How To Create A Windows 10 Recovery Backup Image (2020)

November 5, 2019
Posted by: Craig Chamberlin
Category: Microsoft Windows

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Step By Step Instructions

**STEP 1: Click On The Start Menu Button.**

**STEP 2: Type Control Panel Into The Search Box.**

**STEP 3: Select The Control Panel To Launch The Control Panel.**

**STEP 4: If Necessary, Modify The View By To Sort The Control Panel By Large Icons Instead Of Categories.**

**STEP 5: Select Backup And Restore (Windows 7).**

STEP 6: Connect The External USB Hard Drive. The External Hard Drive Must Be The Same Size As The Used Disk Space Of The Drive Or Larger. Windows Will Notify You If The Drive Is Too Small. After The Drive Is Inserted, Click Create A System Image.

**STEP 7: Select The On A Hard Disk Radio Button And Choose The External Hard Drive From The Drop Down Menu.**

STEP 9: Select All Of The Partitions On The Drive To Backup. Do Not Select Any Partitions On The Backup Disk Itself. Windows Warns If The User Attempts To Select A Partition On The Already Existing Backup Disk. Click Next.

**STEP 10: Confirm The Selections And Select Start Backup.**

**STEP 12: When Prompted To Create A System Repair Disk, Select No. For System Image Recovery We Use The Windows 10 Recovery Drive Included With The Windows 10 Installation.**

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Lesson Summary:

This lesson can be found within my book 27 Amazing Windows 10 Performance Boosting Tips: A Complete Visual Guide For Beginners, Intermediates & Experts. The goal of this lesson is to teach the user How To Create A Windows 10 Recovery Backup Image in 2020, This lesson is performed using a complete visual guide. First, we will assess the primary skill one user will obtain through the lesson. Second, a brief risk analysis of how the lesson can impact system performance and security. Finally, we conclude with learning why this particular lesson is important.

Skills Obtained In This Lesson:

Skills Obtained In How To Create A Windows 10 Recovery Backup Image (2020)

Risk Analysis Of This Lesson:

Risk Analysis Of How To Create A Windows 10 Recovery Backup Image (2020)

Why Learning How To Create A Windows 10 Recovery Backup Image (2020) Is Important:

Are Hard Drive Images Powerful?

Hard drive images are powerful because they are a snapshot of the existing operating system in that specific moment in time. This snapshot contains all software currently installed on the operating system as well as their corresponding licenses. On top of that, an image contains all critical system and user files. So a backup image contains almost everything a user might need to recover from a data catastrophe.

Image backups are, by far, my personal favorite when it comes to system backup. In fact, it is not uncommon for me to create multiple images throughout the year. I generally keep these images stored on several external hard drives. Backup images are the best method to allow for absolute recovery from a crisis. An image is a reliable snapshot to fall on no matter what situation may arise.

Is Backup Image Creation Easy?

Thankfully, Microsoft makes the creation of recovery images a snap. This feature is included with the Windows operating system as far back as Windows 7. Once upon a time, users had to rely on 3rd party companies to create stable and reliable backup images. The difficulty for most users was recovering the image once it is created. Image backups are created through the Backup and Restore utility included with Windows.

Microsoft made tremendous strides in the area of recovery as well. The integrated recovery console for Windows 10 allows for a quick restore of image backups. The only downside of this method of recovery is the need for an external hard drive large enough to store an entire image of the hard drive. The drop in the cost of small, external drives makes this a much smaller barrier than it once was.