Hi Linda092,

Did you receive discs for Windows 7 and the Dell drivers?

Hi Osprey,

I received discs for Drivers, but not for Win7.  The instructions in the box emphasized that I should create my own.  I see that I have a hidden recovery partition, but i want bootable recovery disks in case of hard drive failure or corruption.

My drive says it is dvd/cd + - rw  and I used a bunch of memorex dvd and cd disks, all with the - but got the same result each time.  Is that supposed to work?  I can boot the system with old disks (linux) but can't use the discs that Win7 is making for me on my new computer.

Thanks for taking the time to help!  I really appreciate it :-)

Linda,

Wow, I wish Dell would get their act together. I recently got this same model and was sent a Windows 7 disc (it's a DVD). I know others who bought this system got OS media. Now they expect you to download and burn it to a disc? Geez...

Ok, so let's see if we can figure this out. Did you download a file from Dell or are you using a file on your computer? Can you tell me the file size and extension?

No, I didn't download any files, I went through the steps included in the computer box.

Start - Programs - Dell Datasafe Local Backup - Create Recovery Data.  I followed the prompts, it burned successfully (so it said) and then i rebooted to test the disc.  It doesn't work.

I also tried this way:  Start - Control Panel - Backup and Restore - Create a system repair disk.  Same thing: it seems to burn successfully, but when I boot from it, it doesn't work.

I received discs for Drivers, but not for Win7.  The instructions in the box emphasized that I should create my own.  I see that I have a hidden recovery partition, but i want bootable recovery disks in case of hard drive failure or corruption.

That's strange. My XPS 8100 is about two months old. I didn't get the Win 7 disc either but they sent me one (next day shipping) for free. You are entitled to one set of system discs at no charge. The only thing I have been able to come up with is that it depends on who packs the box! Another difference is that on my system I do not have Dell Data Safe Local. On line only....... I gave up trying to understand Dell. Other than the backup/recovery discs - how do you like the system?

Jeff

P.S. My bootable disc burned just fine. Sorry I don't have the answer. Osprey probably will.

That procedure will make a recovery disc that will allow you to restore the Dell drive image. But if you would like to order a Windows 7 disc, go here. I believe there is a nominal charge.

Now, as for the discs you are creating, when you view these in Windows Explorer, do you see files on the disc?

I think you are right, Jeff, it depends on who packs the box.

I did post to Dell and asked for the discs.  They balked a bit, but today I got an email saying they shipped them.  So I'm happy about that, but still don't like that I wasn't able to create my own.

They sytem is nice, I like it a lot!  I especially like how quiet it is. Hopefully it doesn't run too hot.  I swapped out the stock graphics card and replaced it with my old ati 4800, and things look great so far. 

Way to go, Linda.

I just find it baffling why they won't just ship the discs in the first place.