Where to get AlienRespawn (dell datasafe) software

Thanks, that helps! (as well as me finding the 10 page Alien respawn thread and reading until my eyes swim..)

 

I put all my backup images on a external HHD, 640GB.

 

MS WHS here takes care of all my backup needs/storeage for 4 systems, weekly full backups and nightly incrimental, WHS backed up weekly to cloud....

 

Is it the consensus here that the full version of Alien Respawn is worth the value, or is another solution better?

 

I just thought of something......

Regarding using recovery discs created at 1st boot.....when i got mine, it shipped with 8.692 Dell gpu drivers so thats how my recovery image is set.

Now, since i have updated with the latest vbios from Dell, IF I chose to restore via recovery media, I will restore to 8.692 and hence, endless BSOD due to incompatability.

My question is:

Can I create ANOTHER set of recovery discs at a stage when I have 8.763 or latter installed so as to avoid a BSOD scenario IF I chose to restore this way?

(It came across my mind only because I was thinking about the scenario of selling my system with recovery's I created...if the next owner used them, they would get BSOD all over the place due to the fact the vbios was flashed to the latest version and any Dell driver prior to 8.763 results in BSOD.

What dya reckon Batboy?

(maybe i hould have asked this here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...datasafe-software-respawn-faq-discussion.html - feel free to move my post!

 

Since BatBoy did not move your post, I will try to answer your query here. So, bear with me as I go off topic a bit.

Sorry, you cannot create another set of recovery discs containing updated drivers.

The factory image, on which AlienRespawn Recovery Media is based, cannot be updated and will remain as it is. Any software or any latest driver you install would not affect and will not update the Recovery partition. Having said that, the Recovery partition will still contain 8.692 Dell GPU drivers, even though you have installed latest video driver on your C Drive. Sorry to say this.

Assuming that you want to sell your laptop, the next owner will have 2 options:

1. Risky method but can be performed: The next owner can use the AlienRespawn Recovery Media you created to restore the laptop to factory configuration. As you said, BSOD is expected. Then, the next owner probably have to boot into safe mode to install the latest video driver, or perform the method you just used, to bring back a working system.

2. Safer method: The next owner must not use the AlienRespawn Recovery Media you created. Instead, you use backup/disk image tool (Acronis, Norton Ghost, etc) to create a stable image of your current Windows installation. Then, the next owner can use the image to restore the laptop to stable configuration. In other words, you should stop using AlienRespawn. It is saddening, but BSOD can be avoided this way.

steviejones133, the choice is yours.

 

Thanks Alvin - I kinda thought that this would be the case scenario. Didnt think I wuold be able to recreate another set of discs via AWR with the updated driver.

So, basically, my AWR recovery discs that I HAVE created, are as good to use as a chocolate fireguard - obviously, if I DO use them, Im just gonna BSOD all over the shop.

Given this is my scenario, and probably a fair few others too, I appreciate that something like Acronis is the only way to recreate a stable "return point" (basically, upon my next clean install, I would perform a full system image after all drivers etc and then stash that as my recovery media)

Wouldnt you think that Dell would "cough up" for the price of this software - I mean its not cheap and Im really not that happy about the fact that my recovery media is useless through no fault of my own.

Is there a way to use windows to create a system image? (system repair disc option? - is that the same thing as recovery media?)

TIA
Steve.

 

I too share your predicament, as my laptop was originally shipped with outdated AMD vBIOS. It appears that for newer Alienware laptops shipped with newer AMD vBIOS, there is no problem of using AlienRespawn Recovery Media. For anyone like you and me, backup software like Acronis is the best bet, as you said.

Steve, when you encountered BSOD, what did you do to restore your laptop? Booting into safe mode? I would know how you solved this problem.

