HOW TO: Preserve AlienRespawn - stock drive to aftermarket drive / AlienRespawn Q&A

FYI, if you're looking for an alternative to Acronis, Symantec also has a product that'll do the same thing: Norton Ghost (or Symantec System Recovery if you want the enterprise product).

 

I wana make a backup of my system "as is", so if one of my HD's fail (i got this SSD raid0 setup goin) i can just re-install windows and pull a saved image of my bare bone system with all the drivers and basic programs i've already installed, like skype and chrome.

Is there any other apps out there that i can pickup that would do what i want? I was just gana use alien respawn for this but reading around it appears if you didnt use it, you lost it.

Thanks in advance!

 

Norton Ghost: http://us.norton.com/ghost/

I use the enterprise version of this and it works like a charm. Takes a full snapshot, then incrementals.

 

Acronis true image is what I use. Works along similar lines to ghost.

 

Isnt the one that comes with Windows 7 any good?

 

Doesn't do the same thing. It's OKAY, but not nearly as robust as Ghost or Acronis.

 

I've noticed that in the task manager, the Toaster.exe takes up a lot of data. I know this is part of AlienRespawn. Is it safe to end it?

 

It shouldn't impact your overall experience (personally, I dont disable it and my system runs fine).

If you have the basic version of AlienRespawn, it should be safe to end.

If on the Premium (paid) version, leave it active.

 

What is the difference between alien respaun and the system restore section of my drive?

 

And I have another question relate with the question above is: What is the different between Alien Respawn and the other recovery program?

 

Hi, is it possible to do a clean install even after the m14x for about 3 weeks already? I never got AlienRespawn but I see that you guys provided a link for that.

If I do AlienRespawn after using the computer for about 3 weeks, will it still work?

 

I don't even have the recovery partition in it, haha.

 

"AlienRespawn cannot be installed because your hard drive does not have the Windows Recovery Environment" even though DSLCheck.exe says the computer is compatible. When it automatically linked me to the website, it says the file is gone. So I downloaded it from the link in step 2. When I try to install it, I get the aforementioned error message.

Anyone have an idea?

 

Hi,

I'm not sure if my particular situation has been covered yet, sorry if it has. I created a recovery cd through alienrespawn, then preceded to recover my system to the factory defaults. Now that I have done that im having problems installing drivers and what not, now I want to just recover back to the image that the recovery cd has. The problem is alienrespawn is no longer on my current system so i can only get basic alienrespawn. Is there a method I could use with this recovery cd, to get my computer back to the way it was?

-My system is the m15x

 

Does anyone have this problem?

I do a Full Backup (already purchased a license) and it doesn't detect that there was a backup done - it says "0 files copied" in the Log -- so therefore I can't restore or backup to DVD.. And, I've tried 10+ times and on different drives and I can see that the "System Recovery" folder is created and the ".inp" files are being created.

On my M17x it always worked perfectly - so before I call support just wanted to know if anyone else is having the same issue and if you have any suggestions.

Thanks!

 

Hey i've owned my m11x r1 for about a year now and im about to sell it soon. Can anyone help walk me trough the steps to restore my lappy to factory settings. I know that i could either use Alienrespawn or the System restore disk but im opt for the first option because i do not have an external cd drive atm and im not sure if the disk will reinstall the alienware programs. I remember making a backup when i first booted up my m11 but i cant find it for the life of me now... If anyone tell me what my options are at this point im all ears. Im about ready to buy a cd drive from bestbuys and trying to return it after i restore my lappy as a last resort. I want to make sure whoever buys my laptop gets the fresh out of the box experience i had with it.

 

Well, if you open Alien Respawn, choose restore, it should give you the option to restore to factory condition.....no need for a cd drive if you still have it installed on your M11x

 

FYI I believe the newer AlienRespawn will not allow you to restore discs/USB to a smaller drive. I tried it on my M17x from the stock 250 GB to a 120 GB SSD, it completely rejected it. I know the newest Dell DataSafe Local Backup will to (same program).

 

Really odd. I had no issue with respawning from a 320GB HDD to a 256GB SSD.

Was this before or after you updated AlienRespawn? I know there is an update from the stock factory image for AR, I wonder if the update has an issue with this.

The question I have is:

1. With the system out of the box with the factory image, creating the USB Rescue Media - will it respawn to the smaller drive?

2. If the USB Rescue Media is created after updating the factory image's AlienRespawn app, will AR fail to respawn to the smaller drive?

I cant recall which case my respawn fell into - I believe it was #1.

