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Recovery Image

Discussion in 'Legacy Windows' started by boutells, 2014/04/19.

  1. 2014/04/19
    boutells

    boutells Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Now that I have upgraded to Windows 8.1 from 8.0, I want to have a new bootable recovery drive in case of need.

    The only instructions I have found create an image refresh but that must be stored on the hard drive which defeats the purpose if the hard drive is damaged.

    Is there any way to create a new System Image after upgrade to Windows 8.1 that can be stored on a bootable USB drive so, if I have to, I don't have to go all the way back to the factory installation and do all the upgrades?
     
  2. 2014/04/19
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Hi boutells, Start > Control Panel > Recovery > Create a Recovery Drive > OK UAC > Window appears > Create a recovery drive > check box at bottom and Next. Neil.
     
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  4. 2014/04/20
    boutells

    boutells Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I have done that part, no problem. The issue is creating the Recovery Image.

    I have found and made a Refresh Image which is stored on the hard drive but that wouldn't help in a situation where the hard drive was damaged.

    I can't copy the Refresh Image onto the flash drive and doubt that it would boot even if I could.

    What I want to do is create a brand new recovery image after the 8.1 installation so I can put this on a flash drive.

    The flash drive is all prepped as per "Create a Recovery Drive" but I have nothing to put on it.
     
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  5. 2014/04/20
    muddyfox

    muddyfox Well-Known Member

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    Thanks @boutells this was just the question I was about to ask - in my case it's a Server 2008 R2 that I want to create a boot recovery image of.
     
  6. 2014/04/20
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Last edited: 2014/04/20
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  7. 2014/04/20
    Gordon

    Gordon Well-Known Member

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  8. 2014/04/21
    boutells

    boutells Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks for suggestions but I am still no further ahead. Gordon's suggestions were about creating a recovery drive and I had already moved past that.

    I thought the advice from retiredlearner's link to Toms Hardware was the answer but when I followed that route, it wanted to back up my entire hard disk which is not what I had in mind.

    Perhaps there are no answers. I have the original recovery drive so I guess if disaster strikes, I will have to use that and go through all the updates again :-(
     
  9. 2014/05/25
    kosketus

    kosketus Inactive

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    Hi all

    I have exactly the same question/dilemma, and I've spent a lot of time reading in a variety of forums and internet sources of advice (like Paul Thurrott's Supersite and several others, following links) - all to no avail whatever so far. So finally I've returned to WindowsBBS in hopes of finding the answer but judging from this thread I'm going to be out of luck here too :(

    The problem is simple enough to state: in all operating systems there are occasions when for a whole variety of reasons one wants/needs to start all over again with a clean install.

    Like others here I bought a retail upgrade edition of Win 8 Pro, so I have the CDs (and created a bootable usb stick), and a product key. Up to the time when MS introduced 8.1 I could have performed a clean install at any time from either of these media using the Win 8 product key, following which Automatic Updates would bring the system back to the same state it had been in immediately before.

    But with 8.1 that's no longer the case, because MS has ordained that the only way to upgrade from 8 to 8.1 is via the Store, performed electronically, whilst the only physical media, and product key, anyone who started-out by buying Win 8 possesses continues to relate exclusively to Windows 8. MS has so arranged things that we are denied the means to clean-install 8.1 (even though the license to use it was by extension implicit in the license we purchased originally to use Win 8, because the upgrade to 8.1 was free).

    The only way to get a Win 8.1 product key is to buy another copy of Win 8.1 - which would be bizarre!!!

    You can download from MS's website - if you're lucky (so far I haven't been) - a copy of 8.1 (either straight to disc/usb-stick or to hard-disk as an .iso) but you can't install it without a Win 8.1 product key - or, if you can find a way to do that, you still can't get it activated.

    I dread the time - which will inevitably arrive sooner or later - when I'm forced to format my system drive and reinstall my OS. In theory it ought to be possible (although a pita) to go right back to the beginning by installing Win 8 again, then upgrading to 8.1 via the Store exactly the same as first time around. But I'd be willing to bet that there'll be a catch - there always is with MS in my experience.

