is their ReDeploy function, which comes into play if you ever want to restore an image captured on one PC onto a different PC.  In many cases, Windows will refuse to boot in that scenario because it won't have the correct driver profile for the new system.  ReDeploy is able to prep Windows beforehand in order to avoid that.

The USB drive contains the OS software, and is not intended to be downloaded to.  Only to read from.  You will have to use another storage device such as another USB drive, hard drive, or SSD  to backup your files.  The backup device will need to be16GB or more.