The built in Windows 7 backup will only backup NTFS formatted partitions. The Dell recovery and diagnostic partitions are FAT formatted. To back these up you would need a hard drive "ghost" program such Acronis True Image (what I and many techies use) to back up all partitons on a hard drive to a separate hard drive.
If the Dell Datasafe Local is not on your PC, you will need to contact Dell support about this. We are just users helping users on this forum, not Dell employees so we can't help you with that.
You can download Dell Data safe local backup* if it is missing on your new computer, but I recommend you use windows 7 Backup and Restore instead (or in addition to) Win 7 is perfectly capable of making a system image of the whole hard drive regardless of file format. The system image will contain the recovery partition, diagnostic partition and everything else. It must be saved to an external hard drive--very cheap nowadays and a great investment. You cannot backup just the recovery partition. You have to copy the whole drive since it is an exact copy of the entire drive.
*See if Dell Support Center is installed. DataSafe will be there or give you the option to download it. But do not depend exclusively on that utility. Win7 Backup & Restore is better. TIP--If you are new to windows 7, you should know that you can use the Start Box as a "search for anything" tool. Just type any program, file or tool in the box and windows will find it. Try it with Dell Support Center.
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
May 11th, 2011 04:00
The built in Windows 7 backup will only backup NTFS formatted partitions. The Dell recovery and diagnostic partitions are FAT formatted. To back these up you would need a hard drive "ghost" program such Acronis True Image (what I and many techies use) to back up all partitons on a hard drive to a separate hard drive.
If the Dell Datasafe Local is not on your PC, you will need to contact Dell support about this. We are just users helping users on this forum, not Dell employees so we can't help you with that.
Mary G
4 Operator
•
20.1K Posts
0
May 11th, 2011 17:00
You can download Dell Data safe local backup* if it is missing on your new computer, but I recommend you use windows 7 Backup and Restore instead (or in addition to) Win 7 is perfectly capable of making a system image of the whole hard drive regardless of file format. The system image will contain the recovery partition, diagnostic partition and everything else. It must be saved to an external hard drive--very cheap nowadays and a great investment. You cannot backup just the recovery partition. You have to copy the whole drive since it is an exact copy of the entire drive.
*See if Dell Support Center is installed. DataSafe will be there or give you the option to download it. But do not depend exclusively on that utility. Win7 Backup & Restore is better. TIP--If you are new to windows 7, you should know that you can use the Start Box as a "search for anything" tool. Just type any program, file or tool in the box and windows will find it. Try it with Dell Support Center.