Dell Alienware is a corporate company, with profit as its main goal, similar to any other OEM manufacturers, like HP, Acer, and so on. True, it is not your fault that the recovery media is rendered useless. What can you do? I believe that Dell Technical Support is unable to help us, since the factory image was created just before our laptops were shipped out of factory. Probably, they would (implicitly) suggest that if you want to use AlienRespawn Recovery Media, you have to purchase newer M17x R2 or M17x R3. Of course, we would not do that, since we do not have infinite cash on hard.

You once opened a thread about Dell Alienware not updating the drivers. Again, I am just as frustrated as you. Once they have released a set of stable drivers for any Dell or Alienware computers, they would stop issuing newer driver, even though manufacturers like Intel, nVidia and AMD keep on producing newer drivers. Plus, other than Alienware computers, they have to manage Inspiron, XPS, Studio XPS, Vostro and so on. Thus, attention cannot be given exclusively to Alienware computers, even though Alienware computers are the ones slapped with higher price tags.

Only if there are many users are complaining that the current Dell drivers are causing major instability, then they would issue newer drivers. Of course, chance of this happening is practically nil. For us, don't wait for newer drivers from Dell anymore and just go ahead installing latest drivers from Intel, nVidia and AMD. There should not any problems. Should there is, just revert to stock Dell drivers.

I am not quite sure about this, so correct me if I am wrong. The system repair disc from Control Panel is used to boot up the computers that cannot be booted up normally.

Just after Alienware Boot Screen after restarting your computer, press F8 and you will eventually be shown a menu, containing Startup Repair, System Restore, Windows Memory Diagnostic and so on, all of these being used to assist booting up a computer. In short, once booting into this disc, the system repair disc from Control Panel will display this very same menu.

What I am trying to say is that this system repair disc is not the same thing as recovery media. System repair disc will help you to boot into Windows. On the other hand, Acronis Recovery Media is more powerful than System repair disc, in that not only it helps you to boot into Windows, but also it restores the computer to the stable state you want.

In summary, if you have Acronis Recovery Media for example, you do not need to have system repair disc.

Steve, hope this helps!

 

Thanks for the reply Alvin.

Regarding using my recovery media - I havent!.....it was something that crossed my mind the other day simply because of someone who I was helping out here. They were installing Vbios and AMD drivers and I just recall all the crap about BSOD's when using Dell drivers 8.692

Obviously the new official vbios was released with the Dell 8.763 drivers and was not compatable with previous Dell drivers.

I recalled that my system shipped with 8.692's and the penny dropped about using recovery media that I created on day one of ownership - they would restore my system and all drivers INCLUDING 8.692 and the "permanent" vbios flash would BSOD with these drivers.

So, I got to thinking about ways around it. Certainly, using my recovery discs was a no-no. I do not even want to try using them now!

Again, I recalled this thread and thought the following:

If, on a clean install, with recovery partition in tact (as mine still is), wether or not I would be able to re-install the AWR software and THEN create another set of recovery discs.....I dont know if the software will allow for this as, like you said, it remembers the date that they were created in the first instance even after a few months. (I did re-install AWR on one of my clean installs successfully and went into AWR and saw it had the date of creation still spot on)

Obviously, the "recovery PARTITION" is slightly different as its the "factory image" so using that to recover would BSOD too....

I just thought if i could reload the AWR software, I would go to the option and create more discs AFTER updating the video drivers.

I could be getting this wrong but are you saying that the recovery media is burnt from the information on the recovery partition? - if so, that would explain the inability to do this.

I thought that the recovery media was created as a "snapshot" of the current configuration....hence why I thought...hmmmm, would it work?

I may get onto Dell, give them some ear-ache and see what gives.....I know the easiest solution would be to use a "paid" program like Acronis True Image but it grieves me to have to stump up the cash to buy it when I was quite happy with the AWR and my own recovery media!

 

The factory recovery image is created when your system is prepped. It is unique to your system. What this means is say you order Adobe Photoshop Elements or a 3 year for McAfee (yikes!), or Win7 Ultimate, then the factory image would include this. Whatever is pre-installed on your system is what the image has. This is why some folks go to create their emergency rescue USB stick and find it asks for a larger stick than others report.

