Unsolved
48 Posts
0
361
Backup and Recovery - Where is this Program, and where is file it created?
Hi,
I have a new XPS 8950. Recently, I got a pop-up notification that Dell had just created my first backup and recovery.
Where is the file that was created, and where is the Dell app/setting that did this?
blindmelonball
48 Posts
0
October 23rd, 2022 15:00
Wow. I just learned about SupportAssist and SupportAssist OS Recovery. Both were hard to find. I expected to find both in the Start menu, listed under Dell. Nope. I had to scroll down to "S" for SupportAssist and to the Control Panel>System and Security to find SupportAssist OS Recovery.
Seems to me that SupportAssist is a busy little program, or it could be if one let it. On the Home tab, there's "Get drivers and downloads", "Scan hardware", "Clean files", "Tune performance", and "Optimize network".
On my SupportAssist, "Clean files", "Tune performance", and "Optimize network" all show "Last run: Oct 23, 2022", but if I click on the History tab>Recent activity, it shows none of those activities has ever been done. Doesn't give me much confidence that Support Assist records activities correctly.
Next is Support Assist OS Recovery. "Run Repair" seems like sfc /scannow. "Run Reset" looks like a factory reset. "Cloning looks like cloning, not just a backup, so one can prepare a larger target drive with all partitions from the source drive. Settings looks like Windows System Restore. I wonder if it lets you choose Repair Points, similar to how System Restore works? I show 15 Repair Points, even though I only got one pop-up Notification (today), that my 'first' Dell Backup had been made.
It does seem like Dell has tried to give the user many of the same recovery/repair options that are already available in the Windows OS.
I remember SupportAssist from my Windows 7 and 10 machines, and it seemed to always have problems. I don't know if it's worth keeping.
Oh, and Tree Size screenshot:
About Dell Updates, Windows Updates provides some of the same Dell updates that Dell lists. I've heard that Dell provides updates to Microsoft to provide to Windows users.