I want to relocate restore drive to bigger external HD

[bwilson300]

My Restore partition is almost full and slowing the computer. I want to relocate the restore to an external Hard Drive.How can I do that? 

[old_geekster]

@bwilson300, welcome to the forum.

The Recovery partition on your hard drive should not be used to store files.  It is meant to Recover the system if you have problems.  You should remove any files that are not pretaining to the Recovery process and assure that you save to another partition in the future.

Please click the Thumbs up + button if I have helped you and click Accept as Solution if your problem is solved.

[kflash08 · Accepted solution]

Moving the recovery partition to another drive will likely not work if you try to recover from it. Already tried this with my HP laptop, and although I was able to boot off it, I was not able to select a recovery method as the computer knew that it was on another device. Even if the recovery options were there, it would probably recover to the external device instead of the hard drive inside the system.

If you haven't done so already, please create a recovery image by launching HP Recovery Media Creation, that is, after moving all files that were not part of the recovery partition. (DON'T remove/delete the file "recovery" with a folder/lifesaver icon). It's recommended that you create the recovery image on a USB flash drive that's no smaller than 32 GB. Once it finishes, the USB flash drive can be used to recover the system should the hard drive fail. Keep the USB drive in a safe place and don't use it for anything else. You should also have the option to remove the recovery partition from the hard drive and regain space.

[bwilson300]

Thank you!

It Worked!

It was even a bit easier than your instructions, (once I had the courage to start).

I opened my Control Panel and found a "Restore" icon. I opened it and three options appeared. When i clicked "Create a New Restore Drive", it discovered the old, 512g Toshiba USB drive I had previously inserted. It gave me a warning that everything on the Toshiba drive would be erased. Then I selected "Load System Files". After about 5 to 7 minutes, all of the new recovery files appeared in the newly created "Recovery" drive.

My next step is to use the tool to remove the now defunct, old recovery partition.

[bwilson300]

HELP! After following the excellent directions to configure a "Restore" drive on a large USB drive, (Windows 10) and then following the directions to delete the "D:Restore:" partition, my computer has failed to start, directing me to "Choose your keyboard layout", with the attached screen. 

[kflash08]

Did you remove the USB flash drive that you created the recovery image on from the computer? Sounds like the computer is booting from it and not from the hard drive.

[bwilson300]

Bingo!

You were absolutely correct.

I removed the USB Restore drive and started the computer. It came up. I then inserted the USB Restore dtive and it immediately started. Now it is fixed!

The new larger Restore is operative and I have labled the USB Drive as my Restore.

Thank you!!