Question Creating a Windows 10 recovery partition for restoration with a hotkey

[Pimpom]

A few years ago, I felt that it was prudent to replace the HDD in my son's 7-year-old Lenovo laptop (Win 8.1) although the original HDD still didn't have a single error on it. I created the necessary GPT/EFI partitions manually on an SSD, copied the manufacturer's backup files and restored the original installation by booting with the built-in hotkey.

Is it possible to back up a Windows 10 installation to a dedicated recovery partition and restore it later without needing an external boot media, assuming that existing partitions are healthy? Is it possible to assign a hotkey (or combination of keys) on a standard keyboard to initiate the restoration process?

 

[lvt]

You'd better create a separate restore disk, in case of drive failure (your recovery partition is also gone), you just have to replace the drive and boot the computer normally.

 

[Pimpom]

I know that's the usual way of backing up a Windows installation but I'd like to know how to do what OEMs do with their machines.

EDIT:
Or use an external device just to enable starting the recovery process with all the backup files residing in the main storage drive. That would be acceptable.

I used to do this from Windows 98 to 7 (I skipped Vista, 8 & 8.1) using the DOS version of Norton Ghost. I'd run Ghost in a DOS environment and back up everything in C: to a single compressed file that could be stored anywhere.

When the time comes to restore things, I'd boot the computer with a floppy disk, CD or thumb drive, run Ghost and restore everything from the backup file. A fully loaded installation with drivers and apps took just a few minutes to back up and restore even with old slow hardware.

 

[onespeedbiker]

I do something similar using an identical SSD with an external enclosure. I then use EaseUS Diskcopy and use the setup to periodically clone the internal SSD. If the internal SSD becomes corrupt I can clone it back or if fails I can just exchange the SSDs. I use the paid EaseUS program because is faster than other cloning software I have used.

If you're dealing with a Lenovo computer you can go to their website and it has a free service that lets you download and create recovery media; either an ISO or create an install USB for their OEM installs. You need to create an account with Lenovo and supply the serial number to determine the correct OEM software. You then download and run their media creater program; I pretty sure they still support all there Windows 10 computers (I recently downloaded Windows 10 media for a 2018 laptop, but they no longer support their Windows 7 computers).

Just for kicks I tried using the install media on an exterior SSD (I had to disconnect the internal SSD first) and it worked. The Lenovo Recovery software first partitions your drive and then installs its OEM software in a Recovery Partition. You then need to reboot and it installs it's software from the Recovery Partition. Generally you can boot from an external drive to finish the installation, but some earlier computers might have trouble with it.

 

[lvt]

Yes EasyUS worked great for me with Windows XP.

But I later found that Macrium is the best if you are using Win10.