[NAME] I think backup and restore should work based upon this discussion: [URL] At least backup and restore is worth a try because the only other alternative if it does not work, is reinstalling all the apps and reconfiguring the system.
Here's the SITUATION I'm remotely helping a friend who is 700km away with their new XPS 8940 computer that was delivered on April 22. When I connected via Quick Assist to check out what had been delivered I noticed the 2TB 3.5" SATA and SATA DVD R/W drives that were included on the order were both missing. Only the 256GB M.2 "OS" drive was visible and working. I was able to walk him through booting into the BIOS where we confirmed they were not present on any of the SATA connectors. I then had him open the case and show me the inside using a Webcam connected to his laptop and confirmed they are both there and both appeared to be connected via SATA cables to the motherboard and the power cables appeared connected to the power supply. After calling support an SR# was created and DELL is assuming the power supply needs replacing. The included "onsite service" is being rescheduled week to week (now 3x). COVID is obviously causing delays and Support Centers in India are certainly struggling with their huge COVID crisis. In the meanwhile my friend is making do with the 256GB M.2 SSD and external USB3 drives. Here's' the QUESTION: If the computer need to be replaced by DELL with another XPS 8940 with the SAME hardware specs (and working parts) could we use a back up his current 256GB M.2 SSD using Macrium, Paragon HDM, etc. to restore the backup to the M.2 Drive in the replacement system? I doubt that Windows 10 activation will complain as they both share the same OEM license. I'm MORE concerned with the installed Dell support apps and whether they would complain about finding themselves on a new system (new ServiceTag, Express Service Code, etc..). Or do those utilities just get whatever info is stored on the MB and adapt accordingly? We've asked this question twice via email to the Technical Support persons (you never get the same one) but the answers we get suggest they're not really understanding the question. IF my friend can backup and restore a full hard disk image to a replacement computer it will avoid wasting many hours spent installing apps and configuring everything (he's a photographer using Adobe Creative Cloud etc..). So ... what would happen if we restored a full backup (all partitions etc..) to an identical but different system? (similar to swapping the M.2 from one system into the other). Sorry for the long story and thank you for any answers Russell  
HELP with Defective XPS 8940