Unable to create Recovery Discs - Recovery Partition missing or corrupted

I just received my Inspiron laptop today and have the EXACT same issue...  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have exactly the same problem, with an Inspiron N5010 running Win7.  I think I've got around it by using the Windows tools - 'Backup and Restore' in the start menu - and creating the discs from there.  Hope that works, anyway.  The Recovery Partition does appear to exist, if you go into Disk Management, though it doesn't show in Explorer.

I would like to know how to get the Dell software to work, though.

I know I'm new to all this but I was under the impression that the Recovery discs Dell suggest you make effectively copies all installed programmes etc so if necessary, you can set everything back to how it was when the laptop was purchased. I couldn't find a system restore facility in the windows menu, only backup but isn't that just about the data files? (ie not the programme files?) ....... or am I missing something? I know the data is backed up by using the Dell online back up facility but am still concerned that I have no recovery discs for the programmes and operating system! I've emailed Dell but so far, haven't received any sort of reply so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ah sorry, 'create a system repair disc' is one of the suggestions on the left hand side.  I don't know a more direct way to get there, but that's the one that creates an image of windows as it was out of the box.

I just purchased a Dell Inspiron N5010  lap top and have the same problem creating recovery disks

How do I know if the recovery partition really exists or not on the lap top

thx

Still have not seen any answer for this thread or the other thread in the forum when using Dell's Local data backup and at first screen it comes out and says that the "Recovery partition is missing or corrupted"

This is a brand new machine received from the Georga plant within 1 week of putting in the order - N5010 machine and need to be able to create the recovery disks incase system crashes. Received Aug 11, 2010 and started preping the system Aug 14th

I guess not a lot of Dell support people monitoring this site since no comments about what the issue may be since these are new machines and they do not come with OS restore disks

I also have N5010 that I ordered directly from Dell.  Received on the 12th and I'm having the exact same error.  I'm sending it off with my daughter by end of the week and I'm not optimistic that the issue will be resolved by then.

Like others, more than a little perplexed and unhappy that such a simple function is DOA.

Same boat here, sending off with college bound daughter next week and no recovery partition.  20 minute phone call and new hd is being sent out - "It's a known issue".   I should have ordered it earlier...  Good luck.

Result!

After searching for ages in the 'contact us' section of Dell's website, I finally managed to find an email address for technical support & told them about the problems I'm experiencing. When they replied, they asked me to nominate a 2 hour time slot when one of their tecnical support people could ring me to sort the problem out. During the call, they took control of my laptop and tried to create the discs. They didn't have any success in doing that but they DID find the supposed missing partition files and everything is in order (they're hidden files which is why they don't show up!) Anyway, they're going to send me the requisite System Recovery discs so I'll keep you posted as to when they arrive.

My suggestion is that all you guys with the same problem do what I did - maybe if enough people complain, they'll either make sure the software Data Safe Local works or ship the necessary discs with the laptops!

Good luck!

ps - the call only took approx 30 mins, not the full 2 hours - that's merely to create a reasonable time slot for them to call.

Today I finally got around to chatting with Dell Support online.  They remoted into my system, looked around a bit, then decided they are sending a new hard drive as well as a technician to install it...  I'll let you know how it goes.

A tech showed up today and replaced the hard drive and left.  After the install and logging in to Windows I was able to create the recovery discs.

Glad it worked, Rdestryw.   I'm in the same boat, and a tech will be arriving next week to install a new hard drive.  Believe it or not, they actually sent me a new computer first, but it still was bad!

Regardless, so far Dell has been responsive and friendly; hopefully, I'll have the same luck you did.

Hi all, 

I used to be a Dell Tech, I just bought new lightly used N5010 yesterday, I couldn't do the recovery CDs also. So I came online and find this post, I had same problem BUT I FIGURED IT OUT !! Now I can Create System Recovery Media and I can choose Discs or USB Flash Driver, Here is what I did.

I restore the laptop to the Original Factory Image, then I pressed right click on My Computer icon and chose Manage, A box will Pop up, Under Storage I pressed Disk Managment, You will see your Recovery Partition there beside C , what I did is I made Recovery partition Active NOT C, so I clicked RIGHT click on Recovery Partition and clicked Mark Partition as Active ( Was Active in C  which is wrong ), I also Divided my C Partition to make another Partition ( to save my important files there ) By right cllick on C and chose Shrink Volume, now C Partition is 148GB and the new D partition is 135GB. I restert my computer and went to Dell DataSafe local Backup and WOLLAA it works just fine, I hope you all try this and let me know how it went with you, It works for me.  

Thanks for the info, wichitamann.  However, I have a few concerns with your solution.

1)  I should mention that the Dell tech came out to my house and swapped the hard drive.  The DDS recovery now works!

2)  Even though your solution is fairly good one, I shouldn't need to do that on a NEW computer. Besides,  Windows 7 has a pretty decent recovery setup that is probably better than Dell's, and that requires nothing more than using the software.  Plus, your recovery partition should really be on its own partition (no extra data) and smaller than what you have. 

But, I wish Dell were as smart as you by not putting the recovery partition on the C drive.....that's not too brilliant on their part....maybe they could use your help again!!!

Thanks again!

I had the same problem on my N5010, and inasmuch as I had already copied files to it from my dying laptop, I didn't want to go the hard disk replacement route. Apparently Dell has at last come up with a simple, genuine fix: Three Dell techs had spent about an hour each stumbling around but not solving the problem. Friday a fourth tech downloaded and executed a file, TagxDEPart.exe, and now Dell DataSafe Local Backup runs fine.

A few minutes ago (actually while I was creating my recovery disks) Dell downloaded a patch for Dell DataSafe Local Backup and the recovery partition. I wonder if that is to fix the problem for everyone.

Anyway, anyone who is still having this problem should tell the tech about TagxDEPart.exe.