With the basic version of Dell DataSafe Local / AlienRespawn, you cannot 'update' the recovery image. Even with the paid version I do not believe this is possible (cant confirm since I have not tried nor do I plan on it).

Your best option is to ghost the system or use Acronis.

 

I understand this, regarding the "factory image" - it cant be altered FULL STOP.

However, regarding the option to create recovery media/USB from within AWR, does this option merely create an exact image of whatever is on the recovery partition or does it image the current system configuration?

If its the former, then Im stuffed for using anything AWR related including using my initially created recovery media when I first turned on the system.

If its the latter, then my logic was thinking of updating the 8.692's to 8.763's and re-burning some discs or USB. Then I would be able to use recovery media but not restore from recovery partition.

(Obviously, I will NEVER be able to recover my system from the factory recovery partition successfully without BSOD unless I flashed my cards again with the old vbios before hand which I wouldnt be doing!!!!)
Was just trying to save some cash on purchasing Acronis LOL

 

Yes, I understand what you meant - to answer your question, no, you will not be able to modify/update/re-create the actual recovery image on the system. The emergency recovery media will always have the original factory image.

As for the BSOD - you sure? have you tried to recover?

 

I didnt mean the "factory" image on the system, I meant the image I created on the recovery discs....unless burning recovery media is just craeting an image of the factory partition...in which case, it cant be altered - just I thought I could burn media again in my mind.....with the 8.763 drivers.

Nah, I havent tried using the recovery media I created. I have performed several clean OS installs but obviously, they are done with Standard VGA video drivers.

I remember Brian (Erawneila) specifically stating that using the new vbios with any other Dell driver version before 8.763 would result in endless BSOD's.

So, as my media/recovery partition will be loaded with 8.692 and the latest Vbios, It would simply be a nightmare with BSOD all over the shop.

Unless I can reburn media with 8.763 by using AWR "create recovery" option, I may as well call my recovery discs beer mats and bin off AWR from my system completly and use Acronis - just dont like paying for it!

 

lol - we need to come up with standard verbage...

Yes, the recovery media created by AlienRespawn is your factory image.

Actually, and this is just a guess - but why couldn't a person just boot into safe mode after recovering, remove the AMD display driver (even use driver sweeper if need be), reboot normally and then install the 8.763 driver or whatever over the windows standard VGA driver which would have been auto-installed in safe mode after removing the previous AMD driver?

Granted its a bit much to try and explain this to a new AW user who may have purchased your system but you could always do this prior to selling.

BTW, apologies for not answering this the other day when you posted. (forgot to reply)

 

Hahaha - yeah. My whole reason for this line of enquiry was mainly related to a possible "new owner" and the problems they would face trying to use my recovery media!!! - I can see it now...."hey man, this computer you sold me is broken lol"
IF (and im not likely to atm) I sold my system, I would like to give the new owner the media I created but it will be useless in this scenario, so, to make things easier for a new owner, I would have to source another image creating software.....

Myself, I would be fine either doing a clean install or doing like you say and booting into safe mode and removing and updating the driver set but it would prove to be a bit of a bind for a newbie owner.......

Looks like Acronis, here I come......now the fun part (for me, anyway) is to have a moan to AW Tech/Dell about this....see if I can get anything to cover the costs

 

You can use the paid version of AlienRespawn to create a image of your current installation (with latest drivers), as BatBoy said, but this is not confirmed.

Then again, the price of premium version of AlienRespawn is, as you said, jacked up. If you really want to spend money, you are better off with Acronis. What to do? We have to live with it.

BatBoy

Glad to have you join in our discussion and obtain your input in this.

 

yeah, no worries. Sorry, been pulled in many directions these last several days.

 

BatBoy

You made a valid point about AlienRespawn Recovery Media. Each time we restore the system using AlienRespawn Recovery Media, we have to remove Crapafee. Yikes! It is contained in factory image and AlienRespawn Recovery Media.

