using IDE drive as Win 10 recovery drive?

Hi,

Here is my situation:

1) the HD in my laptop was dying, so I ordered a replacement, and tried to create a recovery drive so that I could reinstall Win 10 when the replacement arrived

2) Windows asked me to use a drive of 16 gigs or larger for my recovery drive

3) since I didn't have any USB flash drives of that capacity, I used an old, 40-gig IDE drive (IBM Deskstar) that I connected to the laptop via the USB port; at the end of the process, Windows claimed that the IDE drive had been successfully formatted

4) the replacement HD arrived; I inserted it into the laptop and re-connected the IDE drive via USB

5) when I turned the machine on, it seemed to recognize that there was a drive plugged in at the USB port, but it did not seem to be reading the relevant information on the drive: I got a menu with several options for installing/re-installing Windows, but when I tried various options, the computer did not recognize any "source" from which Windows could be reinstalled.

Does anyone have any advice for what I should do? The IDE drive has many possible pin settings (master, slave, etc.), of which I have tried several so far -- which setting(s) should I be using so that the computer is able to properly read the drive?

Thanks for any info

I must admit I've never used or trusted any Microsoft back up methods.

Does this seem familiar when it boots off the usb/Ide ?

To restore your computer from backup, connect the drive with the system image backup and reboot your computer with the Windows installation media. During the Windows Setup, click Next, then click the Repair your computer link in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Click on Troubleshoot, click Advanced options, and select System Image Recovery. Now select the target operating system you want to recover, click Next and Finish.

and tried to create a recovery drive so that I could reinstall Win 10 when the replacement arrived

If you created the Windows 10 Recovery Drive via the windows 10 control panel.. It is a windows only recovery drive..

Just do a clean install from your windows 10 setup media to the new drive...
When asked to input product key - just SKIP the screen..

Kyhi said:

If you created the Windows 10 Recovery Drive via the windows 10 control panel.. It is a windows only recovery drive..

Just do a clean install from your windows 10 setup media to the new drive...
When asked to input product key - just SKIP the screen..

Actually it is even easier. Forget the recovery drive - boot from the ISO you made.

Hi,

Kyhi said:

If you created the Windows 10 Recovery Drive via the windows 10 control panel.. It is a windows only recovery drive..

Just do a clean install from your windows 10 setup media to the new drive...

I don't have any setup media apart from the recovery drive that I made. My laptop came with Win 8.1 pre-installed -- no installation CD or DVD -- and I upgraded to Win 10 by downloading it from the net.

When I boot up the machine (with the recovery drive connected), get to the screen with "System Image Recovery" and then select that option, I immediately get an error message saying "Windows cannot find a system image on this computer".

If I can't get this recovery drive to work, my only option is to put my old (dying) HD back in, try to get it to boot up, and then try to create some different recovery media.

ml20151001 said:

If I can't get this recovery drive to work, my only option is to put my old (dying) HD back in, try to get it to boot up, and then try to create some different recovery media.

Why can't you just create a Windows 10 install DVD/USB from an operating computer and clean install windows 10 on your computer?

What computer are you using to post here?

NavyLCDR said:

Why can't you just create a Windows 10 install DVD/USB from an operating computer and clean install windows 10 on your computer?

What computer are you using to post here?

I'm posting from my Droid; it's the only working device I have right now.

"System Image Recovery"

There are several methods of windows recovery - system image recovery is the one most likely to fail...

What are you wanting on the new HDD windows 8.1 or windows 10 ??

Windows 8.1 Setup Media Download Tool > http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...-refresh-media
Windows 10 Setup Media Download Tool > http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/softw...load/windows10

If you are looking to transfer or clone your failing drive to the new drive > http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx?x-ca=blog
But will require you to create bootable media, boot your pc from that media, create a backup image of your current HDD
Then install new HDD, boot from media and apply the backup image (you created above) to your new HDD

ml20151001 said:

Hi,

Here is my situation:

1) the HD in my laptop was dying, so I ordered a replacement, and tried to create a recovery drive so that I could reinstall Win 10 when the replacement arrived

2) Windows asked me to use a drive of 16 gigs or larger for my recovery drive

3) since I didn't have any USB flash drives of that capacity, I used an old, 40-gig IDE drive (IBM Deskstar) that I connected to the laptop via the USB port; at the end of the process, Windows claimed that the IDE drive had been successfully formatted

4) the replacement HD arrived; I inserted it into the laptop and re-connected the IDE drive via USB

5) when I turned the machine on, it seemed to recognize that there was a drive plugged in at the USB port, but it did not seem to be reading the relevant information on the drive: I got a menu with several options for installing/re-installing Windows, but when I tried various options, the computer did not recognize any "source" from which Windows could be reinstalled.

Does anyone have any advice for what I should do? The IDE drive has many possible pin settings (master, slave, etc.), of which I have tried several so far -- which setting(s) should I be using so that the computer is able to properly read the drive?

Thanks for any info

Reading #3 leads me to believe that you only formatted the IDE drive. You never said that you did anything else with it. You probably do not have any backup information on that drive.