Create Recovery Drive Problem

[Wavelength]

In the first step after inserting the flash drive, when the computer searches for the drive, it can't find it. The green bar just keeps sliding across the box. Any suggestions on how to fix this? Thanks in advance. Cheers, Wavelength.

HP Win 10 Notebook

 

[WestFred]

Is the drive discoverable if you just plug it in ? Is it the right size ? You need at least a 16G for a 64 bit system.

 

[Grizzly]

look in the disk management if the drive is even recognized. If so you might need to format or at least assign a drive letter to it .

 

[Wavelength]

WestFred-Yes it is a 16 gb thumb drive and it does show up on computer drives.

 

[Snuffy]

In the first step after inserting the flash drive, when the computer searches for the drive, it can't find it. The green bar just keeps sliding across the box. Any suggestions on how to fix this? Thanks in advance. Cheers, Wavelength.

HP Win 10 Notebook

Make sure the program u are using formats @ Fat32. if not then it is not bootable. and some USBs are not in correct Format.
and if used some programs can not reformat unless wiped by LowLevelFormat or factory reset. I use HDLLF (https://drive.google.com/open?id=17p9Me3HhkCTUoUqNnSLWuWeDMO0PWG4o) is where i keep mine.

 

[WestFred]

It takes a while for the PC to prepare the recovery drive files, and in some cases it requires more than 16Gig as the drives are usually less than the number. My original Win 10 config needed a 32G USB drive. I'm sure you have tried a different USB drive if it still doesn't work. Since my original recovery drive creation, I have removed my HDD computer hard drive and put in a SSD, and also got rid of my recovery partition. Creating a recovery drive now on my PC, it says to insert a USB drive with only 1 gig required.. so it's only going to have the files necessary to boot up and reinstall a good image if I ever need it, and that's all I need as running in an image is quite quick, faster than a system restore. Here's some info from the HP site, have fun. https://support.hp.com/my-en/document/c04641788

 

[Wavelength]

Yea, WFred, I'll try a 32gb drive. With the SSD are your files saved too? And couldn't HDD boot to image in the same way? I'm new to the recovery thing, so please excuse novice questions. Cheers, Wavelength.

 

[Grizzly]

Make sure the program u are using formats @ Fat32. if not then it is not bootable. and some USBs are not in correct Format.
and if used some programs can not reformat unless wiped by LowLevelFormat or factory reset. I use HDLLF (https://drive.google.com/open?id=17p9Me3HhkCTUoUqNnSLWuWeDMO0PWG4o) is where i keep mine.

That is incorrect. A USB drive does not have to be FAT32 to be bootable. NTFS is bootable as well. All my USB drives are NTFS (due to the restrictions FAT32 has regarding File names) , even my 1GB drives are bootable NTFS...

 

[WestFred]

Yea, WFred, I'll try a 32gb drive. With the SSD are your files saved too? And couldn't HDD boot to image in the same way? I'm new to the recovery thing, so please excuse novice questions. Cheers, Wavelength.

Hi WL, yes my HDD would and did boot and install backed up images. There was nothing wrong with it, just got a good deal on a 500G SSD, so cloned the C drive and a couple other partitions required to run it. The SSD is so much faster, and no moving parts, easy to change out as I've done a couple PCs before. I have attached another good link, and it says to format the recovery drive as NTFS, something to try if it's still not working for you. Good luck and keep us posted on how you make out.

How to Create and Use a Recovery Drive or System Repair Disc in Windows 8 or 10

Windows 8 and 10 let you to create a recovery drive (USB) or system repair disc (CD or DVD) that you can use to troubleshoot and restore your computer.

www.howtogeek.com

 

[Snuffy]

That is incorrect. A USB drive does not have to be FAT32 to be bootable. NTFS is bootable as well. All my USB drives are NTFS (due to the restrictions FAT32 has regarding File names) , even my 1GB drives are bootable NTFS...

I have never seen a Bootable USB drive that was not FAT32.
Windows 10 recovery usb flash drive , formatted fat32 or ...
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-10-recovery-usb-flash...
Jun 30, 2019 · Click Create Recovery drive, flash usb drive inserted, box labeled "Back up system files to the recovery drive" checked, then i clicked next to start process of creating recovery drive. When creation was completed,i checked content of the created Flash recovery drive and was formatted FAT32.

 

[Grizzly]

By default USB drives are formatted in FAT32 but they can be formatted in exFat or NTFS as well....
Even the MCT uses FAT32 when creating a Installation medium since it is not only widely used but also works with older computers. However, in my opinion, NTFS is better suited as bootable drive