- Messages
- 40
I just re-installed Windows 8.1 on my ASUS X202E laptop. It was long process since it originally came with Windows 8, so after I installed that I had to install all the patches and updates before I could even get Windows 8.1 from the Windows Store. Then I had all those patches and updates. All-in-all it was a 9-hour ordeal, something I'd like to avoid in the future.
The computer originally came with a mechanical drive, one I swapped for an SSD. Since I never cloned the original drive I used one of my OEM Windows 8 discs from another system I have. Since the activation key is hard coded into the system this wasn't a problem.
What I would like to do now, before installing any other software, is create a Recovery Disk/System Image onto a USB flash drive so that if I ever need to re-install again I can cut that 9 hours down. What is the best method of doing this?
Since I don't have a Recovery Partition the method MS outlines is out, and when I try to create a System Image using this tutorial I'm told the flash drive is not a valid backup location. (It's a 16GB flash drive).
How do I do an exact copy of the current "vanilla" install (and I use vanilla loosely) onto a flash drive so that I can restore later if need be?
The computer originally came with a mechanical drive, one I swapped for an SSD. Since I never cloned the original drive I used one of my OEM Windows 8 discs from another system I have. Since the activation key is hard coded into the system this wasn't a problem.
What I would like to do now, before installing any other software, is create a Recovery Disk/System Image onto a USB flash drive so that if I ever need to re-install again I can cut that 9 hours down. What is the best method of doing this?
Since I don't have a Recovery Partition the method MS outlines is out, and when I try to create a System Image using this tutorial I'm told the flash drive is not a valid backup location. (It's a 16GB flash drive).
How do I do an exact copy of the current "vanilla" install (and I use vanilla loosely) onto a flash drive so that I can restore later if need be?
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- Windows 8.1 Update 2 x64
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- CPU
- Core i5-3570 Ivy Bridge
- Motherboard
- ASRock Z77 Exteme4
- Memory
- Corsair Vengeance 16GB
- Graphics Card(s)
- EVGA nVidia 760
- Sound Card
- Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty
- Monitor(s) Displays
- ASUS 23"
- Screen Resolution
- 1920 x 1080
- Hard Drives
- SanDisk Extreme SSD 240GB (OS)
Western Digital 1TB (Data)
Hitachi 2TB (Media Drive)
- PSU
- Corsair HX Professional Series 750-Watt
- Case
- Corsair Carbide Series 400R Mid Tower
- Cooling
- Corsair Hydro Series H80 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
- Keyboard
- Logitech K800
- Mouse
- Logitech T400
