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Chester65

7 Posts

12262

November 9th, 2014 15:00

re-imaging on to a new HDD; can't create factory image. Help!

My son's X51 desktop system is reporting HDD errors on system scans, which coincides with recent performance issues on the system. It's time to put in a new drive.

First, though, I need to 'respawn' a system image onto a USB drive, to use for the new HDD. However, the system is so unstable that I can't even run the respawn utility.

Short of having a factory image, how can we get the Alienware OS and settings back to where we were on day 1? It's out of warranty, so the Dell website isn't offering a lot of help here.

I don't want to have to go out and buy another Windows license to use here, since we have one that's perfectly fine.

We've backed up all the important data, so at least we have that.

osprey4

4 Operator

 • 

34.2K Posts

November 9th, 2014 15:00

Hi Chester65,

What's the operating system? You can download an ISO of Windows 7 and use your OEM license to install.

Chester65

7 Posts

November 9th, 2014 15:00

WIN7. Thanks for sharing this info .. good to know! Where would I go to download WIN7 - MS website or Dell? And do I use the OEM tag found on the back of the PC?

osprey4

4 Operator

 • 

34.2K Posts

November 10th, 2014 12:00

Follow my link below for a really nice Windows reinstallation guide, including links to the ISO. Be sure to grab the same flavor that you have now (Home, Pro, etc.). Use the Windows license on the label on your case when prompted to validate the OS.

Chester65

7 Posts

November 10th, 2014 17:00

Thanks a bunch. I think this is my current plan -

  1. Purchase new HDD to match the specs of the current system and install it in the HDD carriage
  2. Power up with an ISO disk of WIN7 Home Premium (what we have now) I downloaded from the MS website
  3. Run a fresh install of WIN7 and enter the activation key on the back chassis of the X51
  4. Install X51-specific drivers, etc per the Dell website for this system
  5. Perform Windows updates, as needed
  6. Re-install user accounts and copy back data
  7. re-install apps, reconfigure printers, etc
  8. A few hours of work, but this should get us back to a 'clean' state.
  9. The 'old' HDD can be available, while it's still working, to copy over anything missed, via an external case/cable

OR ...

I could try a different approach. My son has a new (one month old) Alienware laptop (14) under warranty; I could either create a restore image from this, or request one from Dell ... and use this restore image on the X51 ... unless Alienware images are machine-specific? I suspect they are, but wanted to consider all options.

Philip_Yip

9 Legend

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16K Posts

November 10th, 2014 18:00

The 'old' HDD can be available, while it's still working, to copy over anything missed, via an external case/cable

I would try with a bootable Fedora Live USB, its usually more successful at recovering data from a dead drive, see here for more details.

Run a fresh install of WIN7 and enter the activation key on the back chassis of the X51

Its better to use the ABR program and Dell cert files... see here for more details. This will restore the Dell OEM SLP product activation and prevent a need to call Microsoft.

Purchase new HDD to match the specs of the current system and install it in the HDD carriage

Go for a 2.5" SSD such as a Crucial 256 GB MX100 it will increase the overall performance of your system significantly.

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