Recovery and backups

simrick

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Hi. New to W8 - setting up a couple computers and have a question: Can I use one external HDD for the backup as well as for the recovery? I mean, it seems when I set up the first one a week ago, there was an option in the recovery section of control panel to create something for disaster recovery. (Create a recovery drive) I think it said everything on the drive would be erased when it was created. Now that I've created it on a 250GB HDD, I am wondering if I can do my backups on there as well? Or is this recovery drive supposed to be a dedicated flash drive or something like that?
Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8.1 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satellite C55T-A5394
    CPU
    i3
    Memory
    6GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Browser
    FF
    Antivirus
    Defender

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
Hi Theog,
Thanks for the reply. I guess I am a little confused. I tried to make the recovery on a disk(s), but it wouldn't let me, so I grabbed the first external HDD I could find. For my "backups", I meant just copies of my data files. I would use something different (larger) for a system image. Does that make sense? So, you think I should be getting maybe a 64GB flash for the "recovery drive"? I don't understand why it wouldn't let me use a DVD? Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8.1 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satellite C55T-A5394
    CPU
    i3
    Memory
    6GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Browser
    FF
    Antivirus
    Defender

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4



Okay - great. I see the problem - I had the box checked to include the recovery partition and so you only have the option to use a flash drive for that. Thanks. So now I have made the repair disk on a CD as I wanted. And I probably had made a repair disk with the system image on that 250GB external drive, which I don't need to do and I'll get rid of that. Maybe I'll get a flash drive in the future and do it that way.

I never got OS reinstallation disks, even though I had sent an email before the systems were shipped asking for them, since there was no option to get them at the time I placed the order. I see that this has been a problem for many. I always got these with previous Dell systems, so I was a bit surprised that I didn't get them this time.

Thank you very much for all your help!! Now I just have to figure out how to make a system image that auto-updates using this Dell backup and restore program.... :p

Edit: nope, not happening - guess I have to find a third party program that does it. Any recommendations? Clonezilla?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8.1 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satellite C55T-A5394
    CPU
    i3
    Memory
    6GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4000
    Browser
    FF
    Antivirus
    Defender
Any recommendations?

I personally always use Paragon or Norton.

I would look for a 3rd party Partitioning,Backup & Cloning software, which fully supports Windows 8, uEFI, GPT & Secure Boot.
Which is signed by Microsoft.


The only 3rd party software that I know of, that fully supports Windows 8 & is signed by Microsoft, are

Paragon 12, SSR Desktop Edition, & Macrium (5.1)

PARAGON Software Group - partition manager, drive backup, hard disk partitioning

or could consider SSR Desktop Edition

* Now Released * Symantec System Recovery 2013 | Symantec Connect Community

or could consider Macrium release (5.1) (no test by me)

Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
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