How to create a complete restore dvd.

Greetings all. Low hours pilot here.

I'm new to uSWin10 and before I blow up the used PC I bought to experiment with, I would like to know how to fix it.

The OS license was obtained from the PC vendor. The uSW10Pro64 code was downloaded from uS and installed on the PC's empty disk. It was activated using a long hexadecimal sequence found on the license sticker. All is well at this point.

I want simulate a complete drive failure and see if I can restore my system. I intend on replacing the currently working hard drive with an identical, but empty, drive and see how it goes. Just how do I do this?

I don't want to just restore the OS, I want to restore the currently functioning OS with all it's user files etc. (The PC has a DVD writer but there is only one drive. Dell Optiplex 7010.)

Thanks.

You need a second drive to hold an image. Could be an external. Use Macrium Free. It's pretty simple to do.

fatkatie said:

I want simulate a complete drive failure and see if I can restore my system.

Well done for thinking about this now, few take the trouble to find out how to back up and restore their system and regret not doing so when it's too late.


You could use DVDs to create a system image that will restore your OS with all the user files and installed apps, but you'll need a lot of DVDs. The C:\Windows folder alone is typically at least 20GB. Also, writing to DVD is slow. It would be better to use a usb drive, either a memory stick or preferably a usb external hard drive.

There is a built-in system imaging in Windows 10, but it tends to be unreliable. It is now a deprecated feature and no longer in development. It may be removed in future versions of Windows 10. A better method is to use Macrium Reflect Free.

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect | Tutorials

Thanks for the info. I opened up the bios menu and it does allow for a usb device. So, I'll pick up a usb stick and give it a go. I see it's $14 for a 64G stick and another $10 for the SSD I could install (7010 has a bay ready for one). Going with the stick for now. Thanks again.

Bear in mind that even with compression a Macrium image will be about 60% to 70% of the space used by your system. Look in 'Settings > System > Storage' to see how much that is on your PC.

You will need to make a Macrium recovery boot usb, but the files for that are only a few hundred MB, almost any usb stick will do.

Thanks Bree. The stick would have to be large enough to contain all the user files too. Right?

Perhaps I should start another thread... I'm at Amazon looking at flash drives. A lot of people have issues with these things - too hot, deteriorate. fail, ... (A lot of infant mortality. I just read one where he's happy that only 1 of the 5 sticks were bad.)

Can anyone recommend a good stick? I'd pay for it. I'm still shooting for 64G, usb2. (Maybe reliability is in numbers alone - bay a few, not just one.)

fatkatie said:

Thanks Bree. The stick would have to be large enough to contain all the user files too. Right?

Perhaps I should start another thread... I'm at Amazon looking at flash drives. A lot of people have issues with these things - too hot, deteriorate. fail, ... (A lot of infant mortality. I just read one where he's happy that only 1 of the 5 sticks were bad.)

Can anyone recommend a good stick? I'd pay for it. I'm still shooting for 64G, usb2. (Maybe reliability is in numbers alone - bay a few, not just one.)

I do not think money is the issue here. These devices have become more reliable over the years, but if the device is going to fail, it will simple as that. So with that sentiment, best to have at least 2 for reliability and make 2 copies of everything. Also if your system has USB 3 capability, purchase USB 3 flash drives. Much faster than USB 2.

Further I admire your desire to test a recovery, but think about this, you attempt the recovery on your live system and it FAILS (for what ever reason your system will nolonger boot). Your system now is a boat anchor. Its best to have a replaceable disk for testing this environment. Before testing you should replace your good running system disk with an empty one. This simulates a real hard disk recovery situation yet protects your real live system.

fatkatie said:

Thanks Bree. The stick would have to be large enough to contain all the user files too. Right?

A Macrium image will contain all the partitions required to recreate your working Windows, your user flies would be in the C: partition and be included in the system image.

I'm at Amazon looking at flash drives. A lot of people have issues with these things - too hot, deteriorate. fail, ... (A lot of infant mortality. I just read one where he's happy that only 1 of the 5 sticks were bad.)

This is what you get if you buy unbranded flash drives. There's a lot of rubbish and fakes out there. I've never had a usb stick die (yet), but then I stick to known brands like SanDisk, Lexar, PNY and Toshiba - and I only buy from big reputable suppliers.