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Proper way to replace a failed disk drive?

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TI 2014 build 6673
Windows 7 Pro SP1 64 bit

The "C" drive on my Dell Optiplex 3010 is failing and the new drive is supposed to arrive by FedEx some time today.

I've been doing regular "Partition" backups on the drive, so I have a 3-day-old full backup and two more recent incremental backups. I included the unnamed OEM partition and the "Recovery" partition in the backups.

I don't know how the new drive will be partitioned or formatted, if at all.

Booting from the Acronis recovery CD, what's the best way to get the new drive to look just like the old one?

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Did you create full disk mode backups?

If you did, that's the best type of backup. You would first install the replacement drive into the PC. You would boot from the ATI bootable Rescue Media and restore the entire disk backup, including MBR and selecting the Disk Signature option. You might have to use the Add New Disk function first, though I've never had to do that when I've restored to a fresh disk.

As I said, it's a partition backup. I gather that since I was careful to include the OEM and Recovery partitions, there's no fundamental difference from a disk mode backup.

There may be. A full disk mode backup includes everything. A partition backup where you select individual partitions may not be exactly the same, depending upon your system. That's why we MVPs recommend that users create full disk mode backups, as they are the most comprehensive, simplest and safest backup.

Since I was still waiting for the new drive to arrive by FedEx, the old drive was still not quite dead, and I had lots of space left on the backup drive, I did a disk backup, just to be certain.

The new drive's here, I've booted the recovery CD, and verified the backup.

Now that I've had a look at the actual recovery program, the process isn't as mysterious as I'd led myself to believe.

By the way, there's something to be said for having a warranty! I'd been building my own systems since the late 1980s, using OEM components with little or no warranty coverage. This one is a Dell box, and all I had to do was enter the failure code from their disk test tool into a form on their Web site yesterday morning, and my new drive arrived today.

Yep, I've had similar good service from Dell for failed components. In fact, twice I've restored full ATI disk images to brand new unformatted replacement drives from Dell.