While I have not tested to confirm, you might want to check this link - may be possible to salvage your W7Ultimate factory install and still setup a current AR recovery image -

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/633540-tutorial-make-up-date-alienware-respawn-image.html

 

Same here. I have done this in the past without issue. maybe because a 256gb SSD is a bit closer to the size of a 320hdd....maybe when someone tries to respawn to a drive thats less than 50% of original capacity, its a no-go....either way, something doesnt quite work out, does it.

 

I just created an account and proceeded straight to AlienRespawn. It's no biggie, I just did a clean install. I know ALOT of new Dell's with Sandy Bridge will only restore from discs/USB to the EXACT same sized HDD.

 

Hey guys,

I'm having trouble using alienrespawn. I did a fresh install and then installed the Alienrespawn application. I also still have my recovery Partion untouched an it still can't find the Partion in the application.

Please help!

 

Installing AlienRespawn after a clean install is a shot in the dark. Some have been able to do this while many meet with the same issue you describe. While I cannot confirm this will help (I haven't tested it), you might want to give this a shot -

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/633540-tutorial-make-up-date-alienware-respawn-image.html

Good luck!

-

 

I then got some input from CGSDR before my thread got moved to a dead thread. . .

To which I responded. . .

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

HI.
hmm i wanted to know if alienrespawn updates the factory image time to time???i have a m18x and was updating alien respawn and noticed a small window opened which had 4 processes and the last one was i think 'updating image'.... Any clues?

Hello,
If i delete the recovery partition and install the factory image from the dvd which i created using alienrespawn will it create the recovery partition again????also i could see the recovery partition in my computer after my external hdd got stuck, when i restarted it the recovery partition disappered... It never use to show up but dunno y it did at that time..any guesses
Thanks in advance

 

So after re-installing Windows using the discs Alienware gave me ALienRespawn has left the building.

Is there a way for me to get it back?

(I know it is for recovery, I'm just asking.)

 

Hello, nall, If you chose to format the drive when you installed Windows, the recovery partition is gone.

 

I never formatted the drive, I just installed over an old Windows then deleted Windows.old using disc clean up.

But if it is gone, it's gone.

 

If you created recovery media right at the outset (eg. right after you unboxed your machine and set it up), I'm pretty sure you can use those disks/usb's to recover the "factory condition" even if you have formatted the drive. Respawn creates a factory image so it *should* restore those factory drives to that state - including the recovery partition.

I'm pretty sure I did the same thing with my old R2 - wiped all the partitions and then restored fully via recovery media.

 

quick question.

i just made an alienrespawn cd. I left my computer and when i went back it said that there was an error and i should reinsert the disc. i tried doing that but the same thing happened. I checked the disc and it was 6+gb full(which is the amount for the alien respawn) and the disc drive recognized it as alien respawn.

How do i verify if the alienrespawn disc was successfully made?

Thanks!

ps. i tried creating another disc and it stopped writing after 30%. activity log shows "failed or cancelled". i'm using philips double layer dvd+r 8.5gb

can anyone help? ill also try this on a usb stick when i get one this week.

 

singkuy - this could be what is causing your error...

Most double-layer (DL) DVD-R discs are really a RW (re-writable) and that will not work with Alien Respawn or most other imaging utilities. I have tried it with DVD-RW DL and BD-RW DL more than once and it always fails. If the disc has a RW logo on it, you need to start over again with a single-write DVD. These are not easy to find in DL version where I live. They are expensive, and apparently, not very popular because of the cost.

 

thanks mr. fox! that seems to be the case indeed. after inspecting the dvd's i did find an "rw" print on the top side. I bought an 8gb usb stick and it works with alien respawn just fine. I'll try and look for a single-write dvd and try it out also. BTW, can i use 2 pieces of single-write single layer(4.7gb) for respawn? (The usb i bought is a cheap brand so just as a fallback i still want the dvd respawn).

 

I'm glad to hear it's not something more unusual going on. That's good news. And yes, you can use multiple discs. When the first one is full, Alien Respawn will prompt for the next disc. In fact, it will do some calculations and tell you how many discs are needed before the disc burning process begins. You will most likely need 2 DVD, possibly a third. When I created my Respawn DVD set it took 2 discs.

 

I own a alienware m14x. I performed a clean installation of windows 7 with disc provided with system....
now after I downloaded and installed alienrespawn from the links provided in few threads..it does now detect my recovery partition though its there. i didn't touch the recovery partition, its intact.
alienrespawn says cannot detect any recovery partition on your system.. so i am not able to create any restore dvds/recovery media

 

Thanks mr. fox for the fast reply! i'll try and backup with 2 dvd r disics since the dual layer single write is hard to find. Hope that my dvd reader isn't the bad egg. . anyways thanks again! maybe you could also put it in the main post about the single write thing.

