Dell DataSafe Experiences

Bad experience. The partitionning of the RAID-1 drive (3/4 for drive C and 1/4 for drive D) makes it impossible to either store your data files on the D drive or to backup your C drive once it is loaded...

Overall a good idea but done in a very inpractical way.

My understanding is that datasafe is really a marketing idea that includes 2 hardrives.  One you can use and one you can not.   The main hardrive is broken out 65% useable space and 35 % for backup.  Ghost creates a backup of the main hardrive.   I am luck that i turned Ghost on and had it go to an external hardrive because the main hardrive failed and the 2nd hardrive did not work either.  That is why i am not sure the datasafe 2nd hardrive is really worth the money.   Ghost to an external hardrive is worth the money.  Does this help?

A few comments if I may.

Current Dell E510 with two 160 Gig drives with RAID 1 (mirroring). What this buys you is two identical hard drives. Hard drives must be identical models for RAID 1 to work. It's like seeing your reflection in a mirror do whatever you do. It "mirrors" your actions. So if you save a Word Document, the system actually writes it to both drives.

The hidden partition business using Ghost 10 works like this. Ghost takes your 160 Gig drive and reserves some of it into a backup partition. So your huge C: drive of 160 Gig gets reduced to about 137 Gig (I'm guessing here) that you can see, control, safe files to. The D: drive is controled by Ghost. It writes compressed copies of your files there. Some of you ask how can 137 Gig of data be saved to a smaller partition.... Well, it's like using PKZIP to compress files into smaller sized files. The data on the Ghost partition is compressed, and if you need to restore it, Ghost uncompresses it and puts in back on your C: drive.

All this is happening TWICE. Once on each drive.

My issue is that on my E510, every blessed operation is mulititude times slower than on my old HP computer that had a slower processor, smaller hard drive and less memory.  My RecordNow takes 15 minutes to copy a CD instead of 4 or 5 minutes. My external ZIP drive (USB 2) takes 55 minutes to write to a ZIP100 disk where it used to take 6 minutes on the HP.

I will experiment with reducing the number of times Ghost backs data up. I think the restore points I have set are way too frequent. The system has a setting that sets the priority of non-Ghost programs -- maybe I have to tweak that.

Backing up to an EXTERNAL drive if you have one is a great idea. I suggest letting Ghost do its thing on the D: partition, but once in a while, write your Ghost image to the external drive.

Hope this helps everyone.

Ciborphd

I have the DataSafe application, with one problem. I am the type of person that likes to start fresh. I dont like the junk that comes with a computer, so i went in and redid EVERYTHING.  Ooopse.. that wiped out the partitions and such so now datasafe doesn't work like its supposed to.. I have been unable to find out how to redo the partitions for datasafe, and if anyone has the answer (160Gig hard drive version) i'd appreciate it.

To answer the above question, Norton is a SOFTWARE only backup solution, so if you have a virus or something that wreaks havoc, norton will help you recover, the RAID 1 is a hardware backup solution.  If your hard drive capoots on you, then you can switch to the 2nd hard drive.  Dell thinks that in combination, they should provide nearly 100% data security.

The Dell Tech was right, the amount of data you're trying to back up won't fit in the allocated space as set aside on the D: drive.  That is, however, if you're backing up the data without the use of compression techniques. I think the Datasafe solution is based, in part, on the ability of Norton to compress files.

Frankly, I would not bet $1 on information received from the Dell Tech group.  I called to ask what DataSafe is, how it's configured, etc. just as a knowledge point since I own the computer and need to know how to properly use and maintain the system.  I actually called several times and got the distinct impression that the three techs I talked to were totally unfamiliar with DataSafe.

I'm certainly no expert, BUT if I understand what I've read correctly on Dell's site, Dell designed the DataSafe system to enable a user to use (for example) a 107G partition with 37.2G set aside (as D:) to hold backup data from Norton. (I have a 162G DataSafe option so these are my numbers).  I trust the Dell Engineers knew what they were doing when they desgined this, I do not trust the Dell Techs to understand it nor support it yet.

My advice is:

•  do some more research (Google Datasafe, etc)
• call Dell support at least once more (I seemed to get a different answer with every call)
• check into how Norton backs up files and whether it uses compression techniques (I'd imagine the types of files you are backing up may or may not lend themselves well to compression)
• there's also the option to backup your files to an alternate location, like an external hard drive

Good luck...

I just bought it, installed it on my Dell desktop, and it does not work.  I can't find  any help.  Even though its called Dell DataSafe its actually sold by another company and Dell seems to offer no support whatsoever.  The support links to the actual vender do not work. Apparantly, I just flushed $40 down the toilet.  So much for buying anything from Dell

Hi Augustine202,

Let me see if I can help. Can you give me a few more details? What is the model of your Dell and operating system? What version of Dell DataSafe did you buy?

Would it be possible to get a link from the site where you bought this?

Its a Dell XPS 8300 that I bought at the Microsoft Store with Windows 7 preinstalled.  On the computer I went to Dell - Dell DataSafe Local Backup.  When that program loaded there was a button to "Upgrade" to the Premium version for $ 39.00 nwhich I clicked on.  This sent me to the Element 5 website from which I ordered it (Order Order number removed per privacy policy>)  I downloaded it, entered the activation code, and tried to backup the system.  It said it was backing up  but after 24 hours it was still stuck on 1% complete.  The only way I could stop the program was CTRL-ALT-DEL.  I tried again with the same result.  The web site suggested for tech help on the invoice ( element 5)no longer exists.

Ok, thanks for that information. What is the destination for the backup? Online or a local drive?

I'm going to try to get you some help, but I just want to make sure I'm providing all the information I can about the problem.

The backup destination is a Seagate 4TB external drive that is connected to my Dell computer.