Installed SSD into Dell XPS8700, need W8.1 OEM media........

Hi

I have recently purchased a Dell XPS8700 which came with a 2Tb drive and a 32Gb SSD drive used for Cache'ing. This booted and loaded fine, but after a lot of reading and discussing the pros/cons, decided to purchase and install a Intel 530 120Gb SSD. I also used a cloning tool to clone the original C drive to the new SSD drive which really worked very well. I used this configuration for about 1.5 months , then after I changed a system setting, enable processors and use all memory (which I have done on W7 on work Latitude), the machine would no longer boot. Using the Dell Recovery functionality I could not get the machine to reboot, so thought I would try the Recovery DVD sent with the machine. After a number of retries of different options including using a set of recovery discs, I phone Dell who suggested that they send me a Windows 8.1 OEM disc.....well what I thought Dell understood and agreed to, I received yet another Recovery Disc (no 3).

So after all this my only option to get my machine working again was to completely recover, but as I now had (according to Dell) a non standard machine, I could not recover the boot drive only (SSD), but had to recover back to the 2Tb drive, which killed all my data, as it recreated the partitions, much to my irritation and nearly a divorce in the house!

I have since recovered "most" of my data/mail and the machine is back to SSD as the boot drive and 2Tb as data drive over many hours. Dell keep telling me they cannot supply a Windows 8.1 OEM disc (not a Red Recovery Media disc) as they "dont do that anymore".

So my question is this, how do I obtain or create a windows recovery media that will enable me to recover to my SSD boot drive if required, from a critical Windows failure without having to reinstall back to factory default.

In further discussions I have had with Dell, I have been told that many of their customers have had issues with Windows 8.1. If this is an issue, why is Dell using Windows 8.1 if it is unstable, or why is it on the market, or incompatible with Dell componenets or drivers, and why am I restricted to not being able to install a SSD drive of choice without my putting my data at risk because I cannot install the operating system (which by the way I am licenced to use) into an alternate machine configuration?

I use Windows 7 Pro on a Dell Latitude 6430u at work and it works very well, hence my purchasing another Dell for home.

Not a happy Dell or Microsoft customer at this point in time!

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