Want to burn recovery media to DVD+R DL, but only letting me select USB

[torindkflt]

Greetings. I am currently working on an HP Stream 13 netbook running Windows 8.1. It has only 32GB of onboard storage, which of course has become completely full by now. I am wanting to delete the recovery partition so I can reclaim that storage space, but before I do so, I would like to create a backup copy of the recovery media in case the computer ever needs to be restored to factory settings in the future.

The Stream 13 does not include an optical drive, however I do have a USB DVD burner along with some blank DVD+R DL media I would like to use for this task. I prefer optical media in this case because it has better long-term storage durability than USB flash drives, which can begin to gradually lose data after a few months in storage due to current leakage and degredation of the flash memory cells. Also, I plan on storing them in plastic clamshell cases that, being physically larger, are much harder to misplace than a tiny little flash drive.

The problem is this: since the Stream 13 does not include an optical drive, the Recovery Manager currently does not allow me to burn the recovery media on DVD, even if I connect the USB DVD burner and insert a blank DVD+R DL disc. It insists that I connect a USB flash drive, and ONLY a USB flash drive.

So, my question...is there a way I can convince/coerce/force it to burn the recovery media on DVD instead of a flash drive? An update I can install for the Recovery Manager software, a setting I can change, a registry hack, some Command Line tricks...anything to get it to put this on DVD instead of USB flash drive?

Thank you for any assistance.

[banhien]

@torindkflt 

Please use single layer DVD's. I don't think it knows external ODD

Regards.

[torindkflt]

Unfortunately, using single-dayer DVD-R discs did not work either, it still only allows me to create recovery media using a USB flash drive.

Is there anything else I can try or do to get it to burn the recovery media on DVD? I know that different models of HP computers have versions of the recovery manager that allow you to choose between DVD or USB, and I imagine it's a simple configuration file or registry setting that needs to be changed to tell it whether to allow DVD or not. But, where could I find this setting?

[WAWood]

@torindkflt 

My suggestion is you consider using a third-party solution known as Macrium Reflect (MR).

I prefer to use third-party recovery solutions for the following reasons:
1) More flexibility and reliabilty -- can make recovery media as often as you like, not restricted to one attempt, which if it fails, then you are stuck.
2) More media options -- can create media in DVD, USB stick, or external drive format
3) Mounting option -- can "mount" the save images as virtual "drives" and extract individual files and folders
4) WinPE boot option -- can install a special boot option that allows you to boot to recovery information and do a repair or restore from there -- when Windows will not boot

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, USB stick, or DVDs
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 WinPE, 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, USB stick or DVDs in only a few minutes.

Good Luck