Full image backup solution that provides a bare metal recovery for the Switch 10

Hi,

For many years I have been using Acronis products to backup my PCs as disk images and in the past (Win7) have successfully performed a bare metal recovery following e.g. HDD failure - using a CD-ROM or USB to boot from and then re-loading a full disk image.

I recently upgraded to the latest Acronis product and had to send off my Switch 10 for a within-warranty repair (it was given a new motherboard and BIOS update). When I received it back I expected to be able to quickly restore it but no such luck - hidden away in a KB article (https://kb.acronis.com/content/43091) is the limitation that Acronis cannot boot from external media on 32-bit UEFI devices like the Switch 10, apparently because it is written/compiled in 64-bit code.

I have since tried NovaBACKUP but also run into the same problem that I cannot reboot from their "disaster recovery" media (tried both USB and CD ROM without success). I would really like to be able to make a full image backup (i.e. with all applications etc., not just the system plus user files) - has anyone succeeded in making one of these for the Switch 10 and, more importantly, installing it using bootable media?

Thanks

Tim

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dekemstra

After fiddling around with this for a couple days, I've discovered "The Secret" (well, maybe it's "A Secret").

The recovery process I have successfully tested and validated on my Acer Aspire Switch 10, is a multi-step, rather involved combination of Acer Recovery Manager and Microsoft Recovery Image tools.

It requires a couple of USB Flash drives - one to create the Bootable Recovery Media and the second to hold the VHDX partition images.

Unfortunately, the Bootable Recovery Media gets built with a FAT32 format and therefore cannot hold the large VHDX files the Windows 8.1 Image Tool creates. That is where the second USB Flash drive comes in. Formatted to NTFS, the second flash drive can accommodate the 4GB to 6GB VHDX Image files or each partition.

So, step 1 is to use Acer Recovery Management to Create Factory Default Backup on the first USB Flash drive. I used an 8GB drive and it was more than sufficient. This flash drive is formatted to FAT32 and created as bootable. It is purported to be usable to restore the Switch 10 to it's factory defaults. I wasn't interested in doing that so never validated it. But, it does boot well and allows one to utilize the Advanced Recovery Features, including Restoring a Custom Image (located on the second USB Flash drive).

To create the Custom Image with all your settings, Applications and (important to me) all the patches and updates released by Microsoft, you will need to Use File History from Control Panel.

In the lower right corner of File History is the option to create the System Image Backup. The tool will query your system for destination drives. I believe I had to utilize the 64GB micro-SDHC (also formatted to NTFS) to hold the WindowsImageBackup folder that is created. Once the folder structure is created and the image files written to the micro-SDHC card, you have to remove the goofy security permissions with Administrator privileges and copy them to the second USB flash drive. For some reason, when booting with the first USB flash drive, it doesn't see the micro-SDHC card - probably a driver thing. I wasn't interested in identifying what driver was required and bundling it into the Bootable Recovery USB Drive. It stands to reason that it could be done, though.

Now that I had both drives with the necessary files, I figured it would a good idea to prove it out.

Using a cheap 3-port USB hub, I connected both USB flash drives to the keyboard port and powered on the Switch 10. The process to replace the O/S and all files was very straightforward (having done this countless times in Windows 7 & 8) upon completion, the Switch 10 reboots. It's a good idea to remove the Bootable Recovery USB flash drive while the reboot takes place, otherwise you'll go back into the Recovery Environment and will have to select Power Off.

I think it's important to note that the WindowsImageBackup folder has 3 VHDX files representing the 3 partitions on the integrated 32GB eMMC SSD - the UEFI partition, the Windows 8.1 System Partition and the 7GB Recovery Partition. I will probably keep one copy of the WindowsImageBackup folder with all 3 VHDX files just in case I ever want to reset the system back to exactly the way it came from the factory (not likely since I have a good image of the system with my preferred configuration to use).

What I plan to do next is delete the 7GB Recovery Partition and expand the System Partition with the space gained. Then, I'll take another Image which will only have 2 VHDX files; UEFI and the Win 8.1 System partition.

This is a rather long post, but I hope it helps you get a recovery image you can depend on.

Best Regards,

Doug

[edited for privacy-please do not post personal or unique information such as but not limited to full names, email addresses, phone numbers, serial numbers, etc.]

jeevone

Dekemstra, have you been successful in removing the 7gb recovery partition finally?

dekemstra

No, jeevone, I regret to say I have not.

In fact, a couple calls to Acer Technical Support over the weekend have given me additional insight - You cannot delete the hidden Recovery Partition because the Switch 10 utilizes a technology called "WIM Boot".

There are two Microsoft Image Files on that hidden partition (with file extensions *.WIM) and the Windows 8.1 Operating System actually uses them during the boot process. If one successfully deletes that hidden partition, the Switch 10 won't boot up anymore!

The bottom line is; there is no way to recover that 7GB of disk space because it is used by the Win 8.1 O/S.

I was curious to learn more about WIM Boot so did a couple Google searches. It's real and has very widespread adoption / use among computer manufacturers as a way to save money and, in some cases, speed up the boot process. Manufacturers save a few dollars by putting small EMMC SSD's in their systems and we get computers that can only hold so much data, programs and Microsoft patches until they are just full and cannot hold anymore.

I've cleaned and cleared everything I can off my C: partition that I can and currently have 8.64GB free space. My C:\Windows\Winsxs folder has 54,715 files in it and consumes 5.98GB on the C: drive. Too bad one cannot relocate that garbage to a micro SDHC card.......

Best Regards

billsey

There is a folder in the Windows directory called "SoftwareDistribution" that holds things like your downloaded updates, even if the update has been installed. It allows you to roll back updates when needed, but it tends to use up a bit of space. My W700 running 8.1 Pro currently have about a gigabyte used in that folder (I have a 128GB SSD, so it's less critical to me), You might do a bit of Googling to see what in there is superfluous...

tjly

Many thanks for this!

I tried to apply the same approach but when attempting to create a recovery disk got the following error message:

"We can't create a recovery drive on this PC.

Some required files are missing. To troubleshoot problems when your PC can't start, use your Windows installation disc or media."

SInce I have no Windows installation disk or media, this looks like the end of the road for any bare metal backup for me...

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Tim

tjly

To answer my own question: I had been trying NovaStor backup as a solution (didn't work either by the way). After uninstalling this, the Acer Recovery Manager worked OK to make a factory settings recovery backup.