system image

[STHuf]

I've made a couple of false starts at creating a system image. I'm running Windows 10 on my Spectre x360 laptop. The method I'm using is as follows: Settings - Update & Security - Backup - Go to Backup and Restore - Create a System Image.  At that point it asks "Where do you want to save the backup?" It should be finding my HP P500 Portable SSD drive attached to one of my USB ports but it doesn't show up in the list.

Since HP limits us to one System Image, could it be that the system believes I've already succeeded in making my one Image so it's refusing to grant me access to the external drive as a means of thwarting my efforts? And if that's true, how can I convince HP that I haven't succeeded yet? And is it conceivable that they can grant me another try?

[WAWood]

@STHuf 

Using built-in imaging tools is unreliable and risky.

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 60% 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 24GB 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.