Laptop - Backup and Restore freezes - TI 10.0

I've been having a problem with my laptop where both the restore and backup freeze after it has started. I did NOT have any problems with my previous laptop, but the replacement laptop has had issues. Here's my story, details, notes...

I got a virus and decided to just restore a backup I had on an external USB drive. With about 40% completed on the restore, it locks-up. If I run it again right after it might get 25% and lock again and pretty consistently it only gets a few mins into the restore and hangs from that point on. I tried MANY different scenarios... different cables, drives and USB ports... all the same results. One time I ran the restore several times back to back and noticed my laptop would not turn on unless I let it sit for a while. It occurred to me this might be a heat-related issue. I opened the laptop and blasted it with compressed air, though it wasn't too dusty. I let it sit and when both the laptop was cool and the room temperature low... I folded the laptop flat, propped it up to expose the bottom and put a table fan on high pointing directly to the bottom of the laptop. It worked... and noticed it DID make a difference if the room was warm or cool, having a fan on the laptop and starting the restore/backup when the laptop had not been run for several hours.

This seem very obvious to me this was a heating issue with the laptop. I have a Dell Precision M6400 and got Dell Tech Support on the line. The first person agreed that if all those things I was doing was making a difference then it was a heat issue. The did the default stuff... upgraded BIOS and other device drivers, which didn't help. The next guy said the laptop was out of warranty. My argument was... this would have happened if I ran the restore right after getting the replacement laptop, but I didn't need to. They ran full diagnostics on the laptop and everything checked out fine. However, the system diagnostics do NOT test USB transfers. They have basically told me tuff luck, though I'm not done with them yet. However, I thought I best check here before raising hell with Dell and have my facts straight and checked all resources.

The version I'm running is 10.0 (build 4,942) and I think the boot disk was created from the same build. I see there is a "Netbook" version of TI, which I don't see the need for a different version between desktop and notebook/laptop... unless there is some sort of issue with laptops and the software. It seems that the USB transfer on my laptop gets so hot that is locks-up. Does the Netbook version of TI regulate the transfers to help this along as it's common? I know laptops can have heat-related issues. Has anyone heard of similar issues with laptops? Can anyone confidently say that upgrading to the latest build would help?

Note: Though the majority of my attempts/failures have been doing the restore it will freeze on backups as well. It doesn't seem to be as consistent though. However, the latest backup I attempted would not go completely after several attempts and I gave up.

Thanks much and my apologies for the long story.

Sean