Lost access to recovery partition on Dell XPS 15z.

Hi James,

Did you try this with the recovery CD to check if it works?

The partition is encrypted NTFS.  Changing the MBR breaks the encryption scrambling the data.  There is no recovery.

@DELL-Nikhil S The only CD I received with my XPS 15z was the Drivers and Utilities CD. It looks like I have to request recovery CD's as I'm outside of the USA and I will be charged for them also.

Actually, I might be lucky. The MBR is lost obviously, but the Dell DataSafe Menu Option is present and working via the Windows 7 Repair Wizard. I managed to get to it through F8 > Repair Computer and clicking on the Dell DataSafe Option in the menu. I have a few backups available. The Factory Image, a full system backup and a few scheduled backups, the backups are several months old dating back to Feb-March (The last one being just before the MBR was altered). I think if I restore one of them I might be able to get the MBR back. Question is do the Full System Backups via Dell DataSafe provide full system images or not?

@SpeedStep Uh oh that's bad news.

If  you do the dell datasafe Backup onto a 16 gig or larger USB flash drive you can make a bootable USB flash that can recover everything to a new blank hard drive.

Article ID : 266301 Date Published : 2009-02-11 Journal ID : 3f6b6c52-d3da-4e61-a732-ef125192de4c Creating a Full System Backup Using Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 1      Click  then click  All Programs, click  Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 and click  Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0. 2      Click  Back up your files  then select Full System Backup. 3      To backup immediately, click    Backup Now  . To select the location to backup to, or to schedule regular backups, click     Edit Plan    and continue to the next step. 4      Select the location to save your backup to. You can save your backups to your hard drive, to a rewritable CD/DVD using a CD/DVD burner, or to an external memory device like a USB memory key or USB hard drive. If an external device you want to save to is not listed, make sure it is plugged in securely then click     Refresh  . Once your location is selected, click     Next   . 5      To create a backup immediately, select  I will manually backup my systemand click     Next   . To set a backup to be run at a later time, or to schedule a regularly occurring backup, click  Backup my system automatically (recommended) and specify the time and date(s) to run the backup then click     Next   . 6      To change any selections, click     Back   . If you chose to schedule a recurring backup and would like to start an initial backup now, click  Start this backup now. Once satisfied with your selections, click    Finish   . Additional Information: Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 Refer to the following links for additional information on Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0. What is Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0? Article ID: 353560 Creating Your System Recovery Discs with Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 Article ID: 353561 Restoring Your Dell Computer to Original Factory Installation with Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 Article ID: 353562 Creating a Backup Using Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 Article ID: 353563 Restoring from a Backup Using DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 Article ID: 353564 Upgrading To Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 Professional Article ID: 353565 Frequently Asked Questions: Dell DataSafe Local Backup 2.0 Article ID: 353566

Hi SpeedStep,

This is very true, however generating a bootable recovery USB is impossible now, because Dell DataSafe will no longer function due to the MBR modification. I did make a bootable USB a long time ago, but unfortunately since formatted it. Though by the looks of it, I appear to be lucky in the sense, I can still access the Recovery Partition and Dell DataSafe via the Windows 7 Repair Computer option (F8), so I can use the Factory Image present on the Recovery Partition to restore my XPS 15z to the factory default, with the Dell MBR. Problem is I since upgraded to Windows 7 Professional via Anytime Upgrade, so using the factory image I will lose that (As the Factory OS is Home Premium) and the upgrade key I believe is one time use only.

Though soon I might actually need to do this as my hard drive has massive amounts of bad data sectors from installing a Dell/Seagate hard drive firmware update (Now pulled) and Dell wanted to get the hard drive replaced, which I currently declined because I don't have the time.

You can order reinstall disks.  You should do this BEFORE warranty runs out or they will charge $$$$ for the discs.

You can order reinstall disks.  You should do this BEFORE warranty runs out or they will charge $$$$ for the discs.

Any idea how I can go about ordering them? I know there is a online form for US Customers, but I couldn't find anything for Non-US customers (I'm in the UK). I assume I need to contact Technical Support and request them though them right?

Well I'm at work currently so I can't test out its backup/restore functions, but Dell DataSafe no longer displays any error regarding the recovery partition and all of the backup/restore functions are active again (They were greyed out before due to the boot loader modification). The fact that the BCD is written during the configuration stage after reinstallation of Dell DataSafe has saved me I here I think. I knew that my recovery partition was intact in terms of data consistency just my boot loader had been modified (Totally my fault).

Like I posted above, even after the boot loader modification I could still access Dell DataSafe through the Windows 7 Repair My Computer option (F8 during boot) and restore my Factory Image.

If I had actually messed with partition itself, it would be a different story.

The partition is encrypted NTFS.  Changing the MBR breaks the encryption scrambling the data.  There is no recovery.

If it's fixed then I guess this statement is false.

Tom

Just to confirm this problem is solved. The reinstallation of Dell DataSafe Local Backup restored the Dell Boot Config Data and my Dell DataSafe is fully functional again, I was able to create a Recovery USB as well as run full system backups with no problem, now that the Dell BCD has restored access for DataSafe to access the recovery partition.