Create a system image not working for USB drive

I recently installed W10 on a new HDD, and also got a new USB flash drive for back up purposes. Both drives are 128GB in size, and the HDD has 37GB of its space used up for the W10 OS, and a few other bits and pieces. The USB drive is empty, and has been formatted for NTFS.

If I go to W10's create a system image section, it tells me that my USB drive is - "The drive is not a valid backup location". Unfortunately, it doesn't say anything more than that, so I don't understand why it doesn't like it.

Any help on this issue would be gratefully received - thanks a lot.

I posted the same question a while ago.
I was told that the system is looking for "hard drive" to do the backup.
Flash drive is not hard drive, I gather.
If I can find my thread, I'll return with it.

Thanks, I see. That's really unfortunate, because I told by other people (not on this forum) that it was possible to create a system image on a USB drive, and also to be able to boot from it. (That's why I bought the new flash drive.)

Do you know if this is a limitation of the tools inside W10, or a limitation of W10 itself? If it's a limitation of W10's tools, then I wonder if I have to buy a 3rd party piece of software to allow me to do this? Thanks.

I'm pretty sure the W10 "Backup/Restore" feature came from W7 and that product did not support USB Flash drives. The "Backup/Restore" feature in W8 did support USB Flash drives.

Here is the thread I posted.
I'd like a clear understanding why.................

W10User123 said:

Thanks, I see. That's really unfortunate, because I told by other people (not on this forum) that it was possible to create a system image on a USB drive, and also to be able to boot from it. (That's why I bought the new flash drive.)

Do you know if this is a limitation of the tools inside W10, or a limitation of W10 itself? If it's a limitation of W10's tools, then I wonder if I have to buy a 3rd party piece of software to allow me to do this? Thanks.

Why not just invest on an external hard drive ?
A 1TB ext hdd can be had for less than $100.
I use that for over 2 years now. Never have any issues.

Thanks for all help - much appreciated!
Looking at that thread link you posted, I guess it's time to download "Macrium", and see how things go with that...
I've got the USB drive now, and I'd quite like to use it and it's *really* tiny which means I can take it with me.
Thanks.

Hi W10User123,

I guess it's time to download "Macrium",..

You might also want to look at Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk. It's a very useful bootbale recovery option. In essence, it's like a live Linux distro (Operating System) bundled with a host of recovery tools, which includes both Macrium, as well as AOMEI.

AOMEI Backupper Standard

b1rd

This works for me.
Create a folder on the flash drive. (I named mine Backup)
Right click on the folder and select 'share with specific people' and select user. (I used my own account)


When performingthe backup select network nework location and select the share name like \\Account\Backup.

It will say its not secure but worked for me.......Good Luck!