 

Thank god my system didnt ship with McrapFEE installed....it was an "option" during configuration (for us in the UK) - dont know if it is an option for other countries but sure as heck glad I dont have to clean THAT mess up every time!

 

Acronis is a great app. I've used it a lot in the past. However, if you are cheap like me, there's a great freeware app called Eseaus Todo Backup Home. Like Acronis, it creates images of your full install and also clones hard drives. Take a look at it.

Free Backup Software for home users. Hard Drive System Backup and Restore in Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7.

 

For other countries, the buyer cannot remove Crapafee from the configuration. Lucky for you, Steve!

Probably, for the countries where consumers are very vocal about consumer's right, like UK for example, Dell Alienware is "forced" to implement Crapafee as an option for consumers to choose.

 

Nice one! - looks like that would do the job and do it free of charge!

Repped!

Alvin - Lucky me indeed! - I avoid ANYTHING Mcafee related....free trials, free downloads...free trial downloads - the whole shebang! LOL

(also repped for your excellent support on this subject!)

 

Hey all, i guess I'm like some of the souls here and will play tester.
I bought an M17 R2 off Craigs List with a single HDD, crossfire 4870's, 4 gig of ram, and no disks (all for $1200.00) i have also already updated to the latest BIOS and VBIOS.
I'm going to switch to dual SSD's in raid0, go to 8gig ram, and install Win7 pro.
Okay, I downloaded Alienspawn and am getting ready to create the disks now. Also have the new drivers downloaded from the dell site on a disc.
When i'm done with the whole mess, i'll write back with any problems or if everything went smooth. Also got a camera ready in case i need a screenshot.

 

Steve

Thanks again. I am trying to be helpful whenever I can.

navycopjoe

I have some questions here.
1. May I know what are you using AlienRespawn for? Is it to create AlienRespawn recovery media or to restore your laptop to factory state?
2. Your laptop is originally installed with a single hard disk. And, you want to replace it with RAID 0 of SSDs. Am I right?

 

I'm not familiar with AlienRespawn and was curious if you could use it to install the factory defaults onto a new drive?

For example: If ordered my m17x with a 750 GB HD, and wanted to install a 250 GB SSD, could I use AlienRespawn to restore the factory defaults onto my 250 GB SSD?

 

The quick reply is no,

SSD drives are best installed by a clean windows installation, and have the latest drivers from Dell down loaded and ready to install.

Search these forums you will find several setting up SSD topics, and perfroming a clean install, incuding driver order.


a longer reply, it is possbile to back and restore the image from the 750 GB drive to the SSD drive, but it takes some work, and you need to have the proper software to create the drive image. Moving a image from a 750 GB to a 250 GB drive has to be done right or the SSD drive will not perfrom properly as drive alignment has to be done right - which is done best by a clean windows install.

If you have the windows install disk, and the AW drivers disk, it really is not that hard to do the clean install.

If you did not get the AW Windows Install disk, call Dell and ask for it. they should be able to provide the media for you.

 

Thanks for the reply. It was more of a curiosity question.

 

