KenW wrote:
On Tue, 28 Nov 2017 01:40:12 +0000 (UTC), Boris
wrote:

This relates to all pcs purchased that have OEM installs of Windows 10
that have a recovery partition. I have both HP and Dell such machines,
laptops and desktops.

After setting up Windows 10, I make a recovery drive, and usually enable
"Back up system files to the recovery drive." I use a USB flash drive.

I always thought that the recovery files (not the system backup files) on
the USB flash drive were indifferent to which pc they were later used on.
That is, the recovery files are troubleshooting tools (refresh, reset,
advanced), etc.) that can be used on any Windows 10 pc, and that they
could even be used on a non-oem installed version of Windows 10. I
recently read an article that each recovery drive can only be used on the
pc from which it was made. Which is true?

Now, let's say I use a recovery drive on the same machine from which it
was made,and I click the "Reset your PC" button. I assume this reinstall
the factory version, even though I may have long since moved up a version
or so.

Another question...I also use the "Backup and Restore (Windows 7)"
function to "Create a system image" on an external USB hard drive. The
system image created on the external hard drive is a folder named
"WindowsImageBackup". It contains five folders and 15 files, none of which
have an .iso extension. I guess this is because Windows (10) cannot
create ISOs, but can only mount them. Yes? But, would reinstalling from
WindowsImageBackup get me the same reinstallation as an ISO?

Thanks for any clarification, anyone. I still have more questions later.


That why I always use another program to image a drive. Never
know/understand what MS does.


KenW

I've made a recovery drive, on the test machine, but when
it was finished, I can't honestly say what the advantage is.
The recovery media procedure was broken, and first I had
to fix it (reagentc) before it would work. And it took
quite a while to build a custom re-installer for the OS.

It should only capture the OS and programs or something,
to bring the OS back to its current point. But without
storing your huge movie collection. It's not a backup
as such, just a way to get the OS into some known state.
But it left me baffled as to whether I'd ever use it,
because I would appreciate a backup with my data
files included, just a little more than that.

I tossed the contents of that USB key, long ago, and
never bothered to test it on a restore.

*******

The "Windows 7 Backup" in Windows 10, *can* make DVDs.
But, when I tested that, it was a sheer hell doing it.
A minimum backup will require at least four DVDs, and
takes about 30 minutes per DVD, including the hand-holding
to "erase/format" the DVD+RW so it is acceptable to the
backup software. I was a lather of sweat when it was
done, and not all that happy. When the tray pops out
and it's thrown an error message, you have to tend
to it (format the next blank RW disk in a third-party tool),
to get the process to continue.

The critical part of a Windows 7 backup, is the
..vhd or .vhdx files in WindowsImageBackup. These are
virtual disk images, suited for usage in Hyper-V or
VirtualBox, that sort of environment. Because they
are exact copies of partitions, they can also be used
for backups. That's why Microsoft uses those formats.

If you drill down into the "WindowsImageBackup" folder
deep enough, clicking the OK box at each level,
you'll eventually get to those files.

The C: partition is one VHD. The System Reserved
wll be stored in a tiny VHD.

A .vhd can hold 2.2TB of files. Back in the actual
Windows 7 OS, those backups were limited to 2.2TB
per partition.

In the Windows 10 era, the file standard is now
..vhdx, which breaks past the 2.2TB limit and can
handle much larger partitions. So there are two file
types. The Windows 10 file type of .vhdx helps
with very large disks. I've not run into a Windows 7 OS
user who hit the 2.2TB .vhd limit by accident.

A downside, is fewer utilities can *open* a .vhdx
for random access. So while Windows 10 makes .vhdx
in the WindowsImageBackup folder, they may not be
quite as accessible for random access if you
take the backup drive to some other Windows
computer (like a WinXP machine).

For example, a modern version of 7ZIP, can burrow
into a .vhd file from Windows 7 OS, and get back a
single file for your viewing pleasure. But 7ZIP
doesn't open .vhdx. I'm not sure whether VirtualBox
even supports it. So in a sense, the .vhdx file
is kinda isolated, mountable in Windows 10, maybe
mountable in Hyper-V, for access. But may not be
all that available in third-party tools.

Another thing to watch on the .vhdx format, is it
supports "differencing". You might spot a 20KB
"empty" .vhdx, next to a 20GB .vhdx. You need *both*
those files, to have a complete copy. If a tool
generates a "differencing disk" as its native format,
the 20GB file is referenced to the 20KB file, and
a restoration tool needs to see both files, to know
what to do. The .vhd from Windows 7 on the other hand,
doesn't have that 20KB file sitting next to it.

Paul