Backup OS ?

[BChat]

Thanks olimjj - right now creating a recovery USB - also have many tabs open to different articles on the topic - will trudge thru it all and see what happens. My mission is to get rid of all the useless partitions on the SSD, have just one for a clean install of Windows 10, which is backupable and recoverable - my "desktop" mind may have to adjust the world of "Surface Pro 3"
Recovery drive done and now have option to "delete recovery partition", doesn't sound like a good idea right now.

Thanks again for you help, much appreciated.

 

[olimjj]

If you seek an alternative to installing Windows 10 using hyper-V, this tutorial IMO is excellent.:

 

[BChat]

Have win 10 9926 on one of my desktop drives - not ready to start playing with it on 3 yet.

 

[olimjj]

Understand completely.
The use of a Virtual drive, which is easy to implement, remove, and re-implement, offers a safer alternative until the final version arrives. JMTC

 

[Gavin Lewarne]

Why not just use the built in windows disk imaging tool? its dead easy to use, free, and easy to restore.

To backup, plug in a USB hard drive formatted to NTFS
load control panel > file history > system image backup (bottom left)
let it search for the drive, make sure the correct external drive is selected and run it
Using the default options it will back up all the necessary partitions to create an exact replica of your working system even if the drive you restore it to is completely blank.

to restore, you need a windows 8.1 ISO (you can download with Microsoft media creation tool) loaded on a USB stick
(format stick as FAT32, extract ISO contents to stick)
The procedure is dead easy

From a powered off SP3, insert 8.1 USB, hold down vol-down and briefly press power button. hold vol-down until surface logo appears then let go. the SP3 will now boot from the 8.1 USB. When the first window appears just hit ok, then on the next select "repair my computer"

then I believe, from memory, the steps are - troubleshoot > advanced option > system image recovery.

It will quickly complain that no system images can be found. at that point you can now unplug the 8.1 USB drive and plug in the system image hard drive you made earlier, hit "retry" to rescan for images, and off you go.

dead easy and free.

 

[BChat]

"From a powered off SP3, insert 8.1 USB, hold down vol-down and briefly press power button. hold vol-down until surface logo appears then let go. the SP3 will now boot from the 8.1 USB."

I have tried this 3 times using the same USB 8.1 I use to install/repair my desktops. The lights on the USB flash, but the boot process continues right to desktop.

Having used Acronis for years, I never used the disk imaging tool As I said earlier, my "desk top" mind may have to go Pro..
I will give the disk image deal a try as soon as I can - THANKS!

 

[Gavin Lewarne]

Boot into the bios and make sure that all ports are enabled and the boot sequence is set to the network > USB > sad option (or however its worded)

I will admit, my SP3 is most finniky booting from USB but it does always, eventually, work. I found I have greater chance of success if its been powered off for a few minutes rather than trying straight away.

 

[BChat]

Already checked those settings - all good. I may try again tomorrow - me and the 3 are tired -

ETA - with desktop I never worried, pop a new SSD in and move on down the road - can't do that here.

 

[Gavin Lewarne]

Already checked those settings - all good. I may try again tomorrow - me and the 3 are tired -

ETA - with desktop I never worried, pop a new SSD in and move on down the road - can't do that here.

I know how you feel. Personally I am gutted, first thing I did when I got my sp3 was to move the recovery onto a USB stick. a known, fully working, good, USB stick. I verified the files after then removed the recovery partition on the SSD. guess what, my SP3 REFUSES altogether to boot from that USB stick. And at 55k/sec download speed for the recovery image download from Microsoft - screw that - I just install my own 8.1 now and system image for backups

 

[BChat]

I know how you feel. Personally I am gutted, first thing I did when I got my sp3 was to move the recovery onto a USB stick. a known, fully working, good, USB stick. I verified the files after then removed the recovery partition on the SSD. guess what, my SP3 REFUSES altogether to boot from that USB stick. And at 55k/sec download speed for the recovery image download from Microsoft - screw that - I just install my own 8.1 now and system image for backups

Right now I have no faith in booting the 3 from a USB stick. I still have several articles to read and may find the secret hidden there. I don't want to get too crazy because the 3 is outside my comfort zone at the moment and I want the original image on the drive in hopes the "free upgrade" to Windows 10 is going to happen in/about June. Once I get the 10 "key", I'll re-evaluate the situation and go from there.

Aside from the USB Booting issue, I am very happy with the 3 and look forward to learning more about it.
Just wish I could get the "4 year old" part of my old brain to stop asking "Are you SURE you can't replace the SSD?"

I cannot thank the people here enough for their knowledge and patience in dealing with my questions - THANKS!

 

[Gavin Lewarne]

Right now I have no faith in booting the 3 from a USB stick. I still have several articles to read and may find the secret hidden there. I don't want to get too crazy because the 3 is outside my comfort zone at the moment and I want the original image on the drive in hopes the "free upgrade" to Windows 10 is going to happen in/about June. Once I get the 10 "key", I'll re-evaluate the situation and go from there.

Aside from the USB Booting issue, I am very happy with the 3 and look forward to learning more about it.
Just wish I could get the "4 year old" part of my old brain to stop asking "Are you SURE you can't replace the SSD?"

I cannot thank the people here enough for their knowledge and patience in dealing with my questions - THANKS!

I dont think you need to worry about losing free upgrades to Win 10. I am pretty certain eligibility will be based on the validity of the baked-in-bios product code for 8/8.1 which all surfaces have. If it depended on having the restore / original install loaded it would screw with literally thousands upon thousands of Enterprise customers who deploy their own windows images - pretty sure Microsoft wont do that

This is a great community, everyone here is always happy to help!

 

[BChat]

This is a great community, everyone here is always happy to help!

You got that right...