Step-by step Instructions to create recovery USB for HP Z2 Mini G3 Workstation

[MiS01]

Received a new HP Z2 Mini G3 Workstation a couple days ago and have been looking for detailed instructions on how to create a backup Windows 10 USB in case of a system crash.  

1.  What size USB?

2.  I have a partitioned 256 GB solid state drive and a 1 TB HDD.  Should I also store a copy on one or the other of those?  I assume HP already installed Windows 10 on the solid state drive.  

3.  Should I backup the BIOS?  If yes, how?   

4 Any other backups that should be created now while the computer is new?

Thanks for any help!

[mdklassen · Accepted solution]

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@MiS01 wrote:

I have been looking for detailed instructions on how to create a backup Windows 10 USB in case of a system crash.  

1.  What size USB?

2.  I have a partitioned 256 GB solid state drive and a 1 TB HDD. 

3. Should I also store a copy on one or the other of those? 

4. I assume HP already installed Windows 10 on the solid state drive.  

5. Should I backup the BIOS?  If yes, how?   

6. Any other backups that should be created now while the computer is new?

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1. There is a utility to create a "System Recovery Set".  Run it, and it will tell you the size. My guess is that 16GB is enough.

Or, download the latest release of Windows 10 from: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

2. That utility tends to "clear" and "format" the target device, i.e., deleting everything on the target media.  So, use a 16GB USB memory stick. 

3. After creating the backup on the USB, you could use third-party software to create an "ISO" file from the contents of the USB stick, and retain it.

4. I see no reason to disagree, although a friend's brand-new Dell had a 256GB SSD that got "loose" during shipping.

Windows was installed on it at the factory, but "nothing" was found the first time that we booted the computer.

We initially thought that Dell "forgot" to install Windows onto the 2TB disk-drive.  Once we re-seated the memory-stick, we "found" the factory-installed copy of Windows.  We had to remove the graphics adapter to see/reach the memory-stick!

5. Why bother?  The BIOS will be available from HP's web-site for up to 10 years.

6. Not that I can think of.  The "backup" USB that you create will contain everything, e.g., PDF versions of the manuals.

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