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Dell Recovery

I'm looking for a way of storing the Dell recovery media written to a usb flash drive.
The laptop is a Dell Inspiron 3531, the owner has not made any recovery media.
It's now prompting every time it's turned on.
I've got a 16Gb flash drive, 8.5GB is required, so ok there.

The trouble is, I need this drive for other things.
Has anyone had success storing as an .iso, then writing back to a flash drive?
I'm familiar with using Imgburn to make an.iso, but not too sure of what to use to write the .iso back to a flash drive.

Use Rufus?
Move along, nothing to see.
«1

Comments

  • Xboot may work :cool:
  • spud17
    spud17 Posts: 4,424 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Yup, use Xboot all the time. (See old posts, ;))

    Just got the impression that Rufus is the favourite for Windows recovery although I've never yet used it.

    I have to sort this today, so will make .iso from files on flash, and worry about it *if* laptop goes wrong, or just do clean install.
    (Already extracted and saved key.)
    Move along, nothing to see.
  • Did the laptop come with Windows 8 or 8.1 installed when it was new?

    If so then it probably boots using UEFI rather than BIOS - in which case you might want to make sure that whatever tool you use is capable of creating something that will boot in UEFI mode when you're trying to recover the PC.

    So that would be something to check with xboot (I don't know whether it has that capability or not.)
  • spud17
    spud17 Posts: 4,424 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Jivesinger wrote: »
    Did the laptop come with Windows 8 or 8.1 installed when it was new?

    If so then it probably boots using UEFI rather than BIOS - in which case you might want to make sure that whatever tool you use is capable of creating something that will boot in UEFI mode when you're trying to recover the PC.

    So that would be something to check with xboot (I don't know whether it has that capability or not.)

    It was new in September 2014, and came with '8.1 with Bing'.

    I don't think that xboot has that capability, it has not had any development for some time.
    Move along, nothing to see.
  • GunJack
    GunJack Posts: 11,769 Forumite
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    will it only produce backup onto a usb, or will it burn to a couple of DVDs?
    ......Gettin' There, Wherever There is......

    I have a dodgy "i" key, so ignore spelling errors due to "i" issues, ...I blame Apple :D
  • GunJack
    GunJack Posts: 11,769 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    ......Gettin' There, Wherever There is......

    I have a dodgy "i" key, so ignore spelling errors due to "i" issues, ...I blame Apple :D
  • spud17
    spud17 Posts: 4,424 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    GunJack wrote: »
    will it only produce backup onto a usb, or will it burn to a couple of DVDs?
    USB is the default option, there is a dvd option, but then says no dvd burner is available.
    It is a basic laptop with the 8.1 Bing version.
    GunJack wrote: »

    Just having a read.
    Good to see you're still around. :beer:
    Move along, nothing to see.
  • GunJack
    GunJack Posts: 11,769 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    spud17 wrote: »
    Good to see you're still around. :beer:

    you too mate :D I loiter more these days, but you don't get rid of me that easy :rotfl:
    ......Gettin' There, Wherever There is......

    I have a dodgy "i" key, so ignore spelling errors due to "i" issues, ...I blame Apple :D
  • spud17 wrote: »
    The trouble is, I need this drive for other things.

    Buy another drive.

    You may be able to copy it out then ISO it then maybe get it back but it's not worth the hassle over a 16 gb drive that is likely to cost less than a tenner to buy.

    Buying a new drive and putting it somewhere safe means you should be able to recover it later. Format swapping there is a risk the files will be damaged or corrupted.
  • spud17
    spud17 Posts: 4,424 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    gjchester wrote: »
    Buy another drive.

    You may be able to copy it out then ISO it then maybe get it back but it's not worth the hassle over a 16 gb drive that is likely to cost less than a tenner to buy.

    Buying a new drive and putting it somewhere safe means you should be able to recover it later. Format swapping there is a risk the files will be damaged or corrupted.

    Didn't have time to buy a drive.
    It's not mine, and had to be back yesterday afternoon.
    If the owner is not worried about recovery, despite it being pointed out to him, I'm not going to worry either.:)

    ps it doesn't have a dvd drive.
    Move along, nothing to see.
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