Creating a Recovery Drive USB

I have recently updated to Version 1511 and thought I would try to create a recovery drive on a USB having been unsuccessful when trying in the earlier Windows 10. This time it seemed to be working with the system files box checked, though it seemed to take an age before the USB was required to be inserted. It said I would require a USB of 8GB minimum capacity so I used a 16GB size.

When it finished creating the drive ( I did not see the actual finish but no messages were left on screen) I noticed that the USB had only a little over 1 GB of information loaded.

I assume something is amiss and wonder if someone could provide an explanation. I would probably find it useful if I could be told what files I should expect to find on the USB and the size of each. The files in my USB are titled: boot; efi; sources; bootmgr; bootmgr.efi and reagent. The sources file ( 1GB) is by far the largest.

Thanks.

The Sources folder contains two 1kb files: $PBR_Diskpart and $PBR_ResetConfig together with Reconstruct.WIM which is approx. 650,000 kb in size and that's all.

I just did it the old fashioned way. Created a Recovery/Restore DVD.

Kyhi said:

Well, then I would try again... Windows recreates itself from the files in the winsxs folder..
And it should be a lot more then a 1GB wim..

Although since you got a reconstruct.wim - it copied some system files, just not all of them...

ALSO - insert your USB stick first - before running the Create a Recovery Drive option

Used Rufus to make a USB stick. Thanks for the info.

Thanks all. I will try your suggestions and report back, but probably after Xmas.

Thanks all. I used Rufus, though accept this may have been a waste of time as the stick would have been reformatted in the creation program. I also inserted the memory stick without waiting for the instruction in the program. The memory stick is now loaded to a little in excess of 4GB and the program concluded by indicating that the recovery drive was now ready for use.