    Has anyone had to do this, and if so has it been straightforward?
     
  10. 2014/05/25
    retiredlearner

    retiredlearner SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    If you have your COA (product Key) this will prove legitimacy of your OS and I would imagine it will be a matter of Downloading the updates through to 8.1 and later.
    Will Acronis give you a complete clone? Neil.
     
  11. 2014/05/25
    Gordon

    Gordon Well-Known Member

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    "Will Acronis give you a complete clone? "
    Yes, Acronis True Image will let you backup/image any and all partitions onto an external drive. It also lets you create a bootable thumb drive/flash drive that contains the True Image program. So in the case of a total internal hard drive failure, you boot from the Acronis flash drive, then recover your system and data from the external drive.
    I think it also has the ability to recover select files from the backup image, however I have not played with that feature so I don't know how that works or if it works.

    Added by edit. I am running Windows 8.1 with True Image and I have restored Windows 8.1 using Acronis True Image, so I know that part works.
    Gordon
     
    Last edited: 2014/05/25
  12. 2014/05/26
    kosketus

    kosketus Inactive

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    Hi

    Thanks for the responses.

    @retiredlearner
    You are, if I understand you correctly, working on the same assumption as me. (Acronis aside).

    But has anyone tested if it works (as distinct from going the Acronis route)?

    @Gordon
    I, like you, have Acronis TI 2014 installed and (as have you) have used it to create a disk backup of my 8.1 system drive (C:\) - and have successfully restored the system from that image.

    Fine, but that's not the same thing as what I understand is meant by the term "clean install ". Or is it?

    Surely that presupposes no use of third-party software but (following formatting the system drive or disk) installing Windows 8.1 again from scratch? It's that which MS's way of having gone about the upgrade to 8.1 has - so far as I can see - made impossible.

    If I've got that wrong I'd welcome being re-educated.

    But there's another issue anyway. If one did format one's system drive, and supposing that there was a way to create an 8.1 bootable CD or usb-stick (which some people report having succeeded in doing using a workaround) would an upgrade version then refuse to install - because there would then be no previous Windows system installed on the computer?

    If so, the only way a "clean install" of Win 8.1 (as defined above) could be achieved would be by buying a retail copy of the full version of 8.1 ($$$). Right or wrong?
     
    Last edited: 2014/05/26
  13. 2014/05/26
    Gordon

    Gordon Well-Known Member

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    Kosketus.
    Like you, I don't like the way Microsoft handled the upgrade from Win 8 to Win 8.1. I would prefer that they offered us a CD or ISO image where we could do a clean install of Win 8.1. But Microsoft did not ask me for my opinion, and I don't think they really care what you or I think.

    I bought a new Lenovo laptop with Win 8 installed, no CD's supplied. Lenovo has what they call a "one key recovery" built in. That seems to work if you like to restore your system back to factory state. In my research, I read that this recovery will work as long as the partitions are exactly like the system was delivered. I don't like a large C drive with user data stored on the system drive. So I partitioned the hard drive like I wanted it. The one key recovery is basically worthless to me at this point.

    The next best choice for me was to get the Windows 8.1 upgrade, partition the hard drive like I wanted it. Then install True Image and image all the partitions before I made a lot of changes or added other software and user data files. Those partition images are stored on an external hard drive and will be saved forever. They are as close as I could get to a clean install recovery plan. It is not really a clean install, like inserting a CD and loading Windows 8.1, but it will have do.

    “ If so, the only way a "clean install" of Win 8.1 (as defined above) could be achieved would be by buying a retail copy of the full version of 8.1 ($$$). Right or wrong?â€
    I think you are right, but I would welcome anyone posting a solution that proves me wrong.

    I also run True Image once a month and make differential images that will allow me to go back in one month increments about 6 months. Between my wife and I, we can really screw up a PC so the first thing I look for on a new PC is a recovery plan.

