Windows 10 recovery USB - which size???

I tried to not use Windows 10 for as long as possible but now had to buy a new laptop with Windows 10.
On all previous desk- and laptops I used Acronis to make disc images. This has saved me very often.
I installed latest Acronis on this laptop too.
Acronis is set so that it is possible to start Acronis before Windows.

I had an issue last week where Windows would not start. It tried to repair itself but that wouldn't work either.
I was able to start my Acronis but it got stuck.
Luckily I had made an Acronis recovery USB and this got everything working again (by returning to previous image).

I decided to better be safe than sorry and decided to make a Windows recovery USB too.
The USB is 16GB.
Windows started making the recovery USB. It took more than an hour (Acronis does this job in some 15 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!). And then at the end I got the message that the recovery USB could not be made.
Nothing else!!!!!
On the USB is only a little free space left. This makes me think that I need more than 16GB because I have installed a lot of other programs.

Isn't Windows capable of checking if the free space is big enough before working for an hour????
Can't Windows explain why it isn't working????

"This makes me think that I need more than 16GB because I have installed a lot of other programs."

The recovery drive doesn't backup your programs, just the mfr's recovery partition. My HP recommended 32gb drive when I created it. 32's are cheap enough to try, should work.

Amazone said:

It took more than an hour (Acronis does this job in some 15 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!). And then at the end I got the message that the recovery USB could not be made.
Nothing else!!!!!

...Isn't Windows capable of checking if the free space is big enough before working for an hour????

mrgeek said:

The recovery drive doesn't backup your programs, just the mfr's recovery partition...

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 the end I got the message that the recovery USB could not be made.

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.

I have never liked the Windows built-in recovery drive creator. I prefer to make my own. Most of the time 8 GB is enough, 16 GB is guaranteed to be enough. Create a standard Windows 10 installation USB flash drive using option #1:
Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10 | Tutorials

Just let the Media Creation Tool create it. If you use Rufus, you take the chance of getting the settings wrong for your computer.

Then, on the flash drive you created, create a folder called Drivers. You can call it whatever you like, but it's for Drivers, so I just call it Drivers! Then in a Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin) run the following command:

dism /online /export-driver /destination:D:\Drivers

You might have to change the D: drive letter if your USB flash drive gets a different letter. Now you have a recovery drive that you can use to repair your Windows installation with, do a clean install of Windows with, and if you need to manually install any drivers that Windows 10 does not install automatically, they will be in the Drivers folder on the USB flash drive. The only thing that you do not get is the applications that the manufacturer of your computer includes. Most of the time, if you really want them, you can get them from the manufacturer's support website for your computer.

Another trick that I like to do with my recovery drive is to replace the \sources\boot.wim file with the boot.wim file from Kyhi's recovery tools:
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

This makes the USB flash drive boot into Kyhi's recovery tools. Then, if I want the standard Windows 10 setup/recovery interface, I just run setup.exe from the flash drive while booted into Kyhi's recovery tools.

Thx for the help.
It still is unclear to me what I should do.
Bree speaks of making a Recovery drive. Navy speaks of a bootable USB to install Windows.

I do not want to make a clean install of Windows. If I get into problems and can't start I would like to have this USB so that I can start the system again and then let the Acronis that is on the laptop return to a previous Image.

Amazone said:

so that I can start the system again and then let the Acronis that is on the laptop return to a previous Image.

There is one flaw in the plan. If the drive on the laptop gets corrupted, it is likely that the Acronis on that same drive will get corrupted as well. You need to have the tools available to you to boot and restore the computer entirely from external sources without relying upon anything stored on the internal drive.

The USB flash drive created by Acronis will allow you to boot the computer from the USB flash drive and restore an image saved on an external drive back to the internal drive, restoring the computer to the same state it was in when the image was created. This a common "recovery drive" scenario.

The Windows 10 installation USB flash drive will allow you to boot the computer from the USB flash and repair a Windows 10 boot problems if the Windows 10 installation itself is not corrupted (when only the system partition that the computer boots from gets corrupted). It can also be used if Windows will still boot to repair a Windows installation that develops problems. It can also be used to do a clean install of Windows 10 if it is ever desired.

My "recovery drive" is both. It boots into an environment that I can run Macrium Reflect from to restore a system image if desired. It also contains all the Windows 10 setup files required to either do a repair of Windows or do a clean install of Windows, including installing device drivers that Windows 10 will not install on it's own.

My recovery drive is really handy because it is actually a USB 3.0 external hard drive with two partitions on it. The first partition is FAT32 and contains my "recovery drive" that the computer boots from. The second partition is NTFS and contains the system image file created by Macrium Reflect. Most of my computers also have 2 internal drives. The 2nd internal drive is set up the same way as my external USB 3.0 hard drive - they have a FAT32 "recovery drive" the computer can boot from, and a system image saved on an NTFS partition. If the primary drive crashes, I can use the boot override menu (usually F12) to boot into the recovery partition on the 2nd hard drive and restore the image to the primary drive and be back up and running in less than 10 minutes.

Thank you NavyLCDR.
I have followed your instructions in post 4.
I created a bootable USB flash drive and needed only 4,7GB.
I also downloaded the drivers on the stick.
So now I will be able to get Windows back working and should be able to put back my Acronis images from external drive - maybe after first re-installing Acronis.

My "recovery drive" is both. It boots into an environment that I can run Macrium Reflect from to restore a system image if desired. It also contains all the Windows 10 setup files required to either do a repair of Windows or do a clean install of Windows, including installing device drivers that Windows 10 will not install on it's own.

I did not know Macrium. Have discovered it now. Seems very good. Friends sometimes ask me to work on their PC's and I either make them buy Acronis or install the free Paragon. Will test macrium on my pc to see how it works. Do you use the free version?
My laptop has 2 discs - the C disk is SSD.
My Acronis is installed on my C drive.
Can I install Macrium free on my data disc so that - after recovering my laptop with the USB I just made - I can restore the C partition with Macrium and after that use Acronis to return to the latest image??

Another trick that I like to do with my recovery drive is to replace the \sources\boot.wim file with the boot.wim file from Kyhi's recovery tools:
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

This I do not understand. Also I think I do not need it if I do all as described before.
What is Kyhi's recovery tools? Do I have to install that first??

Amazone said:

What is Kyhi's recovery tools? Do I have to install that first??

Kyhi's bootable rescue drive is a Windows environment with a multitude of useful tools already installed. Just put it on a usb and boot from it.

Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

Amazone said:

Can I install Macrium free on my data disc so that - after recovering my laptop with the USB I just made - I can restore the C partition with Macrium and after that use Acronis to return to the latest image??

There would be no need to use Acronis to return to the latest image. Macrium Reflect is an imaging program, just like Acronis is. The easiest way to do a restore of an image is to boot into a USB flash drive created by whatever program you are using, either Macrium Reflect or Acronis. That flash drive should boot right into that particular program, then you just restore the entire disk image.

Or, you can also boot into something like Kyhi's recovery tools which boots into a mini-Windows environment and it has Macrium Reflect installed as a program, and I think it also has Acronis installed as a program (not sure about that). You can also use that to restore the image back to the computer.

The USB flash drive created by Acronis will allow you to boot the computer from the USB flash drive and restore an image saved on an external drive back to the internal drive

I haven't looked at Acronis for a while - but I expect it will let you store the image on the usb stick as well, if you wish.