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how do you make a bootable USB to recover from image backup?

tony8154

Member
I just came back from exchanging my SP3 to a new device.

Before I exchanged it, it made a disk image backup on my external HDD.

Some of the directions I read on this site tells me to insert a bootable USB, but I have no idea how to create one. Could someone please advise me how to create one?
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
What did you use to make the Disk Image Backup?
You may need to follow instructions for that software to successfully restore the image.
 
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tony8154

Member
What did you use to make the Disk Image Backup?
You may need to follow instructions for that software to successfully restore the image.

I used the windows one to make one. After making the image backup, I followed some instructions but it said I needed to insert a bootable Windows USB/DVD first, which I had no idea how to do.


I believe this sticky is the same link, only that the link you provided seems to be in German?
http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/recovery-disk-image.11561/

I didn't realize this was in the sticky list, and I was swamped with search results.

I'm trying this one now, but I accidently disconnected the power cord to the surface, and the screen went to sleep, so I have to start over the download.. dammit..

I'll keep updates to the progress.
As of now, it would have been quicker to just reinstall all the windows updates and programs. :( sigh...
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
I used the windows one to make one. After making the image backup, I followed some instructions but it said I needed to insert a bootable Windows USB/DVD first, which I had no idea how to do.



I believe this sticky is the same link, only that the link you provided seems to be in German?
http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/recovery-disk-image.11561/

I didn't realize this was in the sticky list, and I was swamped with search results.

I'm trying this one now, but I accidently disconnected the power cord to the surface, and the screen went to sleep, so I have to start over the download.. dammit..

I'll keep updates to the progress.
As of now, it would have been quicker to just reinstall all the windows updates and programs. :( sigh...
Yes, the whole problem with backup is recovery :) Unless you can easily do a successful recovery the backup was a waste of time.

At work the "Backup" team takes daily backups but can never recover them. This deserves a good rant like the Sienfeld "reservation" rant. What's the point of a backup if you cant recover it. Anyone can make a backup its the recovering that's important. The Backup team should be eliminated and replaced with a "Recovery" team. :D
 
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tony8154

Member
Yes, the whole problem with backup is recovery :) Unless you can easily do a successful recovery the backup was a waste of time.

At work the "Backup" team takes daily backups but can never recover them. This deserves a good rant like the Sienfeld "reservation" rant. What's the point of a backup if you cant recover it. The Backup team should be eliminated and replaced with a "Recovery" team. :D
I know tell me about it :(
Why did they make this such a tedious task. Or maybe I'm just not computer savvy enough :(
I think apple have this done the better way, considering that you need to opt to 3rd party pay software to do it easier on a PC.
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
Download the recovery image from the Surface Support Site and follow their instructions....

As below:

Important
Creating a recovery drive will erase anything that is already stored on your USB drive. Make sure to transfer any important data from your USB drive to another storage device before using it to create a Surface USB recovery drive.
Step 1:Insert your USB drive into the USB port of your Surface or PC.
For Surface RT and Surface 2, your USB drive should be at least 8 GB in size.
For Surface Pro models, your USB drive should be at least 16 GB.
Step 2:From the desktop, open File Explorer.
Step 3:Tap and hold or right-click on the USB drive and choose Format.
Step 4:Select FAT32 as the file system and enter a Volume label to name the USB drive, such as RECOVERY, and then tap or click Start.
Step 5:Tap or click OK to erase the contents of the USB drive.
Step 6:Tap or click OK when the format is complete.
Step 7:On your Surface or PC, unzip (or extract) the recovery image that you downloaded by double-clicking it to open it.
Step 8:Next, drag the files from the compressed folder to the USB drive you formatted.
 
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tony8154

Member
Updates.

I finished downloading and the zip file was immediately deleted by IE with the message
"This file might have been moved or deleted"
...seriously?

Some googling shows that windows defender causes it to automatically delete exe zipped files?

Is there a way to retrieve the deleted file or do i have to redownload the entire thing?
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
Updates.

I finished downloading and the zip file was immediately deleted by IE with the message
"This file might have been moved or deleted"
...seriously?

Some googling shows that windows defender causes it to automatically delete exe zipped files?

Is there a way to retrieve the deleted file or do i have to redownload the entire thing?
That is strange, Defender isn't doing that on any of machines, Open up Windows Defender and see if it has been quarantined and restore it from there....
 
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tony8154

Member
the list is clean. There's nothing under the quarantined list.

wth...

i'm going to retry it on the laptop that the surface was supposed to replace.. sigh..
 

leeshor

Well-Known Member
I highly doubt Defender would have snatched it. Something is not making a lot of sense. It should have "just worked".
 
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tony8154

Member
here's a screenshot.

I disabled windows defender realtime protection and i'm downloading it again.
 

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