    Gordon
     
  14. 2014/06/13
    rsinfo

    rsinfo SuperGeek Alumni

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    I am really peeved at the way the MS/computer manufacturers are s-c-r-e-w-i-n-g us.

    A long time ago, the computer used to come with recovery cd & the Windows key right on the chassis. Now all that has changed. No cd or key.

    Recently I bought a laptop which started giving problems in the first week itself. Since I had not bought the laptop in India, there was no warranty. It also had Win 8, which meant downloading 8.1 update from Store after updating Win 8. So I got about rectifying the situation.

    First the key. That was the easy part. Downloaded Belarc advisor, installed it & got the key.

    Second the drivers. Luckily the manufacturer had given a program to backup the drivers. Small mercy.

    The fun started with the media. Since it had Win 8 Single Language 64 bit installed, I had to download the media from torrent site. Wonder why MS is not giving us permission to download the ISO ?

    Then came the key part. The original key was for Win 8 & Win 8.1 refused to accept it. Searched the net for generic key, installed Win 8.1 & then updated the key.

    No wonder people are afraid of Win 8.
     
  15. 2014/06/13
    Bill

    Bill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    It is not Microsoft - it is the computer makers. Microsoft is more than willing to provide disks to the computer makers. But who will pay for that? The makers are looking for ways to shave pennies off their costs, not just for more profit, but so they can stay competitive. So it is the PC makers who have decided to simply burn HD images and slap a sticker on the case. Not MS.

    And when using OEM/System Builders licenses (as the big makers do) it is the builders who are then responsible for Windows tech support. Again, not MS.

    It takes tremendous amounts of resources and logistics to press and package current disks, ship the disks, store, inventory/audit, and then pack the correct disk with each computer.

    It is not fair to suggest MS eat those costs. And the PC makers sure are not going to eat those costs. And consumers are surely not willing to eat those costs either because it is us consumers who keep demanding lower costs. Well, cheaper costs come with a price.

    But it IS up to the consumers. We don't have to buy our computers from the big makers. We can build or have our computers custom built locally - with real install disks. That's what I do, and what I recommend everyone do.
     
  16. 2014/06/13
    rsinfo

    rsinfo SuperGeek Alumni

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    Well I always build my own desktops but notebook is another world altogether so I have to depend on the PC makers. And the experience has not been very good.
     
  17. 2014/06/14
    Bill

    Bill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Another world is right and I think that is sad. In their desire to make the thinnest, lightest, and fanciest notebooks out there - along with the fact there is no ATX Form Factor standard for notebooks as there is for PCs, the notebook makers have done a great job of monopolizing the notebook industry with proprietary (read: expensive, and restrictive/limited options) designs that basically destroyed the home-build notebook industry before it could even get off the ground. :mad:

    For us PC self-builders who would like to build our own notebooks, it is almost an impossible task. :( It can be done, but not without many compromises that limit options, and very importantly, future upgrade options. And that I find personally unacceptable.

    Oh well - I cannot fit my two indispensable 22" widescreen monitors, full size keyboard and mouse, and full surround sound speaker system in a notebook case anyway. ;)
     
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  18. 2014/06/14
    James Martin

    James Martin Geek Member

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    Seems strange that Microsoft would do such a thing. Most unusual indeed.


    Ain't that the truth.
     
  19. 2014/06/14
    rsinfo

    rsinfo SuperGeek Alumni

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    Bill, are you building a notebook or a suitcase ? :D
     
  20. 2014/06/15
    Bill

    Bill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    lol That takes me back to the first real portable computer I was lucky enough to play with when they first came out - the Osborne 1. It was basically built into a suitcase (more like a sewing machine case) and it was called a "luggable" computer. It weighed nearly 25lbs!
     
  21. 2014/06/15
    rsinfo

    rsinfo SuperGeek Alumni

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    Yep. The first laptop that I touched was a hefty 15 lbs machine but it was portable. That counted a lot.
     

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