Why not do it the EASY WAY.
I tried that already. I made the recovery USB drive, not DVD, following the instructions found here. However it stated at the top that that cannot be used to install Windows 8. Indeed, the link that you originally posted also explicitly states this: "A recovery USB flash drive cannot be used to install Windows 8." I tried it anyway, and when I tried to boot from the USB with the SSD inside it wouldn't work. This whole trial and error process is detailed in my initial post. I see no other options that would allow me to accomplish what I want.
Frankly, the EASY WAY would have been to include installation discs for Windows 8 with the laptop. I have done fresh OS installs on my old laptop (that is, the one I am replacing) and it was painless and simple with the discs. Put the DVD in. Shut down the computer. Turn the computer on. Boom, the rest is automated. I do not consider myself computer illiterate, but I am also not a CS geek who likes to tinker with OS and have top of the line computers (that's not intended to be derogatory, although now that I reread it, it sounds like it could be taken that way.) I can figure things out if they are presented in a clear, intelligible way. Right now, from my vantage point, Microsoft purposefully made this process as difficult as possible.
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- Windows 8
- CPU
- i5 3210
- Memory
- 6GB
- Graphics Card(s)
- GeForce GT 635m
- Hard Drives
- 500 GB HDD, 256GB Samsung 830 SSD