test Recovery from Dell DataSafe Local Backup

Hi Nohellphiccup,

Dell has replaced that utility with Dell Backup and Recovery (DBAR). My suggestion would be to use that to create your recovery media.

The forums have a Microsoft OS board which is more suitable for this question:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/f

A few remarks, you cannot test Dell DataSafe on a VM, the BIOS of the VM is a virtual BIOS and not a Dell BIOS. In addition the emulated virtual BIOS will have different settings such as SATA operation to the real Dell BIOS and so there are a lot of factors which mean that you won't be able to boot properly. Dell DataSafe Local Backup also required a hard drive of the same size or larger than the original, a problem likely also encountered with a VM.

Next moving onto Dell Backup and Recovery. The latest version has multiple fixes including the ability to install on a clean install and setup a new factory partition and the ability to install on a smaller hard drive than the original (so long as its large enough for the recovery image). See here for some more details:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/dell-backup-and-recovery/

If you want to indeed test and exclusively rely on the one machine and software on it, you are best to purchase a 3.5 " Internal Desktop SATA HDD (you are on the Desktop board so I assume you have a Desktop) and remove the existing drives on your machine. That way you can test using the real Dell BIOS of your machine.

I have done quite a bit of testing with it on:

• 3 OptiPlex G520 - Windows 7 32 Bit
• 2 OptiPlex 745 - Windows 7 32/64 Bit
• 3 OptiPlex 755 - Windows 7 32/64 Bit
• 4 OptiPlex 760 - Windows 7 32/64 Bit
• 1 OptiPlex 790 - Windows 7 32 Bit
• 1 Latitude D820 - Windows 7 64 Bit and Windows 8.1 64 Bit

All on a clean install. Most of the systems are older and likely the few issues I have found will be fixed in the next release.

Do not worry about positing on the wrong forum. We can actually move it to the Microsoft OS forum but haven't because email notifications are currently down from the last forum update, therefore you might lose the thread.

Dell Backup and Recovery will automatically find the Recovery partition if its there.

If not it will create a new one, it will not ask the user to specify one. You will see your Recovery partition is similar to mine which was done on a clean install.

You should now create a Recovery USB, this is not the same as a Reinstallation DVD, its essentially a copy of the recovery partition made on bootable media, you can use it to install but drivers and preinstalled software will be prebundled:

As mentioned you can test the recovery USB if you install a separate hard drive and remove the originals.

P.S. as you are using Windows 7, my guides have additional instructions for downloading and installing Windows 7. These make an identical install to a Windows 7 Reinstallation DVD:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/

You can also follow the methods for a clean install in the event of failure.

My email notifications appear to be back up so I've moved this to the Microsoft OS Forum.