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Dell OS Recovery tool - incorrectly detecting USB
Hello
I am new to Dell and to the Windows world.
Issue: Dell OS Recovery tool error at 'Step 3: Download and save recovery image'
Error Message: "The hard drive has insufficient free space. The selected Windows recovery image requires at least 7.77GB of disk space."
My USB Stick is 32GB but despite this I continuously see this message on two different Windows 10 environments.
Question: Is it possible that the USB stick is defective? I have formatted it numerous times, in both MacOS and Windows 10 without issue. Should I purchase a proper, brand name USB stick? If you believe that this might resolve the issue, should I purchase a particular brand and size?
Please Note: The Optiplex 3020 is the affected machine that will require the Windows USB stick to boot and install from. Its HDD is effectively dead so I can't mitigate much from there.
Thank you. Hopefully someone in the community can advise.
Best
Alex
Alex_Santos
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September 15th, 2022 15:00
Issue resolved!
How was it resolved? What was blocking the resolution?
Several attempts were made but this error persisted "The hard drive has insufficient free space. The selected Windows recovery image requires at least 7.77GB of disk space."
Resolutions were attempted in both a Windows 10 PC and in Virtual Box 6 running MacOS High Sierra v10.13.6. 3 USB sticks in total were used. All attempts failed!
Why did it fail? It turns out that both Windows 10 environments had full (c: drive) hard drives - talk about coincidence! Now, in hindsight one might argue that the message above does indeed speak in terms of 'hard drive' but this is arguably a generic term. Furthermore, the user is engrossed in the act of trying to get a 'hard drive' to negotiate with an external device, in this case a USB drive.
The resolution involved understanding that what was full was the c: drive! Not that the USB stick did not have enough free space or was faulty. Dell could definitely improve this tool, it would have saved me a lot of head scratching.
In my case, I had to delete the 500MB recovery partition and expand Win10_64.vdi file (the Win10 virtual disk) and add a 200GB partition, then using 'Disk Management', the original 50GB and unallocated 200GB partition could be merged.
Who would have thought.
Other comments
By the way, why would I go here? https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server-essentials/install/create-a-bootable-usb-flash-drive - this is windows server
The second link, https://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft+download+windows+10+iso+64+bit&oq=microsoft+download+windows+10+iso&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j69i65j0i512j0i22i30l6.14297j0j4&client=ms-android-americamovil-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8 was good in that when I ran it, I was immediately and clearly told that I do not have space on my internal hard drive to continue.
Anyway, I do appreciate everyone's attempts to help, I think that is what community is all about.
Remember, this tool is all you need to format the destination drive, no third-party tools are required.
Thank you all
Alex
bradthetechnut
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September 14th, 2022 15:00
Is the flash drive formatted to FAT32? Not to be confused with exFAT.
Is the flash drive bootable? https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server-essentials/install/create-a-bootable-usb-flash-drive
ISO can also be downloaded from Microsoft. https://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft+download+windows+10+iso+64+bit&oq=microsoft+download+windows+10+iso&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j69i65j0i512j0i22i30l6.14297j0j4&client=ms-android-americamovil-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
Alex_Santos
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September 14th, 2022 23:00
Thank you for the reply. I will check out those resources later today and report back on any successes or failures.
Note: According to the OS Recovery tool itself, it identified that the USB stick would be formatted as part of its process.
Either way, I will review the links. Thank you very much!
Kind regards
Alex
bradthetechnut
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September 15th, 2022 11:00
If OS Recovery tool formatting flash drive is fine. Win10 also formats HDD/SSD to GPT partition scheme if not all already.
During Win10 installation, if you get that window that asks which partition you would like to install Win10 on, be sure to delete previous partitions from that window.
And of course, good luck with it!! : )
bradthetechnut
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September 15th, 2022 18:00
Glad you got it working. : )
"By the way, why would I go here?" Good question. I missed the small print that it was for server applications. Purple link is what I tapped for the URL. See screengrab:
I thought if your flash drive is not bootable that might have something to do with it. Kindly correct me if I'm wrong, but I see now downloading ISO must make it bootable or at least make it to install from there. All of my reload experience has been from DVD. As for downloading ISO to flash drive, that I learned from this forum.
Nice thing about ISO is getting all the updates right away vs. DVD and slowly uploading and going thru them.
Alex_Santos
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September 16th, 2022 02:00
Hi Brad
I apologize, yes of course accidents can happen, I do it all the time!
Yes, it is true that the Dell OS Recovery tool does indeed prepare the USB stick format and EFI boot partition. My Dell Optiplex 3020 now has Windows 7 Pro installed. I am very happy!
I don't want to derail this thread because it is very focused on the one issue so I will ask about Windows 10 for this machine in a separate post.
Thank you kindly!
bradthetechnut
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September 16th, 2022 10:00
You're welcome and no need to apologize. : )
Asking about Win10 for your 3020 certainly would not derail this thread as we'd still be talking about the the same machine. I thought that's what you were trying to install for some reason. You must've found a reliable site to download Win7 ISO. Was it the Dell Support Recovery or Microsoft?
Vyrfalcon
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October 14th, 2022 12:00
The problem is that it wants the space on your HD even if you are not planning to use it on that computer! I have a 400 GB USB. When I tried to create the USB, it told me it needed 10 GB. As soon as I read your message, I realized I had 7 GB remaining on the computer I was creating it on. Even though I told it that it was for another computer (a different service tag) the program is too dumb to delete checking my computer and insisting I must have 10 GB on my computer as well!