Datasafe / ghost / RAID 1 questions

Question

I just got the Dimension 5150 wth datasafe that I ordered recently and have  few questions.  Can anyone take a shot at this / confrm my thinking?  There's been a fair amount of different comments on here about this.   1) So is there any documentation about this!?   2) From opening the box and watching the boot process,  I see there's 2 - 160 gb drives in a hardware RAID 1 configuration (mirroring of the 2 drives - everything on drive A is also on drive b - protects against drive a or b failing).  all that right?   3) so does the 5150 come with hardware raid standard, even if you don't order datasafe? Or is there differences in the motherboard / bios that enables raid on the machines you pay for it?   4) You've got 4 partitions on the drive according to drive manager - a dell utility partition, the C drive, the D drive (which is where ghost stores snapshots) and another partition that holds the restore of the original drive (so they don't have to send the restore CD).  All that right?   5) So the ghost part of this is just to take the snapshots?  how does this differ / improve on windows system restore, which I've never used.   thanks!

BELL BOY · Answer

Although under XPS 600 model, use this link & read the Learn More About SATA II Hard Drives section that explains & compares data protection features associated with RAID, Dell DataSafeTM etc. etc..

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsdt_600?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~section=specs#tabtop

alray1989 · Answer

I can't answer any of your questions - Sorry.  But I have a favor to ask.  Can you please tell me what File Format your 'D' partition is using?   I have an XPS400 with the DataSafe Drive.  My 'D' partition appears to be unformatted.  I have been trying for several weeks to find out what File Format it should have.  Thanks.

LOWE48475 · Answer

My guess is you installed Norton SystemWorks after you got your machine.  You need to disable or uninstall the GoBack feature.  GoBack changes the format of the drive's partition table to a special GoBack format in order to prevent other software from damaging/changing the partition table.  Alas, it doesn't work well with NTFS tables and can make the table unreadable by even Windows XP (XP may report it as a RAW format).  If the partition table can't be read, then software can't read nor write to the drive.  Because the table is also 'Protected' by GoBack you also can't reformat the drive.  You must disable or uninstall the GoBack feature of SystemWorks.  An easy way is to start SystemWorks; click on the Options button;click on Norton GoBack, then choose Disable.  It will take awhile for GoBack to undo itself, and your PC will have to reboot.  But when your system is back up and running, then everything should be working properly again.

alray1989 · Answer

LOWE48475

You are correct. GoBack was the porblem. After I disabled it I have
my D partition back.
I have posted over 2 dozen help messages in numerous forums. Have spent at least 2 1/2 hours on the phone with Dell support and another 2 hours or so on live chat. I even allowed Dell support to have control of my computer - they spent about 20 minutes looking around. Did not have a clue.
I have also used norton email support a few times.

You are the only one who knew what the problem was.

I am very greatful for your help.

Ray

LOWE48475 · Answer

I'm glad I could help.  Like you, I spent time with Dell support and gave them control of my computer.  The India(n) technician didn't even know what Data Safe was.  I accidently stumbled across the solution myself.    I bought my first computer partly because of Dell's four-star reputation for its excellent technical support.  It's too bad that Dell's technical support has sunk to the miserable level it's at now.  I certainly will no longer recommend a Dell to my friends.  Whoever at Dell recommended outsourcing tech services to India should be fired for gross incompenence.

alray1989 · Answer

I have had two other problems with my Dell SPX400. Tech support was useless with those also.

In fact their suggestions made the problem much worse. I have wasted at least 50 to 60 hours of my time with 3 issues. They are all solved now. I will never do business with Dell again.

A small company for wihich do some part time work purchased 9 Dell desktops and a server about a year ago. They have had to replace the motherborards on 5 of the machines so far. However, tech support for business customers must be in the USA because they got onsite replacements within 2 business days.

Storage, Drives & Media

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