 

In some cases this simply doesn't work properly, even when using the Windows 7 disc that comes with your system. If you created backup media before the clean install, you might be able to successfully respawn using that media and it may detect the partition. If you do not have the respawn media, then the possibility of using Alien Respawn are slim. Given that you still have the partition with the files still present, there might be something in one of these threads that you can use...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/632931-cannot-restore-recovery-partition.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/602055-forgot-make-alienrespawn-disk.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/633540-tutorial-make-up-date-alienware-respawn-image.html

 

hey guys! sorry i dont know if this has been asked already but here it goes:

I bought a m14x 2nd hand and the person i got it from dint do a clean install. When i go to alienware respawn and click restore and then there is an option to restore on previous date adn there it says it will be restored to factory state.. If i choose this option, will it factory reset with all drivers comand center etc? or will i need to do the installing of all drivers again?
thanks!

 

Restoring to the factory state will do exactly that. All drivers etc will be "as it was" when it was built. If you do go ahead, it would be advisable to then check that you have all the latest versions of those drivers for your system from Dell Drivers & Downloads.

 

Thank you! thats exactly wht i wanted to know!

 

I havent seen this method of using the factory restore posted, but I also have a question.

My recovery partition is still there, and using imagex I was able to restore the computer to factory settings. Now knowing that it is possible, is there a way I can get the option to show up prior to windows loading? Would it have to do with the MBR.

Right now my recovery partition is set to active, and the system boots fine, just without the respawn option.

Any help would be great.

Now for anyone who wants to do a factory restore can. First you need to unhide the recovery partition so it will be assigned a drive letter.

Next you will need to download imagex, which I searched forever for and ended up having to download a 1.7GB file from microsoft just to get a 540 kb file. Once I extraced that I just placed the imagex file on the root directory of the recovery partition.

Now reboot and start up the repair windows boot option.

From there open command prompt.

then you need to figure out which drive letter is the recovery partition and which one is the windows partition.

once you do that simply type:

imagex /apply x:\dell\image\factory.wim 1 y:\

x=the drive letter of the recovery partition
y=the drive letter of the windows partition

the path may be different for everyone, so check as to where the factory.wim file is stored on the recovery partition.

After that you are all set, it will do the work for you.

Only thing I noticed is some of my program folders were left in the program files folder and I just deleted the folders because those programs will not work after doing this.

I hope this helped someone and if anyone can answer my question as to how to get the respawn option back. It's obvious that it's capable to do a factory restore, but if there's an easier way then I would like to know.

 

I don't know if this was mentioned yet somewhere in this thread (it isn't added to the initial post anyway, which was edited not too long ago), but I think I know what gives the error message some users encounter when trying to restore to an SSD.

Restoring an image to a smaller HDD might give problems if the data on the HDD from which was made the backup did not have all the data on the beginning of the HDD (or at least had data put somewhere on the original HDD at a location over the capacity of the SSD).
Best thing to prevent this from happening is using some kind of defragmenter or other tool to place everything to the beginning of the HDD.

Sorry if I'm totally incorrect, but I think this is a solution worth considering since some people did have the issue while others didn't (and obviously everyone has a different HDD mapping.)

 

I just got my system today and wanted to create a recovery disk. I opened up AlienRespawn and began the process. Everything seemed to have worked well, but at the Verifying disk stage (@ 92%) it ejects the disk and gives me an error message stating it can't finish and asks for a blank disk to try again. I am using an 8.5GB Memorex DVD+R DL disk. When I insert the disk, Windows recognizes it as Recovery and states it's 6.29 GB in size. Is this disk good? Anyway for me to check if it's good? Or should I try again and pray I don't waste another disk (they aren't cheap)?

EDIT:

I resolved my issue. Just re-ran AlienRespawn and used another disk. Finished without any problems. Now my issue is I mixed the disks up, lol. They are both the same exact size. I'll just keep them both.

 

So I just received my R3 today, and the first thing I did when I got it setup was attempt to run AR. I noticed something funny about my setup process, the fact that no Alienware customization occurred after the initial setup was complete. Upon further investigation I found that AR was not even installed on my machine. The only thing installed was CC. I did verify that the recovery partition did indeed still exist, so I went to download AR from the website. First I ran through the normal AR download procedure, which ran the file checker. It failed saying that my system did not have the Windows Recovery loaded. I then downloaded the app without using the checker, and got the same error when trying to run it. At this point for whatever reason I can not load AR to create my recovery media. I am using the system restore feature from boot (F8, windows recovery) in hopes that it will restore my system back to factory and all the necessary files will be there.

