Alien Respawn/Factory image transfer to SSD

Hello everyone, i've asked a few people this question but no one has been sure if its possible or not.

Ok so my understanding is that Alien Respawn is a factory image of the Laptop and when ever you run alien respawn it will reformat your PC to the state you got it from the factory.

So this is what i want to know.... I am going to be taking out my hard drive and replacing it with a solid state hard drive (SSD) Can i copy the alien repawn file(s) on to the SSD so that when i switch the two hard drive all i have to do is just run the alienware respawn software and it will reformat the laptop and install everything back the way it was on to the new hard drive

It will be a lot quicker than reinstalling and downloading everything manually if i can do it this way



Thanks for any replies

 

you dont have to copy anything. Just create your emergency rescue media. Remove the original drive, install the new drive and then boot with the emergency rescue media. The system will be restored to the factory 'out of box' state (including AlienRespawn - everything installed at the factory will be on the new drive) and then you can proceed with your app installs.

Simple.

 

Ok thanks for that BatBoy, Would you mind guiding me through how to create and boot up with emergency rescue media ? and what is the app installs ?

I will really appreciate it if you can guide me through this because i am lost ! lol

 

apps install = your games, programs, browsers, etc. This is totally your preference.

So, here is a quick guide -

1. Have blank DVDs on hand or a 8GB USB Flash Drive
2. Boot into windows and open AlienRespawn (can be found in the start menu)
3. From the left menu, select Backup
4. Select 'Create System Recovery Media'
5. Follow the prompts

When complete, change out your drive and then boot from the recovery media. F12 key at BIOS will bring up the one time boot menu. Insert your backup media and Select Optical Drive or USB depending on what you backed up to.

TIP - If you have a USB Flash Drive I suggest this route. Easiest and once complete, just store the flash drive in a safe place. If you ever need to revert back, its there and waiting for you.

*Once this is complete (recovery media created), you can always opt to perform a clean install and wipe the drive completely. Since you have your original recovery media, you can always use it to get back to the out of box state.

 

I would rather do a fresh install of windows with SSD installed. It will set up and disable a few unnecessary services for SSD during installation process.

Anyway its just my personal preference, I prefer knowing what exactly are installed in my machine.

 

Thats great BatBoy thank you so much !

+ 1 rep

its a lot easier than what i was expecting

Looking forward to getting this laptop sorted now

 

For what its worth, I did use this same process with an SSD and no issues were encountered. Did this on a M17xR2 for a colleague. He's gaming fine and had no odd glitches with drive integrity. The original drive was a stock HDD.

 

Yeah agreed, but isnt it easier to un-install the things you dont want ?

After looking at some of these threads for clean install, theres just so much to do downloads for drivers and so on and just to get it back to the alienware theme

 

Actually, its not that tough to perform a clean install and restore the alienware look and feel

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html

followed by,

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ook-feel-after-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

 

You seem like you know a lot about this BatBoy in your 'professionally opinion' should i do a clean install or not ? Your opinion will be more valid than mine because i am clueless lol

 

In my opinion, well - dont ask me that... lol

Seriously, it depends on how much time I have to spend on this project. If I was pressed for time I'd go with the Respawn + drive swap.

How about this... this will be good experience for you.

1. Perform the Recovery Media step to preserve your fall back option in the event of an emergency.

2. Set aside your recovery media in a safe place and proceed with:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html

*IMPORTANT: do not use the resource disc to install drivers. ALWAYS grab the current driver from Dell. A quick link for 14x drivers is here:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...=en&s=dhs&os=W764&osl=EN&SystemID=ALW_LP_M14X

3. Once complete, move on to:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ook-feel-after-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

4. To grab the webcam software, sign in to: https://smartsource.dell.com/

If anything goes funky, PM me or post here and we'll work it out. If you run into a serious issue and become stuck, you can always boot up with the recovery media and restore the factory state.

Either way, you're going to be ok.

 

Glad I stumbled on this, I am planning on doing this exact thing with my M18X upon its arrival and have been asking around!

 

Maybe this should be moved to the main Alienware section, sure many people would benefit from BatBoys infinite wisdom !

 

lol - there is an alienware respawn Q & A thread in the main AW forum. I'll track it down and be sure its linked in the 'Alienware General Information - READ BEFORE POSTING' sticky.

Did you decide which route you are going with Paddon?

 

Not sure yet, Im leaning towards a clean reinstall but it all depends how much time I have off work to play around with it.. Still got to wait a few more days before its actually delivered

 

Cool. Well, the clean install route certainly will be satisfying once you are finished.

New thread is up -
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...k-drive-aftermarket-drive-alienrespawn-q.html

 

I have been using symantec ghost for many years, if I create a ghost image after installation can I ignore alien respawn in my case? Cheers

 

Yes you can. In fact Ghost is a great alternative and a very reliable way of imaging a system.

 

Thanks Batboy. Here I was thinking I was going to have to pull out my copy of the UltimateBootCD and create an image of the virgin HDD and put it on the SSD. This AlienRespawn method sounds much much easier. Hats off to you, sir!

 

Glad to provide an alternative...

Paddon, I'm going to close this thread. Folks, please direct any AlienRespawn posts here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...k-drive-aftermarket-drive-alienrespawn-q.html

Thanks.