What I've not understood is why MS decided that the TP needs to change the recovery partition since going from W8 to W8.1 didn't do that. It doesn't make sense to me. If they hadn't done that, then switching back to a factory setup would have been quite easy and could have been started from the TP instead of the convoluted crap you have to do now if you want to go back to the factory load after a TP install.
And what I don't understand is why you want to go back to factory settings if you don't have to (which you can also do very quickly if you keep an image of newly installed OS). You can go back to exactly where you left off. I have never used recovery partitions or do a clean install since I started using image backups (I keep 2 versions of image backups). Going back to factory settings via system recovery mode will take you more than a day to complete (drivers and programs re-installation take forever) compared to 30 mins using image restore (pre-OS mode using Macrium free).
Cheers!
Last edited by badrobot; 14 Oct 2014 at 10:10.
While imagine is the way to go for most instances, it certainly isn't the only way and not always the best way.
A big example is if you sell or give away a computer, you sure as heck don't want that image then, you want it to be as you got it when you unboxed. Or possibly you've loaded up a bunch of crap over the months/years and just want a virgin install again.
Yes, imaging backup/restore is probably the best way in most instances and is certainly easier to do, but it is no panacea.
New computer/OS, restore disk right there and than, make a full backup of whole disk with Macrium or whatever. Than you are certain that you can always go back, no matter what and in pristine shape as you got it. Just have to plan a bit in advance.
For me, what you describe makes sense.
But let me describe my sister's setup as it reflects what most casual consumers have.
She has an HP laptop about a year old that has W8.1 on it and came that way. She doesn't have any USB sticks or any other storage devices, just the laptop.
If she wants to sell or give away that computer, she would naturally just use the built-in tools assuming she could even figure that out. What she couldn't/wouldn't figure out or use is all those nifty tools and devices we all take for granted here.
Of course, she isn't going to be doing the W10 TP either, so there's that!! :)
You don't have to overwrite your existing OS just to try Win 10. There are options. Buy a cheapest spare hard drive that you can find and switch it with your existing one to install Win 10 on. Buying a spare hard drive is one investment that you will never regret doing. You can use it for backups.
Or install a virtual machine ( https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/fre...are_player/6_0 ) on your existing OS that you can use to try Win 10 on. A tutorial to use VMWare is available on this forum.
MS will not worry about an individual's future plans for his/her pc. But there is a fair warning about upgrading to Win 10. Or we can just simply say, trying out the Win 10 Tech Preview is not for everybody.
Last edited by badrobot; 14 Oct 2014 at 10:43.
I could have done that for her, or her son could have for that matter, but when she switches computers she doesn't make a big deal of it and most of the time you don't even know when she has.
Well until she lets her grandkids on and they get her all kinds of interesting and new things to 'enjoy' on her computer. THEN she wants to virginize the system. :)
While she is pretty careful about where she roams on the computer and actually only does a very few things, the grandkids aren't and she's a softy!!
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