Windows 10: Did my recovery disk finish or not?

So my hard drive is getting very wonky, though still working, and I bought a new one. The laptop has Win 10; it originally came with Win 8 but I got the upgrade when it first came out. I've kept it updated except for the very newest one.


Today I set up a recovery disk to use on the new hard drive. 16 Gig Thumb drive. Got to the point of "copying files" and it was taking forever. So I went about my business and let it hum. I did check the box about copying system files.


When I came back, and hit a key to waken the screen the computer wasn't in sleep, just the screen I see a message from Recovery Disk saying "Cancelling" and then it goes away.


So do I or do I not have a complete recovery disk. Here's what the E drive says is on it. It has 5.16 GB of data on it.


Folder EFI date modified 5/31/2020 at 11:30 that's when I started

Folder Sources date modified the same

file: reagent.xml 8/25/19 XML Document.


The EFI folder has two folders in it


Boot same date and time with a file in it called bootx64.efi, dated 3/10/20 size 1492 KB

Microsoft same date and time.


Microsoft has 2 folders

Boot again today same time

Recovery same time


Boot in this subfolder has 131 files, 40 folders, 24.5 MB --on disk 25.0 MB

Recovery is empty


The "sources" folder has 4 files, 5.11 GB total. Two are 1 kb txt and html files. One is called Reconstruct WIM at 3,899,640 KB I feel like I'm reporting COVID cases here and the other Reconstruct WIM2 at 929,460


SO based on the file sizes is this an incomplete recovery disk? If so, should I just try again? If it won't copy over a complete recovery disk, how can I get all of Windows over to the new hard drive. I won't be able to just hook the two up because when the new is in, the old is out and unconnected. Is there a way to get your windows onto a new hard drive without using a recovery disk? This computer IS registered with Microsoft and does not have bitlocker turned on.


Happy to provide more info. I'd do screen shots but because I have two monitors they come out itty bitty.


Thanks Hope I get an answer before the current hard drive just gives up the ghost. I keep getting messages from Dell Assist that there is a hardware problem with the hard drive and it does hang a lot. The computer is WAY out of warranty.


I'm not worried about my data. It is all safely in OneDrive


Thanks, and stay healthy

:)

 

Recovery Disks

Hi Ron,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community. Appreciate your interest in using Windows 10.

In order to create a recovery disk, follow the steps below:

• Type “Recovery” in search box and press Enter.
• Select the option to create a recovery disc and follow the prompts to create a recovery disc.

Hope the information is helpful. Feel free to
write to us for any other assistance with Windows, we’ll be glad to assist you.

 

XP disk versus Laptop Recovery Disk?

Recovery disks are just OEM copies of XP disks. Ie, they can have things such as the companys logo within the files.

If you got a normal XP disk you cant use it. The only way your dads copy of XP will activate is if your normal XP copy is OEM, unless you use the recovery disk.

I always use the recovery disks. Works just like a normal copy *Smile . Plus with the recovery disks you dont need the serial key as I *think* its embedded into the files on the disk. Just need to activate windows once on the net *Wink .

 

Windows 10 recovery drive disks

Hi,

I realize that you are facing issues with the Windows Backup Recovery disks on your PC. I will try to help you with this issue.

• 
  What is the error message you get with the disks?
  

Suggest you to insert those disks in a different PC to check if you are able to access your data.

Keep us informed to help you further.

Thank you.