Quick Answer: Backup System Files to the Recovery Drive or Not

Should I back up system files to the recovery drive?

Recovery drive with backup system files to the recovery drive option

I'm trying to create a recovery for my Windows 10, and during the process, I get an error saying: "We can't create the recovery drive: A problem occurred while creating the recovery drive."

With some searching, I found that a common way to fix the error is to un-tick the "Backup system files to the recovery drive" message before proceeding to create a recovery drive.

Thus, I'm wondering if I should back up system files to the recovery drive." 

- Question from Reddit

The answer is both "Yes" and "NO". On the one hand, the "back up system files to the recovery drive" option allows you to recover from a drive in the Windows recovery environment in case of serious problems. On the other hand, all the non-preinstalled programs and personal data will be deleted during the process.

Thus, after recovery, there is only a fresh version of Windows left, with the preinstalled program or necessary drivers. If you want to restore the entire system including all the data on it, creating a system image backup regularly will be a better choice. 

What does unchecking backup system files to the recovery drive do? If you uncheck it, the created recovery drive will only contain troubleshooting or repair tools provided by Microsoft, with no means of reinstalling Windows. All in all, it's not a bad idea to create a Windows 10 recovery drive back up system files. 

How to back up system files to the recovery drive and use it

Here you will create a Windows 10 recovery drive with the "back up system files to the recovery drive" option. Note it can only be used on the computer you created and requires a USB flash drive of at least 8GB. Then, read the next part and create a recovery drive in Windows 10 step by step.

1. Back up system files to the recovery drive with "Recovery Drive" 

Step 1. Connect the USB drive (at least 8GB) to your computer.  Be sure it can be recognized.

Step 2. Type recovery drive in the search box and select Create a recovery drive. Also, you can directly type this command %windir%\system32\RecoveryDrive.exe to open it.

Step 3. Check the backup system files to the recovery drive option and hit Next. This option gives you a chance to reinstall your computer when you cannot troubleshoot your computer.

Step 4. Select the USB flash drive and hit Next.

Step 5. Click Create to create a Windows 10 system repair disk. Please backup files first if there is something important. As the picture shows, everything on the drive will be deleted. 

When the operation ends, you might see the option Delete the recovery partition. Click it and then select Delete if you want to free up drive space on your PC.

Tip: If you do not have a USB flash drive, you still can use a CD or DVD to create a system repair disc in Windows 10. 

2. Use the Recover from a drive option to reinstall Windows 10/11 

After creating a Windows 10 recovery drive with system files, you may want to use it. Below are the detailed steps: 

Step 1. Connect your system repair disk via a USB port. Restart your computer, press a specific key to enter BIOS, and set the USB drive as the first boot option. 

Step 2. On the keyboard layout page, select the language your computer currently uses.

Step 3. In the Choose an option page, select Troubleshoot and then Recover from a drive.

Step 4. In the Recover from a drive page, you will be asked if you want to fully clean your drive. If not, click Just remove my files. 

Step 5. Here you will be told which items will be removed, confirm them, and click Recover. 

Windows 10 can't create a recovery drive

As shown in the user case, many users have difficulty in creating Windows 10 system repair disks with the backup system files to recovery drive option checked. A common way is to uncheck this option. 

As a matter of fact, there are some things you can try before unchecking this option. 

• Be sure the USB drive is at least 8GB. If it's Windows 10 64-bit, the size is larger and requires 16GB. 
• Copy the install.wim file from the Windows 10 installation file to a folder on your hard drive. eg: H:\Windows-OS-image. Type Reagentc/setosimage/path H:\Windows-OS-image /index 1 in the command prompt window.

Then, you can try the above steps to create Windows 10 recovery drive with backup system files to the recovery drive option. If you still fail to include system files or you want to ensure data integrity in the event of disaster recovery, you can try to use a trusted and reliable free backup software,  AOMEI Backupper Standard.

With this, you can make bootable media (applies to all versions of Windows 7/8/10/11/XP computer) and create a system image backup including personal data and installed programs on the system drive. Thus, you can easily get your computer back without downtime and data loss.

How to backup system files to the recovery drive including OS and files

Here you will use free backup software AOMEI Backupper Standard to backup system files to the recovery drive. It can ensure 100% data integrity by backing up the operating system, system files, drivers, programs, data, etc.

1. Back up Windows OS regularly

Click System Backup under the Backup tab and then it will select the entire system partition and system files required to start Windows. After that, select a destination path and click Start Backup to back up the system.

At the lower location, there are three options that can bring you much convenience. You can enable one or more of them. 

Options: You can compress the system image to a smaller one with a Normal or High compression level, enable email notification to notify you of the final result timely, password protect your backup image with Enable encryption for backup, etc.

Schedule Backup: You can create a regular backup with Daily/Weekly/Monthly schedule backup. Also, you can use the USB plug-in and Event trigger feature in the Professional version. 

Backup Scheme(advanced):  You can enable incremental or differential backup to backup only changed files. In this way, you can prevent data loss to a great extent. Besides, you can delete old backups to free up disk space for new backups.

2. Create bootable media for disaster recovery

It still allows you to create a bootable USB to boot the computer when it fails. Click Create Bootable Media under the Tools tab, then select bootable disc type (Windows PE & Linux) and bootable media (USB Boot Device, CD/DVD, ISO files), and click Next to start the creation.

3. Create customized recovery environment

It's a good idea to create a recovery environment in Windows 10 if you don't have a USB or CD/DVD. It's to add a boot menu on the current computer and you can easily access it without inserting a USB and booting from it.

After creating a system image backup and bootable USB or recovery environment, you can restore system image to new hard drive or SSD at any time. Please follow the steps below to perform system recovery:

1. Restart your computer to BIOS and change the bootable media as the first boot option, then boot from it. Or, directly restart your computer and select Enter into AOMEI Backupper at the system startup.

2. After loading, on the main page of AOMEI Backupper, choose Select Task under the Restore tab. You can still choose Select Image File to locate the system image if you know where it is.

3. Then, select the system image in the Restore tab and click Next. Note that you can choose among full, incremental or differential backup if you create multiple scheduled backup tasks.

4. Afterward, select what you want to restore from this system backup, either the entire system or a partition on it. Also, you choose to restore the system to another location by ticking the lower left option. 

5. You will be asked to select a destination location if you choose "Restore system to other location". If not, you will see the Operation Summary window, tick "SSD Alignment" if you restore the system to a new SSD and click Start Restore to use the previously backed-up system.

Notes:✎...

SSD Alignment: It helps you accelerate the reading and writing speed while cloning HDD to SSD.

Universal Restore: It is able to backup and restore the system to a new computer with dissimilar hardware, which will install all the necessary drivers required to boot Windows.

Verdict

The "Back up system files to the recovery drive" option is very useful when you need to reinstall Windows, for example, your computer runs into a blue screen of death.  But you cannot use it to recover non-preinstalled programs and personal data. 

To achieve this goal, the best way is to create a system image with free backup software - AOMEI Backupper Standard. If you are worried that it may fail to boot, you can then create a bootable USB just in case. With both of them in hand, you can recover your computer quickly in any situation. For IT Technicians, try AOMEI Backupper Technician or TechPlus.