BIOS Update and System Image Question

radiowaves said:

Do BIOS updates save anything important to your hard drive that should be captured in a system image? I used to think that only the BIOS chip was updated, but now with BIOS recover options I’m not sure anymore. Where is the BIOS recovery data saved?

BIOS updates and recovery are saved on the BIOS chip. Some motherboards, like Gigabyte, may have two BIOS chips.
NOTHING of the BIOS is saved to the hard drive(s).

On a side note: Most motherboard BIOSes have profiles also. Usually 6-8 profiles so you can save sets of BIOS settings.

radiowaves said:

Do BIOS updates save anything important to your hard drive that should be captured in a system image? I used to think that only the BIOS chip was updated, but now with BIOS recover options I’m not sure anymore. Where is the BIOS recovery data saved?

Ghot said:

BIOS updates and recovery are saved on the BIOS chip.... NOTHING of the BIOS is saved to the hard drive(s).

Actually for some modern systems that is not entirely true. Dell for example can store a bios recovery file in the EFI partition. But as you'd need to back up the EFI partition anyway when making a system image that could restore Windows, then there should be nothing further you need to be aware of.

Dell said:

Where is the BIOS Recovery File?

1. For those computers that support BIOS recovery, the BIOS recovery file will already be on the computers Hard Drive (hard drive) in the ESP/EFI Partition.
2. If the BIOS Recovery file is NOT found on the hard drive, it could be that:
   
   1. Your hard drive has been replaced since it left the factory.
   2. You have changed your BIOS from UEFI to Legacy boot.
   3. You have reimaged your computer since receiving it from the factory.
   4. You have reinstalled the computer with a new operating system and formatted the hard drive.
   
   
3. If your computer is in a working state, you can add the BIOS Recovery file back to the hard drive, by reflashing the BIOS. (Even if you are putting the same revision back on, that it is flashed to.) Remember that for this to work the BIOS has to be set to UEFI and the operating system must be at least Windows 7 64 bit or a more recent revision.

Dell Support | How to Recover the BIOS on a Dell Computer or Tablet

HP do the same, though they don't document where the recovery file is stored. The EFI partition would be the only logical place as that is the only partition accessible by rudimentary bios functions.

HP said:

Recover the BIOS using a key press combination
Many HP computers have an emergency BIOS recovery feature that allows you to recover and install the last known good version of the BIOS from the hard drive, as long as the hard drive remains functional. This emergency recovery feature is separate from the BIOS and is designed to work in the event of a catastrophic BIOS failure.

Desktop: https://support.hp.com/us-en/documen...820-3438449-16
Laptop: https://support.hp.com/us-en/documen...413-2337994-16

DELLs and HPs are just pretend computers.

radiowaves said:

If you restore a system image that was taken before a BIOS update was done, will you lose any recovery information for that BIOS version? I use Macrium Reflect and always image all partitions.

Yes, you would. But the EFI partition in your image may well have a previous bios recovery file in it. If so, in the unlikely event that you needed to recover your bios then it would recover to an earlier version.