Factory restore on 9350/9550 with NVMe?

New to NVMe, and I'm having a problem restoring/recovering a new 9350 back to the factory install.

The 9350 came from the Outlet and unlike a brand new retail model I also ordered for a client, the Outlet 9350 included a USB Media Recovery drive (as did an Outlet 9550).

It seems that none of the normal recovery tools (UEFI or booting directly from the recovery USB drive) sees the PM951 drive (or can't find the recovery image) because (I'm guessing) it's NVMe.

I've watched videos showing the recovery process on a 9350, but it just doesn't work on this model. I've even tried creating a folder with the RSTe drivers and choosing to "Load a Driver" during the recovery process to see the drive, but while the drivers seemingly load, the recovery cannot find a recovery image.

So, what do people do to recover a 9350 (or 9550) with a NVMe SSD back to factory?

One other thing I am uncertain about. It's said I have to load a Samsung 950PRO driver to install one. But isn't it just NVMe, just like the PM951? What driver does Windows 10 use for the PM951 and why wouldn't it work on the 950PRO?

Thanks for clarifying for me.

 

Dell forgot to include NVMe drivers on the recovery image. So it won't work.

You can add them to a win10 ISO using NTlite https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjSo8C19bvLAhVJPhQKHdqZCiMQFggxMAM&url=http://www.win-raid.com/t2f23-Intel-RST-RSTe-Drivers-newest-v-WHQL-v-WHQL.html&usg=AFQjCNFtShOUzvBaTEu6xABECXge3P5Z2Q&sig2=7Cxk8gB3aQ9LJTlqw28XUg&bvm=bv.116636494,d.bGs

Or grab one of the ISO's from my sig as it will work on the 9350 as well.

 

Or just download a windows 10 image from microsoft:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

It has NVME drivers built in (not raid).

 

So, these USB Recovery Drives CAME with the XPS 9350. Why should I have to finagle a NVMe driver on it to make it work? Shouldn't it work already?

Plus, to compound the issue, the USB Recovery drives that Dell includes are WRITE PROTECTED so one cannot modify/add anything to them.

Please dear God...don't make me have to deal with Dell support!

 

It's not as much about reinstalling Windows...I have Win10 Bld 1511 USB installers that do work, but I want a factory restore...one that puts it back the way it came without having to download all the drivers and reinstall everything. Isn't that what "recovery" is?

 

That's what recovery is. Are you set for RAID? By default dell doesn't support ACHI which means they don't support NVME...

Did you look at the drive itself to even see if it has a recovery partition?

I've never messed with a factory restore because why would I ever want to go back to dell's bloated install?

You may be calling dell tech support for this one.

 

I should be using the term "restore", not recovery. By default, these 9350's come set to RAID mode in the BIOS, but Dell certainly does support AHCI by default...it's the basic SATA interface spec that has been around more than RAID. Most systems with one drive default to AHCI mode, unless you want to run RSTe for whatever reason.

What confused me is, the BIOS doesn't really address the NVMe interface. There is a SATA configuration, but NVMe isn't SATA so those settings shouldn't apply to the NVMe port. And NVMe is not AHCI...SSD's are either AHCI or NVMe. NVMe is not AHCI. So when I set the drive configuration for ATA (old), AHCI, or RAID, why isn't there a choice for "NVMe"?

These are sort of rhetorical questions...I really don't expect you to answer...just putting it out to the universe to explain.

And, yes, there is a recovery partition on the drive (the last partition, about 11GB). I don't know what's on it because Disk Configuration won't let me assign a drive letter to look at it.

I guess my brain says if Dell supplies a recovery media with a PC, it should work. Isn't that the point?