Windows 10 Recovery disk -- how often?

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  1. Posts : 26
    Windows 10 x64 build 10240
       #1

    Windows 10 Recovery disk -- how often?


    In Windows 10, once you've made a recovery disk how often (if at all) should you update it?
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  2. Posts : 7,254
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
       #2

    Just keep it as it is. Its purpose is to help bring Windows back to a stable state similar to a clean install. If you keep adding stuff to it, it adds variables which could cause issues.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 4,131
    Windows 3.1 to Windows 11
       #3

    If you are using the "Create a Recovery Drive" feature in Windows 10 Control Panel

    To keep the recovery drive up to date - recreate the recovery drive after large updates..

    Windows 10 Recovery drives are created to include any windows updates that are present on the Host
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  4. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #4

    Kyhi said:
    If you are using the "Create a Recovery Drive" feature in Windows 10 Control Panel

    To keep the recovery drive up to date - recreate the recovery drive after large updates..

    Windows 10 Recovery drives are created to include any windows updates that are present on the Host
    This is a good plan - minor additional point, when you create a recovery drive it excludes any updates in done in the last 30 days, so if you have to use it because of a recent update problem, you do not get caught in a catch 22 situation i.e. you cannot recover because the recovery drive contains the update causing you to fail.
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  5. Posts : 26
    Windows 10 x64 build 10240
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Thanks,all, for the input. (That last point about the 30 days is particularly enlightening.) At this point I'm surmising that the best course of action is (providing there has been no major update in the previous 30 days) to update it once ever four months or so.

    Now another question. Just having created the disk. I got what many sites say to watch out for: the message the the disk could not be created. The uniform advice is, either to use a larger usb drive (mine is 8GB) or to uncheck the "backup" box. At that a strange thing happens. The drive that, with the backup, took nearly ten minutes to make and took up all of the 8GB with the backup, took only seconds to make and is less than 400MB. This would suggest that the backup takes 7.6GB, which is absurd.

    Question: Is (a bit less than) 400MB size normal for a recorvery disk?
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  6. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #6

    Phrixos said:
    Thanks,all, for the input. (That last point about the 30 days is particularly enlightening.) At this point I'm surmising that the best course of action is (providing there has been no major update in the previous 30 days) to update it once ever four months or so.

    Now another question. Just having created the disk. I got what many sites say to watch out for: the message the the disk could not be created. The uniform advice is, either to use a larger usb drive (mine is 8GB) or to uncheck the "backup" box. At that a strange thing happens. The drive that, with the backup, took nearly ten minutes to make and took up all of the 8GB with the backup, took only seconds to make and is less than 400MB. This would suggest that the backup takes 7.6GB, which is absurd.

    Question: Is (a bit less than) 400MB size normal for a recorvery disk?
    That partition only contains software to recreate the recovery partition from the compressed winsnxs folders in windows 10, unlike the older versions which had a separate compressed copy of the OS.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 26
    Windows 10 x64 build 10240
    Thread Starter
       #7

    cereberus said:
    That partition only contains software to recreate the recovery partition from the compressed winsnxs folders in windows 10, unlike the older versions which had a separate compressed copy of the OS.
    Um... so you're saying I haven't actually created a Recovery disk?
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #8

    Phrixos said:
    Thanks,all, for the input. (That last point about the 30 days is particularly enlightening.) At this point I'm surmising that the best course of action is (providing there has been no major update in the previous 30 days) to update it once ever four months or so.

    Now another question. Just having created the disk. I got what many sites say to watch out for: the message the the disk could not be created. The uniform advice is, either to use a larger usb drive (mine is 8GB) or to uncheck the "backup" box. At that a strange thing happens. The drive that, with the backup, took nearly ten minutes to make and took up all of the 8GB with the backup, took only seconds to make and is less than 400MB. This would suggest that the backup takes 7.6GB, which is absurd.

    Question: Is (a bit less than) 400MB size normal for a recorvery disk?
    Phrixos said:
    Um... so you're saying I haven't actually created a Recovery disk?
    Not as such.

    To create one in case hard disk fails etc

    control panel, recovery, create recovery drive, and select to copy system files.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 26
    Windows 10 x64 build 10240
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Will do. Thanks.

    You know, I've been at computers for twenty years now. At this stage I've even built seven or eight--and Microsoft still keeps on pulling the rug out from underneath me (and, of course, so many others like me). Of course, I understand the frenetic march of technology, but far too much of the changes seem to be change purely for Change's sake. Gimmickry. Whatever happened to those sound words, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

    So much for my little rant, but I'm not getting any younger (and Apple is, by degrees, looking that much more attractive).
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 4,131
    Windows 3.1 to Windows 11
       #10

    without Checking Copy System Files - you are creating a WinRE Boot Disk (400MB + -)
    Checking Copy System Files - You are creating Bare Metal Reset Recovery Media (4GB ++)

    On an OEM PC a 8GB or more Recovery is normal
      My Computer


 

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