Windows 10: Create System Image of External Drive

My mother's Dell 5566 laptop died mid-use last week - pretty sure it's the mobo. She hasn't backed up recently so she wants to do that before she takes it in to get fixed I'm working on it with her remotely. Got her a SATA cable to check it using another laptop and it's reading fine.


My question - how the hell do I back up this drive? I want the equivalent of a system image so I have the ability to copy it to a brand new drive in case something happens when the mobo gets replaced, but I can't figure out how to do that on a peripheral drive being run as external storage. I'm aware of how to do this to the drive running windows. Google searches only show me how to do this, not what I'm looking for.


Thanks

:)

 

Unable to Create system image on external USB Drive

It appears since one of the recent updates I can no longer create system images to external USB drives. This is a critical issues for me as my surface book only has one internal drive and external USB backups is the best option for system images. I have
been using the Windows 7 backup application for years now and want that option back.

 

Capacity of external system image hard drive

In creating a system image, what capacity hard drive the backup must be saved on?
Should the capacity of the external hard drive equal or exceed that of the source drive?

In the event of a system crash, how is the operating system restored with the system image created?

 

restore system image from command prompt, drive d: not seen by system restore

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



To be able to help you with the appropriate troubleshooting steps, please reply with the following details:

• Are you trying to restore the system image or create a system image?
  
• Are you able to see the external drive in File Explorer?
  
• Could you please briefly explain the procedure that you are following to initiate a system image restore?
  

In the meantime, I suggest you to refer the articles on
How to: Create a system image in Windows 10 and

How to restore a Windows 10 system image to an existing or larger storage device created by Andre Da Costa.



Please reply with the detailed information, to help you in a better way.



Regards,

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator