Solved recovery drive, brings PC exactly to date drive made?

Arturoruiz

New Member
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18
Windows 8.1

pc bought in 2013 with windows 8 bundled (so no installation DVDs, no activation key communicated).
upgraded to windows 8.1 in 2013.
I made a recovery USB (system image) on 1st April 2014.
If I need to boot on this USB, my PC will be again exactly as it was on 1st April 2014?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
What procedure did you use to make the recovery drive?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
I did it with the option copy contents from the recovery partition to the recovery drive
Later I did create a disk image for drives C & D and saved it in the own hard disk.

What should I do now to be sure that in case of catastrophe I can have my PC as it is now?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
If you do a Reset from your Recovery thumb drive it will return it to the factory condition. It will be like it was the first time you turned it on. If you restore a disk image it will be the way it was when you made the disk image.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
If you do a Reset from your Recovery thumb drive it will return it to the factory condition. It will be like it was the first time you turned it on. If you restore a disk image it will be the way it was when you made the disk image.

:ditto:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 771G-6443
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer VA70_HC (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (800 MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    HD4000 + GeForce GT 730M
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" Generic PnP Display on Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB
    ADATA SSD SP900 128GB
    PSU
    90 watt brick
    Mouse
    Bluetooth
    Antivirus
    Comodo
    Other Info
    Asus RT-AC56R dual-band WRT router (Merlin firmware). Intel 7260.HMWWB.R dual-band ac wireless adapter.
Do I sum it up correctly?
For a most cautious approach
1) I do a new recovery drive with with option copy contents from recovery partition after each Windows 8.1 SP, so if I need to do a refresh I will have all dlls etc, not just the ones of previous windows 8.1 versions
2) I do a disk image fo both C & D drives into an USB drive every 6 months, so if refresh, SFC etc do not work my PC will be like it was maximum 6 months ago
Note: there are only few files in D drive, I cannnot see what is inside. maybe the recovery partition & similar.


So this is what a cautios person should do?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
clip_image001.png
Warning
If you set UAC to Always notify me, then you will not be able to use the refresh and reset Windows 8 features. These features require UAC to be set to the default or lower level to work.

Oh, oh
I find the "always notify me" reassuring
still it is good idea to just set UAC to default and be able to set a custom recovery image as active (renewed say every 6 months), so in the worst case my PC will be exactly like 6 months ago (with refresh or reset)?
or bettr to keep UAC as it is and trust that a system restore (created every month) will almost certainly work?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
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