Windows 10: Windows 10 recovery failure - no installed versions and USB recovery fails

Hey team, I'm helping a friend move his windows 10 installation to a new m.2 hard drive, and was following the instructions here https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-create-a-recovery-drive-for-reinstalling/58df9c7d-84de-4652-9952-8bac34abc6c5 .I created the recovery USB drive, started the recovery process but it failed with no error code mid-recovery. Now, whenever I turn the PC on without the USB drive in, I get a "no operating system detected" error.When trying to boot or recover from the USB, it fails every time.I can create a new recovery drive from anothe

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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.

 

Installing Drivers in Recovery M4 SSD

I can't seem to figure out how to install drivers so that can copy my system image to new laptop hard drive. I went as far as to install a new inactivated windows 7 onto the hard drive so I know it works, but when I point recovery at C:\Windows\system32\drivers\disk.sys, I got an error something along the lines of "not relevant to system hardware" (or something like that I forget the exact wording).

I can list the drive in diskpart, and I made sure it is not excluded for copying the image, but after 3 days of fiddling, I still can't get it to work. Where is the driver that I need for recovery to be able to install an image to the new hard drive? I checked crucial website, but they don't seem to list drivers for M4. I assume that since I was able to install a fresh inactivated Windows 7 from a startup disk that the driver I need would be somewhere in that system so maybe I'm just pointing recovery at the wrong file?

 

Recovery drive from USB

Hello,teddyboyfromoz

Thanks for raising your concerns in Microsoft Community.

Creating a recovery drive on a USB can be a helpful step to have a backup option in case of emergencies or system failures. Let's address your concerns:

• Warning about erasing files:
  
  

When you create a recovery drive using the method you described, the USB drive will indeed be formatted, erasing all the existing files on it. The warning is there to inform you about this fact. However, this process only affects the USB drive you selected for creating the recovery drive, not your internal drive or any other external drives. So, if you have any important files on the USB drive, make sure to back them up to another location before proceeding with the recovery drive creation.

• Risk of data loss due to USB failure:
  
  

If the USB drive you used to create the recovery drive fails, it might prevent you from using the recovery drive to restore your system in the future. However, it does not mean that your files are erased forever from your computer's internal drive or your external Seagate backup drive. The recovery drive is just an additional option to help you repair or reinstall Windows in case of major system issues.



To ensure better data redundancy and protection against a single point of failure, it's recommended to have multiple backup options. In your case, you already have an external backup drive (Seagate), which is a great step for safeguarding your important files.



In summary, creating a recovery drive won't affect your internal drive or Seagate external backup drive. It only formats the USB drive selected for the recovery drive creation. If the USB drive fails in the future, you can still rely on your Seagate backup to restore your important files.

Hope it helps! If any update, welcome to share with us.

Best regards,



Chandy |Microsoft Community Support Specialist