Win10: How to set up external HDD to be used for system image backups

Thanks to all for input. I used the DOWNLOAD NOW from Macrium site. They would have included some PE components had I not clicked their options button and selected Macrium only. Regarding use of the external HDD for purposes other than backup. I agree I should only use it for system images. Regarding how often to do backups. I signed up with Backblaze to handle everything except system images. My HDD has very low volatility so infrequent backups are adequate. I will likely have more questions as time goes on. This forum is a great place for help. Thanks.

To WHYME: Creating and maintaining system images and doing restores is new to me. I know these things exist but always had a tech person handling it. Now I'm doing it myself. Never heard of a Windows Pre-Installation Environment. If I don't download these components would I be able to do a complete restore if it became necessary?

Blitzkow said:

To WHYME: Creating and maintaining system images and doing restores is new to me. I know these things exist but always had a tech person handling it. Now I'm doing it myself. Never heard of a Windows Pre-Installation Environment. If I don't download these components would I be able to do a complete restore if it became necessary?

If your PC hard drive becomes unbootable you will need a recovery disc in order to boot your PC and restore one of your backup system images.

You can use Macrium Reflect to create this recovery disk on a DVD, USB or stick or the USB drive you have your backups on.

If you don't have the Microsoft PE downloaded from the original installation of Macrium Reflect it will download it when you make the recovery disk.

Creating a recovery disk is essential to cover a worst case scenario.

Agree WHYME and NUS. Will make recovery medium ASAP.

The Macrium Reflect people are telling me Microsoft does not allow a Win10 OS to boot from an external USB connected HDD. Other general sources on the web indicate just the opposite. Which is correct?

Blitzkow said:

...telling me Microsoft does not allow a Win10 OS to boot from an external USB connected HDD...

Microsoft doesn't make it easy to create a bootable external USB HDD, but it is possible (I've done it). You need to create a second small partition on the HDD, format it as Fat32 and mark it as Active (so it will boot on legacy BIOS machines). Then just copy all the files and folders from your bootable USB stick to the partition you have created.

The bootable USB I copied to mine was a standard Windows 10 recovery drive I had made previously, but I don't see why it wouldn't work equally well with a Macrium-created one.

Bree said:

The bootable USB I copied to mine was a standard Windows 10 recovery drive I had made previously, but I don't see why it wouldn't work equally well with a Macrium-created one.

It does work equally as well with Macrium Reflect rescue drive. And Kyhi's Recovery tools from this forum.

NavyLCDR. MACRIUM provides two options. Clone an HDD or image copy. How do I decide which is right for my situation? My situation as I see it: if my internal HDD becomes unusable, I want to use my rescue DVD to direct Win10 to boot from another USB connected HDD where I will have all my software and files stored in a folder. In the beginning, I only plan to store a single backup instance which I will replace once/week. In the event my original HDD can't be salvaged, I want to copy the single backup I have to the replacement internal HDD and return to normal operating mode. I assume you are a USN LCDR either active or retired or veteran. I am a veteran ABH3 ship's co USS Independence 65-68.