How do I restore a backup made via the Dell USB Key Solution?

Question

I have a backup on an external drive created with the Dell USB Key Solution and is of the name 05-01-2012_135210_Backup and looks like this:  Directory of E:\05-01-2012_135210_Backup01/05/2012  05:21 PM              . 01/05/2012  05:21 PM              .. 01/05/2012  05:21 PM             2,012 APPS.INP 01/05/2012  05:21 PM               942 APPS_0000.INP 01/05/2012  05:21 PM         1,449,984 APPS_0001.INP 01/05/2012  05:21 PM         3,713,788 DATA.INP 01/05/2012  05:21 PM           949,160 DATA_0000.INP 01/05/2012  04:59 PM       650,996,224 DATA_0001.INP 01/05/2012  05:00 PM       650,377,728 DATA_0002.INP 01/05/2012  05:01 PM       650,780,672 DATA_0003.INP 01/05/2012  05:01 PM       650,156,544 DATA_0004.INP 01/05/2012  05:02 PM       650,135,040 DATA_0005.INP 01/05/2012  05:03 PM       650,592,768 DATA_0006.INP 01/05/2012  05:03 PM       650,867,200 DATA_0007.INP 01/05/2012  05:04 PM       650,413,568 DATA_0008.INP 01/05/2012  05:05 PM       650,225,152 DATA_0009.INP 01/05/2012  05:05 PM       650,678,272 DATA_0010.INP 01/05/2012  05:06 PM       651,130,880 DATA_0011.INP 01/05/2012  05:07 PM       650,716,160 DATA_0012.INP 01/05/2012  05:08 PM       650,323,968 DATA_0013.INP 01/05/2012  05:08 PM       650,544,640 DATA_0014.INP 01/05/2012  05:09 PM       650,903,552 DATA_0015.INP 01/05/2012  05:10 PM       650,121,728 DATA_0016.INP 01/05/2012  05:11 PM       650,273,280 DATA_0017.INP 01/05/2012  05:12 PM       650,703,872 DATA_0018.INP 01/05/2012  05:13 PM       650,381,824 DATA_0019.INP 01/05/2012  05:13 PM       650,613,248 DATA_0020.INP 01/05/2012  05:14 PM       650,506,752 DATA_0021.INP 01/05/2012  05:15 PM       650,527,744 DATA_0022.INP 01/05/2012  05:15 PM       650,539,008 DATA_0023.INP 01/05/2012  05:16 PM       650,273,792 DATA_0024.INP 01/05/2012  05:17 PM       650,347,520 DATA_0025.INP 01/05/2012  05:17 PM       651,014,656 DATA_0026.INP 01/05/2012  05:18 PM       650,540,544 DATA_0027.INP 01/05/2012  05:21 PM       478,608,896 DATA_0028.INP 01/05/2012  05:21 PM         2,281,350 include.xml 01/05/2012  05:21 PM         1,330,286 migr.xml               35 File(s) 18,053,022,754 bytes                2 Dir(s)  607,587,577,856 bytes free   I was not able to complete the full running of the Dell Direct USB Key solution because of various issues.  .    Dell ended up sending me a new Windows 7 imaged HDD drive.   I now have the laptop up and running again with Windows 7and have various applications installed.   That is all pretty good.  But now how do I get my data files restored?   Basically I want to connect the backup external drive and complete Step 19 of the solution as described below. Here are the steps OS using the Dell USB key: 1. Boot from the Direct USB Key by tapping F12 at the Dell logo, then select the USB Memory Key option from the boot device menu. 2. Accept the Dell End User License Agreement (EULA) by clicking the box next to Accept, scroll down till the end of the license agreement and then click on continue. 3. On this screen, the usb key gives an overview of the process it is about to perform, click continue when ready to proceed. 4. The Smart Repair solution runs a surface scan on the system to identify any errors with the boot record or the startup files. If any errors are found, they are automatically corrected. 5. Once the process completes, there will be an analysis summary, in this case, there is no issue found by the smart repair, click continue. 6. In this window the user can select what data they would like to back up, they can either go with the default backup solution or they can click select more to select more files for backup, click continue after selecting files for backup. 7. If user clicks on select more, they will get the screen below, they can go ahead and select the necessary data for backup by checking the box next to the respective folder, sub-directories are selected by default once the root folder is selected. 8. The user will be prompted to attach a USB hard drive to the system, user needs to connect the USB Hard drive at this point and click continue. 9. Once the solution detects the USB hard drive , it goes ahead with file backup. 10. Once the files are backed up, the solution will back up the user personal settings. 11. The Direct USB Key displays a summary of the data and personal settings backup. Click continue. 12. The Direct USB key then proceeds to install the operating system image on the system. 13. Once the operating system image is transferred, the drivers are also transferred. 14. After the operating system image and driver transfer, a summary page comes up giving the user information as to what process was performed successfully and what failed. The user needs to remove the USB key at this point and click restart. 15. The system restarts and comes to a flash screen on recovery and restore. 16. After the flash screen, the applications start installing. 17. Once the applications are installed, the user would see a summary screen informing them that the Operating system has been restored, connect the Direct USB Key and click restart. 18. After the restart the user will be prompted to connect the data backup hard drive and then click continue. 19. The files and personal settings are then restored from the USB backup drive. 20. After the files are transferred the system comes to the desktop with a pop up window informing the user to check the device manager for any exclamation marks, the tool also guides the user to download the drivers from the support site and the applications from My Dell Downloads and Dell Digital Delivery. User needs to select the check box to prevent the message from being displayed again and click close. =============================================What program/utility can be used to run step 19 to restore my data? Thanks in advance!

