Can the Create Recovery Media be installed on a USB Flash Drive..

[mouserU]

A tiny USB flash drive is easier to carry and safe from sratches or breaking.  

Will it work, and how many gigs does the drive need to be?

Also, how many recovery media's can be created from the same computer? 

[IPnaSh]

It depents on what do you want to create. If you create a Factory Recovery Media, maybe 2/3 DVDS. So, can be 8.6 GB/12.9 GB aproximately.

The best thing you can do is create a DVD set (if you create it twice, better).

[mouserU]

Thanks..

So the first thing is... it IS possible to put the Recovery Media onto a USB flash drive.  So the entire OS and Factory Lenovo software & features can be loaded onto a hard drive, via USB flash.

It sounds like a 16GB flash would cover the size then too.

A related question is:  Can my current hard drive can be saved for recovery... with all the current installed programs, files, etc, as well as the OS, Lenovo's software, and all the drivers, etc?    So it could all be installed on drive in this laptop?

[IPnaSh]

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@mouserU wrote:

Thanks..

So the first thing is... it IS possible to put the Recovery Media onto a USB flash drive.  So the entire OS and Factory Lenovo software & features can be loaded onto a hard drive, via USB flash.

It sounds like a 16GB flash would cover the size then too.

A related question is:  Can my current hard drive can be saved for recovery... with all the current installed programs, files, etc, as well as the OS, Lenovo's software, and all the drivers, etc?    So it could all be installed on drive in this laptop?

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I think the answer is yes. You can create recovery on USB stick. But, USB stick isn't secure to use like a backup media. So, you must use optical disks (CD or DVD) or an external HD.

Yes, you can create a recovery media for the actual system state too.

[mouserU]

"

I think the answer is yes. You can create recovery on USB stick. But, USB stick isn't secure to use like a backup media. So, you must use optical disks (CD or DVD) or an external HD.

Yes, you can create a recovery media for the actual system state too.

"

Thank you

What does "secure" refer to?  And is there any way to make a USB drive secure?  Some browsing found that supposedly recovery media to USB flash drives is successful... though I want to know if it is successful with a Lenovo specifically.

What is the smallest device that could be used?   I have 30GB of HD contents, and that would be about 7 DVDs... I'd be happy to instead fit it all on one tiny drive.

Saving the systyem state is the goal - so a recovery would result in the entire HD contents  (programs, files, folders, settings, drivers, etc)  being present and usable.

Is this accomplished by choosing the setting:  "Save a complete backup of your hard drive to CDs or DVDs" ?

[IPnaSh]

Sorry for the delay. USB stick drives (flash drives) are not designed to work like a persistent backup media, that's why I told you they aren't secure.

I suggest you to use an external hard disk, or DVDs. If you generate DVDs set, you can make an ISO from each one, and save those ISOs to a hard disk.

Best regards.

[mouserU]

I am revisiting this issue again.

I decided to go a different route since the USB flash drive ideas doesn't seem like an easy sure process.

Will a USB external hard drive work OK for the Recovery Media, and in case I need to do a recovery? (3.5" SATA HDD in a USB external enclusure)

If so, can this drive also be partitioned, so the rest of the drive can be used for backups and data?

Thanks for your help!  I figure the best way to avoid glitches is to be sure before I buy&try!

[IPnaSh]

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@mouserU wrote:

Will a USB exteral hard drive work OK for the Recovery Media ? (3.5" HDD in a USB external enclusure)

If so, can this drive be partitioned, so the rest of the drive can be used for backups and data?

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It should work OK. If you want to take out your doubs, just connect a USB flash drive and run the recovery media creation process. Look if the USB flash driver appears on the list (to select a backup device). But I think it should work OK.

And, the disk can be partitioned like an internal disk. Also, if you want, you can install an operative system inside it.

Best regards.

[mouserU]

If you want to take out your doubs, just connect a USB flash drive and run the recovery media creation process. Look if the USB flash driver appears on the list (to select a backup device). But I think it should work OK.

And, the disk can be partitioned like an internal disk. Also, if you want, you can install an operative system inside it.

Thank you   I had a SATA to USB adapter in the other room, and the R7R does show a USB SATA as an option for Recovery Media.

The other part is what needs to be done when there are other partitions on the same HDD.  I would plan to put back-ups on another parition, and other data on a third partition.

R&R has a checkbox for "Do not destroy existing data" after the USB hard disk drive... Drive 2 F:\ selection

I am assuming this means existing data on the current partition, and not existing data on all partitions on the HDD.  Is that correct?

add: the Help button on the R&R says that that checkbox is for use when creating a bootable partition, and that it must be on the primary partition of a HDD.   Also, a few Lenovo help pages state that if an error message is generated, then try again without checking the checkbox.

Thanks again, greatly appreciated