How to create a Windows 10 recovery disc set

[gddik]

I have just purchased a HP Pavilion All-in-One - 24-k0003na desktop, which has no internal DVD rewrite. It also has no disc partition with a Windows 10 recovery feature. If Windows needs to be re-installed, what options do I have? (I have an external DVD drive, so creating a set of recovery discs wouldn't be a problem, it's just that there's nothing to create it from...)

If the warranty on the machine expires, how would that affect the options available to me?

TIA

Graham Kidd

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

it appears that your PC is supported by the HP cloud recovery tool which you use to create a bootable USB recovery drive that will reinstall W10, the drivers and the software that originally came with your PC.

Here is an info link for how to use that utility...

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06162205

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@gddik 

I'm not here to contradict what @Paul_Tikkanen as that will restore your PC to its original state. 

But if what you want is to restore it to the way it is at a particular time, including all your settings, personal data, and any applications you have installed or updated, you need to use a different solution -- which is described below ...

As to your warranty question, once it expires you are basically out of luck, as HP only services PCs that are still under warranty.  However, since the warranty starts when the PC is BUILT, not when it is SOLD, you need to contact HP support to get the warranty dates reset so you get your full 12 months of coverage.

UK HP contact info: http://support.hp.com/gb-en/contact-hp/

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I personally prefer to use third-party Backup solutions as they tend to be both more flexible and more reliable than any built-in solutions.

Macrium Reflect (MR) provides a FREE version that can be used to image and restore partitions or entire drives.

What I recommend is the following:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR) from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
2) Run MR and choose the option: "Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" to write a full backup to an external drive or USB stick
3) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD

My experience is that MR, when using the High Compression option, typically can compress the saved image file to about 50% of the USED space in the OS partition. This means if you have an 80GB OS partition, and 40GB is used, MR only needs about 20GB to store the image file.

I use this all the time and it typically takes less than 15 minutes to do the image backup and about the same time or less to do a restore.

Plus, MR has the option to Add a Recovery Boot Menu entry. This allows you then to boot into WinRE, and you can then use that to do a restore -- when you can't boot into Windows!

NOW, you have the means to restore a full working system from the external drive or USB stick in only a few minutes.

[gddik]

Thank you for your detailed reply, WAWood.  Both answers, yours and @Paul_Tikkanen's provide solutions to different, but equally important, scenarios, and I will implement both.

Thank you both again. Your help is very much appreciated.

Graham Kidd

[gddik]

Thank you, Paul. That's a very helpful solution, which I'll implement as soon as I get a USB drive of sufficient capacity.

Very much appreciated.

Graham Kidd

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Graham.