Windows 10: Create a USB Recovery Drive using Acer Care Center

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Answers

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    you are correct about ISO, normally is used to burn DVDs.

     

    USB is better.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Nick_Balandiat
    Nick_Balandiat Member Posts: 13 New User

    Yeah I was tempted to play with that just to see how it works.

     

    I guess I would SELECT ISO then copy the files to my PC.  Then simply burn those to a DVD-R.

     

    Change the boot order in BIOS to have it go to the DVD first.

     

    Then do a clean install from the DVD-R.

     

    But USB seems much...MUCH simpler!

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    USB is simpler.  DVD is cheaper. Smiley Wink

     

    I have an Acer windows 8.1 computer.  I used windows update to upgrade to windows 10.  Out of curiousity, I tried to make a USB recovery drive.  When I checked to see what kind of USB recovery drive it made, it was original factory default Windows 8.1.  It was approximately 15.7 GB used space on the USB drive.  I tested it.  I wiped the HDD with diskpart clean and used that USB recovery drive and it put my PC back to factory condition with windows 8.1.

     

    After that, I wiped the drive with diskpart clean.  I did a clean install of Windows 10.  After I installed windows 10, I created another USB recovery drive.   This time the USB recovery drive was approximately 3.7 GB in used space.  I tested it.  I wiped the HDD with diskpart clean, and then used that recovery drive to reset PC and it reset PC to Windows 10 (reinstalled Windows 10).

     

    There's various reports of different results on this forum, but that was my experience with recovery drives.  If I ever had a situation that was serious enough that needed me to reset my PC, I would simply wipe the drive with diskpart clean and clean install Windows 10 using installation media from here.  The most important thing is to keep your files backed up so you never have to worry about anything.

     

    So basically I have a factory default windows 8.1 recovery drive, a vanilla Windows 10 recovery drive, and also vanilla Windows 10 installation media.  I also have a Windows 8.1 drivers and applications DVD that I made a long time ago with Acer Recovery Management software because I still use a couple of the pre-installed Acer applications in my clean installation of Windows 10.

     

    Edit: I don't use Acer Care Center and have never had it on my computer so my results may not be the same as yours.  

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Nick_Balandiat
    Nick_Balandiat Member Posts: 13 New User

    Now I am CURIOUS. 

     

    When you did your recovery drive did you use "CREATE RECOVERY DRIVE" that you see in Control Panel OR did you use Acer Recovery Management.

     

    I clicked on Create Recover Drive (see picture below).  When I did it wanted a 15.9 GB USB drive.

     

    Now WHEN did you do this?  Was it BEFORE 30 days after your Windows 10 upgrade?

     

    I am going to get those installation files so I can make a clean install if need be.  

     

    I'm just unsure how am I going to make some sort of RECOVERY medium with Windows 10 on it that I can use for REPAIRS!

     

    Recovery drive.jpg