Windows 10: About to create a recovery drive, maybe

I have what may well be a naff question: i hope you'll bear with me. *Smile
I see that a USB is mentioned with 512 MB capacity, and also that any existing files will be erased on installation of the recovery files. Most USB sticks are way more capacious than that, so I'm wondering, if having recovery on my smallest stick (15GB) will make it unavailable for other use. Am I actually stupidly missing something?

:)

 

Recovery Drive Fail : Create a recovery drive fails in windows 10

I've been experiencing the same issue creating a recovery USB. I initially created a recovery disc after purchase of my Acer laptop with Windows 10 and after upgrading to the Creator's update fall edition, I thought to create a new recovery drive. Now,
since I tried to use the same USB, I am left with no recovery drive at all since the USB was formatted in the process. I've tried going back to the previous version of Windows and using a restore point returning to before the Creator's update with no luck
creating a drive. The system wouldn't even restore to the restore point I had created, but instead deleted it. Although I am having no problems with Windows, I feel cheated that I can't create a recovery USB for future use. Is this Microsoft's way of making
me purchase recovery media?

 

Recovery Drive Fail : Create a recovery drive fails in windows 10

Big thanks to all of you guys,

I have been facing the same problem.

would like to add that I have tried two steps, which seem to have worked for me, and managed to create a USB recovery drive for my WIndows 10.

My Usb drive stick is a 16 GB one.

First Step, as mentioned by "1-Prop" (quote below), I too have mistakenly set the "hard drive sleep time to 0 minutes" in my "power options", so I simply set it to "never" (for both options, when on battery and when plugged in).

Second Step, I have opened the location on my C:\ drive where the executable for the Create recovery disk tool is located, and I have "right-clicked" on the executable file and selected "Run as Administrator". On my computer the path for the executable is:
"c:\Windows\System32\RecoveryDrive.exe".

Those two steps seem to work for me, and I managed to boot my laptop (in my case, I am on Dell Alienware 15 R2 laptop), I had to press F12 (on the boot screen) and then selected to boot from my USB stick.

I hope this would help someone else too.

Best wishes & Good luck.

~Sam~

 

512MB is the requirement for the Recovery Boot Files..

Since it is best to include the system files, as part of the backup Media, a 15GB Stick may not be big enough...

But even so, after the Recovery media is created, any extra space on the stick, can be used..

 

Thanks! What Is a realistic size to include system files?

 

A recovery drive that includes system files can be used to repair a system or clean install. If made on an OEM installed system it should include the OEM's customisations as part of the 'system files' - effectively an OEM 'factory reset'.

The system files are in compressed form, so on an x64 system it asks for an 'at least 8GB' USB (it will only need 'at least 4GB' for x86). Whatever the size of the USB you use, being formatted to Fat32 it will never be formatted to more than 32GB. The rest of the space will be 'lost' because Windows can only use the first partition on a USB flash drive.

I'm making one now on a 'plain-vanilla' Windows 10 Home 1607 (x64) including the system files. I'll report the actual size shortly.

Edit: Takes its time, doesn't it? I had to go out so left it running. When I got back...

 

If you are only going to have the barebones OS (ie no apps etc) on the recovery drive, there is no real advantage of doing this over using a standard installation drive created by Media Creation Tool which will easily fit on an 8GB drive and have plenty of space to export the currently installed 3rd party drivers (just a precaution) to same drive.

The only real plus of a recovery drive is it saves you the download time (and cost perhaps) of using the media creation tool, so is a touch more convenient. The downside is that they need a bigger usb - should fit on 16GB though, but more importantly, you have to recreate it after any build upgrade.

I always upgrade by downloading latest iso, so I always have it available for a reinstall anyway.

 

Hi,

IMHO using MR Free as a safety net is by far a better policy than relying on a recovery stick or MS backup for that matter.

Cheers, *Wink

 

Yes, you can never have enough backups - and a system image (Macrium Reflect, or whatever) is your best way to recover from a disaster as if nothing had happened.

The Recovery Drive has it's place too. For many OEMs these days it's the method of choice to make their 'Factory Reset' media. HP, for example...

HP PCs - Creating and Using a Microsoft Recovery USB Drive (Windows 10) | HP® Customer Support

 

Hi,

In my case (Fujitsu Esprimo P956) that would throw me back to W10 build 10240. LOL.

I do see you point though.

Cheers, *Wink

 

Yes, seems common practice with OEMs (even on new systems) to stick with an older factory image and let you have the pain of an upgrade at first boot. HP and Lenovo out of the box, for example...
Why would a new Laptop have an upgraded version of Windows 10?