How can I make a Win 8.1 bootable USB Recovery drive for Aspire E5-521?

Model: Aspire E5-521
BIOS: v. 1.03
OS: Windows 8.1
USB drive size: 16GB

Issue summary: I want to boot from a USB recovery flash drive and restore the default factory configuration on this laptop. I do not want to boot from the internal HDD. I created a USB recovery drive following the official Acer instructions and the laptop will not boot from the recovery drive.

Details: I have created a USB recovery drive on a 16GB USB flash drive using the Acer Recovery Management program and following the Acer Support instructions found here https://goo.gl/ns8CmH and here https://goo.gl/Z9rZaG. The creation process completes in about 30 minutes and reports no errors or problems. I would like to boot the laptop from that USB drive and restore the factory default installation. According the Acer Support instructions found here https://goo.gl/5EfE3E, I should be able to boot the laptop from the USB drive and perform the system reset, but the laptop will not boot from the USB drive. The drive never appears in the BIOS device list as shown in the instructions, nor does it appear in the list of bootable devices when the F12-at-boot option is enabled and engaged during POST. I have tried it using UEFI and Legacy boot settings in the BIOS but the device never shows up in the bootable device listing. When I have tried the recovery process within Windows 8.1 (PC Settings-->Update and Recovery-->Recovery-->Advanced startup) to select that device as a boot drive I get the message "System doesn't have any USB boot option" which leads me to believe that the Acer Recovery Management is not creating a bootable device but simply a copy of the files needed for the recovery process.

So I have two questions:

Is the USB recovery drive created by the Acer Recovery Management ("Create Factory Default Backup") program on this laptop with this OS supposed to be bootable?
If is supposed to be bootable, how can I boot from it or make it become bootable?

Any help or suggestions are appreciated. Thank you!

Accepted answers

All comments

ven98

To create a bootable recovery drive, make sure that back up system files to the recovery drive is ticked.

kkling

In all my attempts, that option was always selected. Still no fix, but thanks for the reponse!

IronFly

ok let's try to narrow a few things:
1) BIOS by default is set as UEFI or Legacy?
2) how the USB flash drive is partitioned and formatted?

Go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management, and select Disk Management
On the left of the right lower pane,
- right-click on Disk x and select Properties. (x is the USB flash drive number)
- Select the Volumes tab.
- The Partition style: entry will show as either Master Boot Record (MBR) or GUID Partition Table (GPT)
- Check on File system if it's FAT32

kkling

The file system on the USB flash drive is FAT32 with a single 14.41GB partition. I have tried it using UEFI and Legacy boot settings in the BIOS but the device never shows up in the bootable device listing.

IronFly

ok...but the USB flash drive is GPT or MBR?

can you please also update your BIOS?
https://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/BIOS/BIOS/BIOS_Acer_1.04_A_A.zip?acerid=635742825577623412&Step1=NOTEBOOK&Step2=ASPIRE&Step3=ASPIRE E5-521&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=ACER&SC=PA_6

and try to create a windows 10 bootable USB flash drive using these steps (just to check if it's a media problem):

1) download a windows 10 iso using Microsof tool:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209

select the proper windows 10 version (the same installed on your laptop) and choose to save it as iso file when prompted

2) download Rufus:

http://rufus.akeo.ie/?locale=en_US

plug your USB flash drive, run Rufus then:

select ISO image from the dropdown menu near "Create a bootable disk"

click on the little icon on the right and browse to the windows 10 downloaded iso file

as Partitions scheme select "GPT partition scheme for UEFI"

as File system select "FAT32"

click on Start

wait until it finish, then uplug your USB flash drive

3) Reboot to BIOS, pressing F2 at boot, then press F9 to load default and F10 to save and exit

4) plug your USB flash drive and at boot press F12 (if F12 doesn't work, see if it auto-recognise the USB flash drive or press F2 to enter BIOS and enable F12 boot menu under BOOT tab), choose the USB flash drive as bootable device

IronFly

Try also to disable secure boot on BIOS and use only USB2.0 ports

kkling

IronFly and ven98 thank you for your suggestions. If I wanted to spend more time on this particular question I would, and if I still worked in tech support I would stay at it to learn more. I didn't want to wait longer to get this laptop rebuilt so I went ahead and reset the laptop using the recovery partitions on the internal HDD. The USB flash drive is now being used for something else. Thanks again.

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