TeraByte Unlimited

Hi

I am receiving a replacement DELL XPS 15 today. I have several images backed up from the existing system. My plan was to boot to an IFW recovery drive on a USB stick, backup the existing drive and then restore an image from the existing unit.

I did a quick test run on the existing system. Booted to the IFW recovery drive (created on a non-UEFI W10 system). It came up OK, but when I went to step through the motions of backing up, it only showed 1 partition (FAT32), whereas there are 6 partitions on that drive.

So I created another USB stick with Image for UEFI (character-based), booted to that and stepped through the motions of backing up. It found the big USB external drive but did not offer the selection of a target directory/filename etc. I am confused.

What is the best approach for backing up such a virginal, new system?
Ignoring the safety-first backup and just going straight to the restore, could I restore the whole disk image (all 6 partitions) using the IFW stick created on a non-UEFI system?

Hope this makes sense.

Tom B

TomByrnes wrote:
>
> It found the
> big USB external drive but did not offer the selection of a target
> directory/filename etc. I am confused.
>
Tom,

It sounds like it is jumping screens. Single click to select the next item and press Enter.

Have you tried IFL? It is much faster than IFU in my computers.

if using simple operations, you only choose the target drive. If not, you
choose the target drive, then partition (has to already be
partitioned/formatted).

On the source drive not existing, perhaps it needs drivers (were you booting
that on the new system or old?, what controller type is the drive connected
to?) ?


"TomByrnes" wrote in message news:[email protected]...

Hi

I am receiving a replacement DELL XPS 15 today. I have several images backed
up from the existing system. My plan was to boot to an IFW recovery drive on
a USB stick, backup the existing drive and then restore an image from the
existing unit.

I did a quick test run on the existing system. Booted to the IFW recovery
drive (created on a non-UEFI W10 system). It came up OK, but when I went to
step through the motions of backing up, it only showed 1 partition (FAT32),
whereas there are 6 partitions on that drive.

So I created another USB stick with Image for UEFI (character-based), booted
to that and stepped through the motions of backing up. It found the big USB
external drive but did not offer the selection of a target
directory/filename etc. I am confused.

What is the best approach for backing up such a virginal, new system?
Ignoring the safety-first backup and just going straight to the restore,
could I restore the whole disk image (all 6 partitions) using the IFW stick
created on a non-UEFI system?

Hope this makes sense.

Tom B

Thanks for replies. OK simple mode explains lack of choice - got it. Still a little mystified re the IFW recovery drive not being able to see the main drive. (It shows available drives as itself and an X: drive and the size shown for the X: drive doesnt correspond to the main drive or I think any of its partitions.

TomByrnes wrote:
> Still
> a little mystified re the IFW recovery drive not being able to see the main
> drive.

My kids have Dell XPS. From memory you have to create the TBWinRE on the Dell XPS otherwise you don't have the drivers to see the disk.

I don't know if there would be any issues with missing drivers and not seeing disks, but I'd at least try IFL.

Some of those systems are configured in RAID mode (maybe even with NVMe) and aren't supported with the default drivers. Using the latest Windows 10 version for the TBWinRE/TBWinPE build is recommended since it would have more current drivers. If that doesn't work, you would likely need to add the current Intel storage drivers to the TBWinRE/TBWinPE build.

If using IFL, also see:
https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=610

Thanks for the replies. I have not checked out IFL yet - but I shall. After installing the latest version (3.24 GUI this time - I avoided it in the past as it was sometimes problematic), and after a few false starts, I have successfully backed up using Image for UEFI, and was able to step through the restore up to the point of no return. The link to IFL re drives not appearing on some systems (eg XPS 15 which this is), helped a lot. I checked the BIOS and it is indeed set to RAID [why on a single disk system, you might reasonably ask]. Given that, it seems like IFU is the line of least resistance - no need to tweak the BIOS before and after. So I am in reasonable shape.

The situation was compounded by the fact that I get occasional disk errors (seek errors on the main drive, followed later by device not found errors on the USB drive) - part of the reason for the replacement system being provided. And my general incompetence. But I have a better understanding now. Thanks.

Tom B