Making a bootable USB to restore my system and files

Question

I have now been trying for 2 weeks to install a new SSD on my XPS15 9650, and failing. It is supposed to be simple. I have tried several methods (using Macrium for example, as well as Dell's own). I make what I think is such a USB restore on my 500GB USB, but then the PC cannot find it on boot up (via F12 or F2).

I cannot find, for me, a clear and simple set of instructions for making a Restore my whole system and files onto a USB for subsequent use on putting it on the new SSD.

Neither can I find our how to get the Boot up F2 to detect my new SSD.

I would really appreciate someone either explaining how to do this of pointing me to where there is such an explanation/video.

I could list the 20+ sites I've tried and failed with, but perhaps that is not allowed.

jphughan · Accepted Answer

@Zarathrustra Yes, if you get a flash drive and use Rescue Media Builder to turn it into Rescue Media, you boot from that flash drive then restore from the image on your hard drive. You would not select the ISO option. You'd choose your actual flash drive as the build target. The purpose of ISO files is to store a Rescue Media build as a file somewhere in case you might ever want to use another application to create a bootable DVD or flash drive on-demand later on, possibly from another PC if your existing PC died and you didn't have any Rescue Media already created for it. But even there you wouldn't just copy the ISO file itself onto a disc or flash drive. An ISO is conceptually similar to a zip file, i.e. it contains a bunch of other files. You need an application that properly extracts the contents of the ISO file onto the disc/flash drive. But again, in your case just choose to build directly to the flash drive in Rescue Media Builder.

Yes, once you boot Rescue Media, you'll see Reflect sitting there, and from there you can start the restore.

Yes, it is technically possible to create Rescue Media on external hard drives, but that requires a bit more work and isn't as reliable because some systems -- including some Dell laptops I've worked with -- will not boot from USB from actual hard drives and SSDs, i.e. "fixed disk class" devices. They will only boot from USB from flash drives, i.e. "removable storage class" devices. There are a couple of other risks to making Rescue Media out of hard drives and SSDs, but to be honest (and I don't mean this in a mean way at all), I don't think they're worth getting into based on your current experience level. On that subject, I would really suggest that you spend a bit of time reading the Reflect online user guide, which you can access from its Help menu. Macrium's documentation is better than most, and time spent learning how to use an application that you will be entrusting to recover your system and/or files in a disaster situation, so that you'll know whether you're using it to the best of its abilities for your purposes and will actually know what to do if you ever have to use it, is time well spent.

jphughan · Answer

@Zarathrustra Do the old and new SSDs use the same storage interface, meaning SATA vs. NVMe? If you're switching from one to the other, that can introduce some complications. But if you're using Macrium Reflect, this should be straightforward. Make an image backup that contains ALL partitions on your source disk, NOT just the Windows partition (C drive), then boot your system into the Reflect Rescue Media and restore the image -- again, ALL partitions of the image -- onto the destination disk. After that, you might need to run the Fix Boot Problems wizard that's available within Reflect Rescue Media.

In terms of the boot option the BIOS Setup, on UEFI-based systems like the XPS 15 9560, boot options don't work the same way as Legacy BIOS systems. You don't just boot from "a device" like "your SSD" anymore. UEFI boot options for local storage involve registering a path to a specific bootloader file on a specific partition of a specific device. Windows Setup handles that in normal situations, and I think Fix Boot Problems does as well, but otherwise you can add it manually. Choose to add a Boot Option, name it Windows Boot Manager, and for the file path, you have to select the hidden EFI/ESP partition on the SSD and then browse to "\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi". But before you do that, first make sure your restored SSD is bootable at all. Even if you don't have a boot path registered in the firmware like that, you should be able to see it in the F12 one-time boot menu list, which populates dynamically based on looking for bootloader files on attached devices. That's how you can boot from USB devices without registering them into firmware.

Zarathrustra · Answer

Thank you again jphughan, your help is really appreciated.

I've now embarked on doing an image backup (reportedly 9 hours) and will then do the next steps.

I thought I'd thank you now rather than wait.

I hope you won't mind if I come back later if I have any further hiccups.

Zarathrustra · Answer

Forgive my ignorance, but when I’ve made the image backup on my USB, isn’t that the one I need to now boot from somehow?