fel10 · Accepted Answer

The Windows Migration Utility  (MigRestore) was obtained from Dell Support, unzipped and run to restore the data taken with the backup.

DELL-Roshan L · Accepted Answer

Hi fel10,

Welcome to the Community,

To restore data from external HDD, try to download and run this migration utility.

Note: Unzip the file and run the application (with the external HDD connected). If at all the restoration process gets stuck at 99% (as reported by few of the users), you may close the utility and check the data, all data would have got restored successfully.

Let me know how it goes.

Thank You

ExtremeGamer · Answer

you know its abit off the topic but, how do you get a hold of one of those 'dell direct  usb key solutions'??? obviously off from them but i have been looking all i can find is the loop around of video's showing how they work..lol. you would think they would have some link leading to be able to buy one right off the page of showing you the method of how it works. and i wish i could answer the question then to add a question....but i need one of these bad.

fel10 · Answer

Answer to question from ExtremeGamer.   The USB Key Solution was obtained from Dell Technical Support.  It only works for Dell systems running Windows 7.   It was sent after diagnosis and other problem resolution attempts were tried for a system that is still under warranty from Dell.

fel10 · Answer

Hi  DELL-Roshan L Yes, I had already run and unzipped and run the MigRestore.zip  utility as I had reported above.  And it did work.

DELL-Roshan L · Answer

Hi fel10, Glad it worked. Thank you for confirming.

ExtremeGamer · Answer

so im screwed if my warranty ended a few days ago....i dont know, i just would love to have one to clear up and simplify the situation without going through a long dragged out problem. if it does require a warranty, something like this should of been emailed to people with warranty's when it was released. then hunting for possible answers to solve & blown through mess load of hrs (days) & disk's, that could of been done with forever ago & done with a matter of less then a hr or so.

DELL-Roshan L · Answer

Hi ExtremeGamer,

May I know the kind of issue you're having on your system.

Please private message me your system Service Tag number. To private message click on my user name and click start conversation.

I will check your system details and get back to you with possible repair options.

Thank You

sidsunny · Answer

Hi DELL-Roshan L,

I restored my inspiron 5521 the same way as described in the thread above and tried to restore the backup as you told through the application but it stops displaying the error number: 2149449737.

Awaiting your reply

Rambajwa · Answer

Hi DELL-ROSHAN, Your solution worked on my DELL Inspiron 1700 with windows 8.1 like a charm. THANKS A LOT !!!

Jnordon · Answer

I have tried s to do this. Left the computer on overnight so it could restore. I come back to the computer this morning and it has finished but asks me to go to pc setting and activate windows. When I try to do this it says it can't activate right now. What do I do. Please.

ederborges13 · Answer

Hi Dell-Roshan L, I've downloaded de MigRestore, but it doesn't show my Drives. Can you help me?

ianandmarie · Answer

I am having the same issue. Has there been a resolution?

kitchen5 · Answer

Me too - same problem

The (Alienware) Dell Backup and Recovery can see the USB DRive archive, takes hours to say it is recovering the data, then fails and tells me it has recovered nothing, having simply created a folder structure.

So I tried MigRestore, and it doesn't find the USB drive at all.

Windows General

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