Create Recovery Drive in Windows 10  

Brink said:

A recovery disk is to only be able to use advanced startup options, and not able to install Windows. If you had an OEM recovery partition that you were able to Back up system files to the recovery drive, then it a recovery drive could also be used to do a factory reset.

A Windows installation USB created from a Windows 10 ISO is able to both install Windows and boot to advanced boot options. The larger size would be from if it was both a 32-bit and 64-bit USB.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

it's actually the recovery with system files that appears to be larger than the windows installation media tool.

so following the link you provided in an earlier reply for creating an installation media tool is good enough to boot and install windows right?

thanks for your help.

When I tried to include system files using a 32GB FAT32 USB key no joy -- MiniTool told me 30.33GB was all I could get.
I tried a 64GB key and sure enough it creates a 32.00GB FAT32 partition even tho only 15.68GB used. Maybe just me.

kl25 said:

hi all,

i'm having the same issue.

I was actually able to create a recovery drive with system files first time around and selected the option to remove recovery partition to free up disk space. I then purchased a smaller size usb drive and wanted to use that as a recovery drive instead. this is when I am getting the error message.

now my question is, can I simply copy and paste the files from the previous usb recovery drive to this new usb drive? if not, then can I somehow re partition the free disk space on my laptop to a recovery partition, and go from there?

I also downloaded the installation media tool from microsoft's website and apparently that's the same thing as a recovery drive? but I noticed the size of this installation media tool is smaller than the recovery drive.

---- How can I use my recovery drive now with Win 10 ????
Does any here know how to create a windows 10 recovery drive. My Windows 8.1 had a recovery drive partition indir the 1RB dirve that I have on Drive C: now as my main drive for my Windows 10. It still have all the same 4 different 30MB partitions but they are not being used. Thanks for any help with this problem. Thanks for your time.. Cliff M.

Brink said:

Hello Cliff, :)

The tutorial on the first page can show you how to create a recovery drive.

You would just need to boot from the recovery drive to use it.

... but I was or am thinking that it still has my old win 1.8 of it, or did my Win 10 upgrade put something new into that recovery drive........ that I have on the partitioned C: HHD that I have now?
Thanks, Cliff M.

Quick Question Shawn, every time I see instructions on making a recovery drive it seems to always want the user to use his USB drive to do so. Well I can do that on my old computer, but when my computer boots it never scans any usb port, it will look 1st for my cd/dvd drive then go to looking at hard drive. booting from usb drive is not an option.

So all these instructions for making recovery or fresh installs for win 10 all seem to just tell everyone to use their usb drive. Are all these options available for users with DVD drives as well, or only work on a usb memory stick??

Brink said:

Hey Mike, :)

Yeah, the recovery drive can only be created on a USB flash drive since it could use up a large amount of space if able to include a copy of your system files on it.

If you like, you could create a Windows 10 DVD using an ISO file though.

If you have UEFI, then if the "Fast Boot" and "Secure Boot" settings are enabled in UEFI, it can prevent you from being able to easily boot from a USB flash.

You could also boot to Advanced Startup Options, and select Use a Device to be able to select to boot from a USB.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

Well I already have Windows 10 iso burned on a dvd, also have a windows 10 Repair disk burned on a dvd. For recovery I always use Acronis recovery dvd, which has 4 different complete backups of 4 Windows 10 installations from different dates which are all on my 2nd drive. I keep making backups of Win 10 about every week depending on updates installed, so I can go back to a certain date of my windows 10 of my choice. THIS has actually saved my butt more than once.

I am not sure about any UEFI setting in my bios Would actually have to look for it. This is a HP Pavilion from 2009 that came with Vista.