Restoring a backup using Dell Backup and Recovery Manager to a new hard drive

Hello, I have a Dell Vostro 230 desktop running Windows 7 Professional 32-bit OS and Dell Backup and Recovery Manager running on it. After over a year, the desktop crashes with a blue screen intermittently.

Running diagnostics indicate this error.

Error code: 2000-0142

Hard Drive 1-Self test unsuccessful

Status 79

Please note that I can still use the current hard drive and it boots up fine. The only issue is that the desktop will blue screen after using the desktop for a little while (for instance, 30 minutes).

I would like to replace the current hard drive with a new hard drive (larger size and different vendor) and copy all the contents from the current hard drive to the new hard drive. I am using Dell Backup and Recovery Manager (DBRM) to do this. After restoring the DBRCM backup to the new hard drive, I get an error "can not boot" after restarting the desktop.

Using the DBRM version 1.3 documentation, what I did was the following:

1) within Windows 7, I start up DBRM and follow the instructions on page 12-14 (section 4 Backing up your system) to create a bootable image on 2 DVD's. I name the backup, MJ.20120930.backup.

2) Now, I put the new hard drive in and change the PC to boot from the bootable DVD. I can then start up DBRM on the bootable DVD, retrieve the backup, MJ.20120930.backup, and restore it successfully using the instructions on page 18 (5.2 Restoring from a bootable backup).

I use both DVD's to restore the image to the new hard drive and DBRM indicates a successful restore, but restarting the system with the new hard drive results in "can not boot" error. I try hitting "F8" to bring up Windows Recovery Environment and it does not start.

At this point, I replace my new hard drive with my old hard drive and I am running Windows 7 again (although the PC will eventually blue screen).

My questions are:

1) There are tools such as Norton Ghost and Acronis that 'clone' hard drives (including the boot partition and windows partition) so I can replace a smaller hard drive with a larger hard drive. Can DBRM do the same and 'clone' both the boot and windows partition.

2) I created the backup after starting DBRM within Windows 7. Should I be in the Windows Recovery Environment and run DBRM to backup the hard drive? In fact, I'm going to try this.

3) There are some dell forum posts indicating I can not use Norton Ghost/Acronis to clone the hard drive if my Dell PC is running Dell DataSafe local backup because the windows partition/boot partition is encrypted? Can I use Norton Ghost/Acronis to clone my hard drive to the new drive if it has DBRM running on it?

Thank you in advance for all your help.