Windows 10: What size and type of USB should I use for a recovery drive?

So I had a pretty big scare a few minutes ago. My brand new machine which I basically only use for the web and no one else has access to, appeared to be stuck in a boot loop. Well, it ended up being just that the power key was stuck. The experience has motivated me to make a recovery as I'm not so sure if I could use my mac to do so. This is my first windows machine in a long time. So is 8 gigs big enough? Does it matter if it's 2.o0 or 3.0? Should I just do a recovery or is there a way to just back up the whole thing? If there is I am assuming I would need a 256 gig USB as that us the size of my hard drive.But like I said I basically live in the cloud so anything I download goes to google one or drive whatever and the settings are easily reset so IDK. Any and all input is welcome and TIA for any suggestions and or tips or links and advice. Oh, and can I make a recovery drive from either my phone and mac if something happens before I get the stick?

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:)

 

Windows 10 recovery USB - which size???

Not even that. What creating a recovery drive does (if you select 'include system files') is to construct the files required to clean install Windows. If this is made on an OEM install these file will include the OEM custom apps and drivers - effectively a 'factory reset' drive. It is extracting an install image from your existing system files that takes the time.

The steps in making a recovery drive are shown in this tutorial...

Create Recovery Drive in Windows 10 | Tutorials

• first you choose whether or not to include system files (step 5 in tutorial)
• next the recovery drive files are constructed (this can take a long time if you include system files)
• only after that is complete will you be asked which usb to use (step 6 in tutorial). At this point you will be told how large a usb you need.

Without system files 512 Mb is sufficient. Including system files it will be just over 4GB.

At which step did you get the error? If you were not asked which usb to use then it was the construction of the system files that failed, nothing to do with what usb you had.

 

How to reformat USB Recovery Drive

Part of the commands and results were missing from the image.

Open adminstrative command prompt and type or copy and paste:
diskpart
list disk
select disk #
(replace # with the disk number for the flash drive)
attributes disk clear readonly
exit


If the above steps work then you are set.
If the above steps fail then view this link for additional troubleshooting steps:
How to Format Read-only USB Drive Successfully?

 

How to reformat USB Recovery Drive

Thanks again for helping. Yes, I've found and tried those instructions prior to posting. Nothing seems to work. It is ridiculous that Windows basically trashes a perfectly good USB stick when it creates a recovery disk. Their should be a way to clear it off so you can use it again but I guess not. Probably going to just give up and toss it....they are cheap enough these days.