Can someone please tell me if there is a link to download the respawn partition for an M17x-R1? The idiots at the Depot (Repair ) screwed up my laptop. After having VIDEO problems for a couple of weeks I decided to send it for repair completely unaware that it was going to come back to me worst than what it was. Like I said, other than the video problems the rest of my computer worked fine. I did two factory restoration prior of shipping it for "REPAIRS" so I knew that the HD were not the issue. When I got the laptop back my head nearly exploded after I realized that the moron that worked on it, removed one of my Hard drives. To make matters worse, they replaced it with a totally different HD and installed Windows 7 in the primary HD. They then installed a second HD but failed to format it so when I turned my laptop Windows 7 recognized only one. My original configuration was two 512 GB 7200 rpm in a raid 0 configuration. Now I had a 512GB 7200 rpm Seagate HD as the primary and a Toshiba 500GB as the secondary. He also forgot to configured the Bios so it would recognized the mess that he made and for me to at least be able to go into Windows. After I configured the Bios so that I could go into Windows I discovered that he did not installed a single driver on my system. I couldn't use my WIFI, and my two nVidia geforce 280 video card were awol. For a minute I thought that they removed them. As I opened my laptop to see if the cards were there I found out that the only thing holding my keyboard was the plastic control panel as it was missing all the screws. The video cards were not set properly. I removed them and re-installed them correctly and windows recognized them the second I turned the computer on. I know my story is long but I just want you guys to be aware and to do everything possible to have them send a technician to your homes for repair. Avoid the depot at all cost. I always had the technician come to my home but never in a million years could have I imagine that this was going to happen. I went from having a very nice laptop that experienced video issues for a week or so to a very expensive paper weight. Two weeks later I am still trying to get my laptop the way it was. After contacting dell about the mess that they created, they finally agree to replaced the hard drives. Once I received the HD I realized that they send me two 250GB drives. I spoke with a "Supervisor" and after a long and heated conversation he stated many times that his database showed that my computer was originally shipped with two 250GB HD and 4GB of RAM. He told me that if my computer came back from the depot with two 512 GB HD and 8GB of ram that I was ahead of the game and that I shouldn't be complaining. I swear, If that moron said that to me face to face , I'll be in prison right now. He also went as far as to tell me to call customer care because I didn't pay for the larger HD and extra RAM. As I spoke with him I went into their website and entered my service tag and clearly saw that my laptop was shipped with two 512GB HD and 8GB of ram. After about two hours I got nowhere with that idiot and was forced to end the call. An hour later I called again and finally spoke with a technician that actually did his job and after 3 minutes on hold , he came back and told me that I was right about the system configuration. The next day I received two identical 512 drives and was able to once again have my raid setup. The only thing that I am currently missing are the screws for the keyboard and the partition. Twice they send me screws and twice they shipped the wrong ones. I am hoping that someone could tell me where I can download it of get a DVD so I can restore it. I have the original windows 7 DVD and the drivers CD but I really like having the partition because it was an easy way to start fresh in a matter of minutes instead of having to re-install windows and the drivers. Once again, I am looking for a copy of the partition. I spoke with several technician and they all told me that once is gone they cannot reinstall it as it can only be done at the factory.

 

Why dont you just use the recovery media that I "assume" you would have created when you got the system?.....if you didnt do that important step, I think your pretty much out of luck in getting the recovery partition back on your new drives. Dell wont have a disc or download for YOUR recovery partition - it was specific to YOUR system - imagine how many downloads they would have for everyones "specific" factory configuration.

You can perform a clean install of Windows with what you have, but, because (in effect) the recovery partition went the same way as your old HDD's....the only way to get it back is by using the discs I mentioned...the ones YOU created. It will also only work on the SAME hardware config as what you had from the factory (not manufacturer-specific) so, as long as you have x2 500gb HDD's that you had ORIGINALLY etc etc etc....you should be good to go.

I just hope that you created that "recovery" media at the outset of ownership!

 

Unfortunately that was one of those things that I put aside to do another day and never got around to it. I saw in another post that the computer usually ship with a recovery DVD. I have the DVD's but is not the same as the original partition. It's just windows 7 in one DVD and the drivers/ application in the second DVD. I am still hoping to find another M17xR1 owner that made a DVD copy of that partition and is willing to let me download it. I know that the system is probably not the same as mine but If I can just get any M17xR1 partition in a DVD (Backup) I can just install it, replace or install the drivers that I need for my system and then create a backup of that partition in case my HD fails. Once again, I don't understand why they had to remove my HD and destroy my partition when the HD were working fine. My issues were video issues and not HD issues. I work on computers and I've never change a HD to fix a video problem.

 

All -
Please refrain from discussing the distribution of factory images. Forum rules do not permit this type of discussion.

----------------------------------------------

@azl205, if support damaged the structure of your hard drive or any other aspect of your system, you need to contact them and work with a supervisor to resolve the issue(s). This is your only option.

thanks.