Or should I have made this image on an external HDD, ready for use of a rescue USB made from Macrium's Rescue Media Wizard?

jphughan · Answer

@Zarathrustra  The drive that contains your image doesn't necessarily have to be your Rescue Media boot device, and given that some backups are quite large while the storage requirements for Rescue Media are quite low, they're typically different devices.  Another reason is that booting in UEFI mode requires a FAT32 partition, and FAT32 doesn't allow files larger than 4GB, so you either need to split your backup files or set up a multi-partition flash drive if you want to have Rescue Media and backups on the same device.  If you've already made the backup, then if at all possible, I'd suggest getting a separate flash drive to use for Rescue Media, because Rescue Media Builder might need to format your existing device that contains your backup in order to make it suitable for Rescue Media, which would erase the backup.  Then boot your system from that, and after Reflect has fully loaded (when you see the full application without the loading bar), you can actually disconnect the Rescue Media flash drive if necessary, since at that point it will be running entirely from system RAM.

ejn63 · Answer

You can either use two flash drives, or copy the Macrium image elsewhere, make the bootable media using the 500G flash drive, and copy the file back to that drive.

You do not want to make an ISO of the boot drive itself, unless that's for safekeeping (I keep one ISO for each of my systems so that I can write it to a flash drive and restore without issue, leaving my flash drives free for other purposes in the mean time). By itself, the ISO isn't bootable - it becomes bootable when it's written correctly to the flash drive.

Zarathrustra · Answer

Oh dear, this gets ever more complicated for me, but thanks for trying to clear things up. I was perhaps misled by a video by The Tech Chap on upgrading an XPS15 9550, where in he seemed to just make an ISO image/backup on a USB and then, having replaced a 0.5TB with a 1 TB, just popped the USB onto his laptop and re-establish his whole system and files.

Yes, I have already made a full image of my existing 500GB SSD onto a NTFS 500GB USB, made using Macrium.

If I understand you, I need to now to make Rescue Media boot device on another USB (I have a 32GB one), using Macrium. This needs to be an ISO file? Or ?

When I have done this, I boot up using this 32GB USB; which will put me into the Macrium program to Restore the NTFS Image onto the now installed 2TB?

Could I have done a Rescue Media boot device on the 500GB USB, using the ISO option?, and would that then do both the boot up and restore my existing SSD’s system and files to the new 2TB SSD?

Zarathrustra · Answer

Oh dear, this gets ever more complicated for me, but thanks for trying to clear things up. I was perhaps misled by a video by The Tech Chap on upgrading an XPS15 9550, where in he seemed to just make an ISO image/backup on a USB and then, having replaced a 0.5TB with a 1 TB, just popped the USB onto his laptop and re-establish his whole system and files.

Yes, I have already made a full image of my existing 500GB SSD onto a NTFS 500GB USB, made using Macrium.

If I understand you, I need to now to make Rescue Media boot device on another USB (I have a 32GB one), using Macrium. This needs to be an ISO file? Or ?

When I have done this, I boot up using this 32GB USB; which will put me into the Macrium program to Restore the NTFS Image onto the now installed 2TB?

Could I have done a Rescue Media boot device on the 500GB USB, using the ISO option?, and would that then do both the boot up and restore my existing SSD’s system and files to the new 2TB SSD?

johnptd · Answer

You need to make a Macrium 'Rescue Media' on a smaller USB flash drive. This will allow you to boot Macrium from this flash drive and then restore your system from a Macrium backup. The Rescue Media needs to be refreshed from time to time as Macrium puts out updates. JohnD

Zarathrustra · Answer

Many, many thanks jpHughan for being both patient with me and guiding me to the correct solution.

I have now done the whole thing: made an image on one usb; made a macrium usb boot usb. Run the latter and then the former. All worked. I have an up-and-running 2TB SSD and have enlarged the near-full partitions and now have lots of space. Whew!

This was nail-biting for me, but I finally got there with you help.

Best wishes, Ian

jphughan · Answer

@Zarathrustra  Excellent news! Thanks for reporting back, glad glad I was able to help.

XPS

Making a bootable USB to restore my system and files

Was this post helpful?