I should not that my system was purchased through the outlet, so I am not sure if that has anything to do with AR not working.

Has anyone run into this, and if so is there a solution to my issue, i.e. can I load AR or will I need to create an image of my system with something like Acronis or Ghost?

 

Hi,

I come to the same problem with my Alienware M18x refurbished model. I will appreciate it to have solution or alternative to this short coming.

Lugui

 

Once a drive has had its partitions deleted and a fresh Windows installation on a clean drive has been performed, there is no way to get AlienRespawn back again. It cannot be installed, although if the original recovery partition is present it is sometimes possible to reactivate it using links available in several posts in the forum. Please review the first 10 posts in this thread.

You're not really missing anything special. There are numerous free utilities that you can use to create a drive restore image, and most of those options are more robust and more flexible than AlienRespawn.

If you want to spend money on Acronis or Ghost, they work great as well. So do Macrium Reflect and Nero's drive imaging program. They all have a lot of nice features.

 

This confuses me. I just performed a clean install from the Windows 7 disk and Resource disk, as I was installing an SSD as my primary boot device. Once installed, there was no recovery partition. I dl-ed DSL Check and then installed Respawn Basic, and it created a recovery partition for me. I was then able to create Respawn Basic recovery disks.

I understand from reading this whole thread and the one that I got the links to Dell Datasafe in order to do this, that this solution doesn't always seem to work for everyone for some unknown reason, but what you're saying in this post is that it's impossible. How did it work for me, then? Not trying to be smart, I'm honestly asking. It's strange that similar systems seem to have such widely varied experiences from person to person...

 

Weird. Maybe Dell tweaked the software or something to allow install without the recovery partition.... but from my experiences, once you have deleted the recovery partition the only way to re-install was from booting from recovery media that was made via respawn/datasafe BEFORE you wiped the recovery partition.

Normally, respawn requires that the original recovery partition be in tact to re-install the software. You can recover the partition (if deleted) by using the recovery media created above but i reckon you must be a "first" for reinstalling it WITHOUT using recovery media, using solely a windows 7 disc/resource media, to a blank drive with NO recovery partition to start with.

I'm just wondering wether your freshly created recovery media is in fact an image of how the machine shipped to you or wether its just an image of your new install......the only way to find out would be to boot from it and see if its your original factory configuration....if you fancy testing it out!

 

I just did the process less than a week ago. DSLCheck looked for a recovery partition on a drive where one never existed and it refused to allow Respawn to be installed. I wiped it and then I cloned the recovery partition from the original drive to the SSD, reinstalled Windows after that, and once Windows was installed in the partition adjacent to the recovery partition, DSLCheck allowed me to install AlienRespawn after installing Windows.

Was this a never before used SSD, or one that you previously cloned from the factory HDD and then later decided to do a clean install? I'm guessing the recovery partition was already there, but it was hidden from view. Unless you manually deleted all partitions in the advanced options during Windows setup and installed Windows to a drive consisting of 100% unallocated space, the partition was still present and accounted for. But, that's a good thing in the end, since you still have Respawn as an option.

Tip: If you use an AlienRespawn recovery disc or USB thumb drive, it will create the recovery partition on a new drive for you. A Windows 7 installation disc does not.

 

I wondered a bit about the Win7 install disk because I found right away I didn't need to "restore the look & feel". The Wall Paper & login screen etc were as factory, though I still had to load drivers Dell ODS & Command Center. But I'm wondering if that may be because of what Mr. Fox just brought up below...

Now you've got me curious, but I don't know if I'm up for restoring the system. I've made a lot of modifications to the OS already and was really hoping to finish tonight... The recovery partition on the SSD is smaller than the one on the stock disk though.

Yes, this ^^ is why I'm confised. I had no system recovery when Windows finished installing. But...

Hmmm, I was wondering about that this afternoon before I got back online.

The SSD was not pristine before I did the clean install, no. I had first experimented with using my AR backup to install factory state on the SSD. It seemed to run well, but there was some unexpected behavior, and the partition was offset wrong, so I said heck with it and decided I'd just rather clean install.

However, as you mention above, I blew all 3 partitions (reserved, recovery & OS) and completely reformatted before installing Windows. Is it possible that the system ran a fast format and that DSL recognised some data left on the SSD even after format? Even after I repartitioned the drive?

 

That's quite the mystery. I suppose anything is possible. We may never know exactly how it worked out this way, but at this point if everything is working well I would not worry about it and just enjoy the fact that you have AlienRespawn available. If you haven't already done so, I would make a Respawn USB thumb drive and set it aside in case you need it some day.