 

There are few questions I would like to know since this is my first Alienware after all.

1. At first, Alien Respawn asks me to create a recovery disk. But M11X doesn't come with optical drive so I choose the option which make a recovery disk on USB drive. It takes 5gb on my 8gb USB (I called it "USB 1"). And here is my concern: If I copy those recovery files on "USB 1" to another 8gb USB (I call it "USB 2"), so when I want to recovery my M11x, is it possible to recovery by using "USB 2" or it must be "USB 1"?

2. I used a free software called Partition Wizard to divine my HDD into C: (OS driver - 50gb) D: and E: (~90gb each). I checked and saw that, beside those partitions, it also has 2 hidden partitions which named OEM and Recovery. So when I recovery using Alien Respawn, my HDD becomes one single drive like factory setting or still have 3 partitions?

3. Does my game save data remain after recovery?

 

abcxyz91
I will try to answer your questions to the best of my knowledge, but if I have said wrong, I hope that other users will post a more accurate answer.

1. It would be better to use AlienRespawn to create the recovery media directly on USB 2. My speculation is that it is not just the recovery files that matters, but the bootable files in USB 2 is important as well, for AlienRespawn to function. Transfering the files to USB 2 may not cause USB 2 to be a bootable media. I could be wrong on this.

2. Your five partitions (OEM, Recovery, C, D, E) should remain uncharged, after AlienRespawn restoration is completed. It should only restore files back to C Drive, aka Windows installation partition.

3. No, your game save data will be deleted. Bear in mind that the AlienRespawn restoration restores your computer back to original factory configuration, the state when you first received your M11x. Anything you subsequently added: software, games, documents and savegame will be erased. So, backup everything you subsequently added after you first received your computer. I am pretty sure that my answer to your Question 3 is correct.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask anymore if you still remain doubtful.

 

Well, today I tried to do a full factory reset and failed to even come close.

First off, my dell datasafe doesn't allow me to click on the factory restore option. I was able to click on it the first time, but when it rebooted to make the recovery, an error occurred which said winload.exe was corrupt on my computer. Since my windows 7 is OEM, I wasn't given a repair disk, which was why I downloaded one off the internet and installed it onto my USB drive and repaired the boot manager.

After doing so, when I returned back to my dell datasafe, I found out that now, I couldn't click on the factory restore option. I'm really frustrated and even skipped college trying my best to fix it and restore my beloved M15x back to the ''out of box'' state.

I even tried this link but was stuck in the part which said I had to get the imagex file from the amd64 folder after installing WAIP. I have to download an enormous file which couldn't guarantee anything. So I tried to search for that file alone and I found one but I'm not too sure if it's the right one or not. But still, I tried to do the recovery with that and it gave me this error ''the subsystem needed to support the image type is not present''.
Re: Unable to restore an Alienware M11x - Laptop General Hardware Forum - Laptop - Dell Community

If this is not the worst enough, I'm still getting the winload.exe corruption error every time I repair it. I don't know why, but pressing F8 during boot doesn't open the repair option on my comp even with the original windows 7 disk in the tray.
I'm waiting for some reply from you guys. That is if y'all have any suggestions. I believe you guys here have more knowledge than the entire dell tech support squadron put together.
By the way, if I want to reinstall windows 7 and leave Recovery drive intact, can I try to restore if after the new install?

One more thing, if anyone here has the imagex file from WAIP, please do share it with me. Any help is much appreciated

 

Discussion on AlienRespawn can now be found here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...k-drive-aftermarket-drive-alienrespawn-q.html

 

DSLCheck.exe didn't have a problem when I ran it.

I haven't done any partitions. Can anyone help? Many thanks.

 

This happen only IF you have delete the recovery drive, because AlienRespawn is just a plain system image/recovery creator program, so it need the recovery drive to create the system image, so did you accidentally delete it?

 

Nope. I did not do anything with the recovery drive. Could it be that I bought it refurbished? The recovery drive is there and I've never once touched it.