Solved Some technical questions about System Refresh

ThoughtSo

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A technical question about System Refresh

Hi All. Would greatly appreciate anyone's wisdom here. Just did my first 8.1 system refresh and, in the research process, noticed what seem to be redundancies in reinstallation options. Can't seem to find an answer to this question anywhere.

Creating a system backup image and a custom recovery image (using recimg command) seem to do the exact same thing, but the former cannot be stored on a flash drive (as far as I know) and the latter cannot be stored on an ext hd. Is it just me or couldn’t the two just be rolled into a single function with the full options of DVD, flash drive, ext HD, or the C drive? Maybe there are some system failure circumstances I'm not thinking of?

Thanks in advance.

 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
Would greatly appreciate anyone's wisdom

I use Macrium Reflect to make system images.
It works good for me. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
I appreciate the recommendation, but what I'd really like to know is why Microsoft created the two separate functions when it seems only one would suffice.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
First off, I don't think the 2 are actually the same. Similar maybe but not the same. Personally I would not use the built-in System Image feature when there are several free programs available that have real functionality and have a good user interface. Macrium happens to be at the top of my list and I have used both the free and paid versions for several years.

If a Custom Refresh Image is not registered I think the system pulls the Refresh Image from the Recovery Partition but again, I am no 100% positive. I also have a Custom Refresh Image registered but with Macrium images I would not invoke the Custom Image unless it was the last resort. I also think the Custom Image can be stored on whatever drive you choose as long as the drive letter was set when the Custom Image is created and the external drive is connected when you attempt a Refresh.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 64, LT -Windows 10 Home 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP 500-075 Desktop + HP 15-f018dx Laptop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 3470 Ivy Bridge 3.2 GHz Quad Core/ LT - i3-4030U 1.9 GHz
    Motherboard
    Foxcon Joshua-H61-uATX
    Memory
    8 GB/ LT - 6GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD (DX10.1)
    Sound Card
    Integrated IDT 92HD73E
    Hard Drives
    1T HDD, 16G Sandisk Cache Drive, 2T Seagate 3.0 External
    Keyboard
    Wireless
    Mouse
    Wireless
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Norton 360
    Other Info
    CyberPower UPS, Macrium Backup, Revo Pro, Malwarebytes Premium
Thanks for your input. So custom refresh images can indeed be saved to an external hdd. I had encountered an error when previously trying this and also could have sworn I read multiple places that it wasn't possible, but I tried it again and it worked.

So now I know that only the system backup image has a format limitation (no flash drive), but that makes sense b/c the .vhdx file created can take up so much space. Since starting the thread, I've researched and found that system image backups (whether in Windows or using a 3rd party utility) seem to be the better choice. I think all of this has finally answered my original question. :)

there are several free programs available that have real functionality and have a good user interface.
If you don't mind, can you explain what you mean by this? (sorry, I'm sorta new to this stuff)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1
there are several free programs available that have real functionality and have a good user interface.
If you don't mind, can you explain what you mean by this? (sorry, I'm sorta new to this stuff)
I think the best example would be for you to go to the Macrium Reflect web site and examine the various features of their software. I use Macrium as the example only because that is what I have been using for several years and what I am most familiar with but there are others vendors as well, just Google Search "System Image Backup" and you will find numerous options.

Macrium Software
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 64, LT -Windows 10 Home 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP 500-075 Desktop + HP 15-f018dx Laptop
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 3470 Ivy Bridge 3.2 GHz Quad Core/ LT - i3-4030U 1.9 GHz
    Motherboard
    Foxcon Joshua-H61-uATX
    Memory
    8 GB/ LT - 6GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD (DX10.1)
    Sound Card
    Integrated IDT 92HD73E
    Hard Drives
    1T HDD, 16G Sandisk Cache Drive, 2T Seagate 3.0 External
    Keyboard
    Wireless
    Mouse
    Wireless
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Norton 360
    Other Info
    CyberPower UPS, Macrium Backup, Revo Pro, Malwarebytes Premium
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