Solved About to install windows 8.1 usb (UEFI) need bakup

bassfacer22

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hey guys,

what can you recommend to do a backup of my system before I wipe it and clean install windows..

I want a simple and effective program that works..

I know even windows 8 has a usb recovery disk.. can i clone/backup my hard drive through windows and is it effective?

I need some recommendations. I would like to just use windows if possible so then i dont have to have any 3rd party involvement.. but unless its free and more effective than the windows backup..

I'm also asking because i just got a new laptop with pre-installed windows 8.1 and i haven't even turned it on yet because i was going to boot it up through a usb recovery disk and totally backup the system before I even turned it on for the first time..
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 (HOME not Pro) 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    (So not very nice) Lenovo Y410P
    CPU
    i7 quad 2.4Gig
    Memory
    16G ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia 2gig 755m
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Evo

    supercache2 m2. mini card.
    Antivirus
    Win Defender
Use Macrium Reflect Free to create a backup image to an external Hard drive. Here's the video I made a while back, it will work with all versions of Windows.

NOTE: This video shows you how to backup just Windows OS (Hidden partitions + C drive). If you want to backup the whole drive, Use the option: Image this disk...

[video=youtube;IhhDU66HGyk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhhDU66HGyk[/video]
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
I'll give that a shot.. just out of curiosity, is this same kind of thing possible with just the windows recovery usb/cd ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 (HOME not Pro) 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    (So not very nice) Lenovo Y410P
    CPU
    i7 quad 2.4Gig
    Memory
    16G ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia 2gig 755m
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Evo

    supercache2 m2. mini card.
    Antivirus
    Win Defender
I'll give that a shot.. just out of curiosity, is this same kind of thing possible with just the windows recovery usb/cd ?
No. Windows recovery usb/cd allows to boot the PC into WinPE environment to trouble shoot/repair and also allows you to reset/refresh Windows. It does not create backup image. With Laptop, there's a factory recovery partition (normally ~ 15GB-20GB) which you also create if you ever need to re-install Windows back to the day you first purchased your Laptop.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
If you have an OEM computer, chances are you have an OEM recovery image, that will allow you to do a Bare Metal Reset of your Factory Image.. Control Panel - Recovery - Create a Recovery Drive..

Be doing so you can recover to a Blank Hard Drive or a Messed up One..

Not all computers have a back up Image, so the recovery media will be just that, start up media..

But if it OEM, and you did not receive media disks, the factory image is there..

Another way to tell is through disk management - with the last partition being say 10GB-20GB this is the recovery image partition usually.. Some OEM's also place the image in the first partition which would make it about that size
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
Yes.
Macrium is good. :)

edit--- The paid Standard version of Macrium is what I use. It has a boot time recovery environment.
 
Last edited:

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
If you really want to do it before you ever boot Windows, you will need a program on a bootable disk. Not sure if Macrium free has that capability, it might.

If you are not really locked into that, then you can turn it on, and create an image to an external hard drive from Control Panel>File History. In order to later use that image you will need a recovery drive to boot the computer, so you may as well also create the full recovery drive like KYHI says above, and when you are making the recovery drive, tell that utility to also copy over the full recovery information. That gives you two ways to recover the computer later - the manufacturer's recovery drive, and the image you made to the hard drive yourself.

To create the recovery drive will require either a 16 or 32 GB flash drive. when you start the process it will let you know.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
If you are not really locked into that, then you can turn it on, and create an image to an external hard drive from Control Panel>File History.

Just to add to the info provided - Control panel - file history - bottom left corner "system image backup"

This will create a complete system image backup of your current system.. That image along with the "create a recovery drive" will get you the factory image backup and a complete current system backup..

Although, I have found that the system image backup will fail on a bare harddrive
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
IMHO, this is a very simple process and Macrium can do it all. As the matter of fact, you don't even have to install it. Just download the Recue ISO file from here: Macrium WinPE .iso - OneDrive created by WHS . Format a USB stick with FAT32. Use Winzip/Winrar to extract to the USB stick, boot up from it. Select image this disk... as shown below to an external drive then you'll have the whole original image of the disk in one single file including the OEM factory partition.

a.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
Topgun, I have seen the use of macrium posted many times, but that is the first time seen posted a winpe bootable

Now I see why - macrium downloads winpe
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
If you really want to do it before you ever boot Windows, you will need a program on a bootable disk. Not sure if Macrium free has that capability, it might.
Yes, you can do it with Macrium.

With Macrium WinPE, it also has 2 extra tools that you can use: Command Prompt for basic trouble shooting and a simple version of file explorer in case you cannot boot Windows then use it to backup your personal data, see screen shot:

2014-09-27_072533.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
Ok i want to backup the hard drive before I even turned on the laptop for the very first time.. so i need to create a usb recovery disk.. (on another computer)..

so i started to do that and got this error picture below.. the way to fix that was to select MBR boot record and not UEFI only..

but when i go to my boot menu i can't see the usb stick.. I think it may be because i have UEFI bios computer... not MBR or the other one.. i can see a boot disk i made from windows media.. that shows up.. but not this macrium image one..

bootdisks.JPG
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 (HOME not Pro) 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    (So not very nice) Lenovo Y410P
    CPU
    i7 quad 2.4Gig
    Memory
    16G ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia 2gig 755m
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Evo

    supercache2 m2. mini card.
    Antivirus
    Win Defender
Ok i want to backup the hard drive before I even turned on the laptop for the very first time.. so i need to create a usb recovery disk..

Is this an OEM system? then that backup is already there.. You can get back to a factory state by creating recovery media from within windows.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
Ok i want to backup the hard drive before I even turned on the laptop for the very first time.. so i need to create a usb recovery disk..

Is this an OEM system? then that backup is already there.. You can get back to a factory state by creating recovery media from within windows.
This is a Laptop so it is OEM. However, he wants to backup everything without having to get into the initial setup, create user etc...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
I understand that.. But why?

When the recovery media will reset it back to the same exact state it is right now..

To each his own I guess..

Or maybe he does not know that..

He can restore the factory out of box state, even after creating user accounts
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
well i was just thinking before i start even tinkering with anything in the system i'll just backup right now before i even turn it on via usb..

it's not really important to "me" whether i get the before or after system setup but that is interesting that i could do that..

more importantly i'm having a big problem here.. haha.. oops

http://www.eightforums.com/general-support/58252-accidently-started-format-2.html
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 (HOME not Pro) 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    (So not very nice) Lenovo Y410P
    CPU
    i7 quad 2.4Gig
    Memory
    16G ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia 2gig 755m
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Evo

    supercache2 m2. mini card.
    Antivirus
    Win Defender
Both ways will get you the "Before" system startup - that is the purpose of the "Create a Recovery Drive"..

So you can reset it back to factory out of the box state - if tinkering messes it up..
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
Ok well this matter is solved.. i thank you both for the help..

my last little question is why does the usb have to be formatted fat32? are there such usb boot sticks that can be formatted NTFS?

thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 (HOME not Pro) 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    (So not very nice) Lenovo Y410P
    CPU
    i7 quad 2.4Gig
    Memory
    16G ram
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia 2gig 755m
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 840 Evo

    supercache2 m2. mini card.
    Antivirus
    Win Defender
Ok well this matter is solved.. i thank you both for the help..

my last little question is why does the usb have to be formatted fat32? are there such usb boot sticks that can be formatted NTFS?

thanks
Earlier vervion of UEFI won't work with ntfs so to ensure compatibility, we just format with FAT32.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
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