Your Windows system isn’t booting up. What’s worse, it won’t fix itself like how it did every time you encounter such a problem. You might think that you’re already out of options, but there are more recovery methods than you think.
One such method is the use of a USB recovery drive. With this, you won’t have to worry about issues like this anymore. After all, you can easily make use of it anytime, anywhere, as long as you have prepared it beforehand.
And for that exact reason, we are going to delve deeper into the USB recovery drive and what you can do with this powerful method. But before that, it might do you better to have one more method at your disposal.
Part 1. The Best Software to Do The USB Recovery DrivePart 2. What is a USB Recovery Drive?Part 3. Preparing the USB Recovery DrivePart 4. Using the USB Recovery DrivePart 5. Additional OptionsPart 6. Similar Method as USB Recovery Drive - System Repair DiscFinal Words
Part 1. The Best Software to Do The USB Recovery Drive
There are tons of people who’d kill to have a recovery method that will take them no more than a couple of minutes. Thus, the development of data recovery tools arose. And because of that, we’d like to introduce FoneDog Data Recovery.
Like any other tool, FoneDog Data Recovery is capable of recovering different types of files such as images, videos, documents, and more. However, there are also perks to choosing this tool over the others.
For one, it supports both Mac and Windows, making it compatible with most users. It also supports recovery from hard drives, SD cards, and most importantly, flash drives. this makes it a plausible option for a USB recovery drive. Either way, here’s how you can use this software.
Data Recovery
Recover deleted image, document, audio and more files.
Get deleted data back from computer (including Recycle Bin) and hard drives.
Recover loss data caused by disk accident, operation system crushes and other reasons.
Free Download
Free Download
Step 1: Choose Data Type & Location
Download and install the software from the official website of FoneDog. Once that’s done, open the tool and the first thing you should see is an interface with the option for file types as well as the storage drive. Select the file types you want to recover, although we suggest just selecting Check all file types. As for location, simply select the flash drive where the files you want to recover are located.
Step 2: Scan Files
Once the configuration is finished, click on the Scan button. The software should then start scanning for files. The Quick Scan will be initiated by default so it should be quick normally. You may also select Deep Scan once the initial scanning is done to make the scan longer while becoming more accurate.
Step 3: Recover Files
Regardless of the type of scanning you choose, at the end of the scanning process, you will definitely see a list of files. These are items that are recoverable from the selected drive. You simply have to select the items that you want to recover by clicking on their corresponding boxes. After selecting the files, click on the Recover button.
That sums up everything you need to know about the FoneDog Data Recovery software. All you have to worry about now is if it would be successful. Fortunately, the chance is fair, but in case the USB recovery drive didn’t work, we have yet another option for you.
Part 2. What is a USB Recovery Drive?
Creating a USB recovery drive is simply the method for recovering the Windows by creating a duplicate of the whole system into a USB drive. This would mean that it would take time to create all those files, so that’s one downside and also one reason we provided a recommendation first.
Although there is a downside, we believe that there is more than one advantage to using such a method. For one, it’s a built-in feature in Windows so you can easily trust this method. Plus, you won’t have to purchase any product as long as you have a USB drive to spare.
Overall, using a USB recovery drive is a very plausible option and you won’t lose anything by using it except for the time and effort of learning how to use it. With that matter settled, let’s head to how you can actually prepare and use it.
Part 3. Preparing the USB Recovery Drive
As a quick reminder, you have to remember that since you’ll technically be copying the whole system into the USB recovery drive, you will need to make sure that the drive actually has the capability of storing it. This would mean that it should be a drive with large storage.
In addition, the drive that you will use will have its data deleted completely. For that reason, we suggest using an empty USB flash drive. You don’t have to worry about it getting corrupted as well since we’ll be using a legit method. Nonetheless, here’s how you can do this:
- On your Windows, click on the bottom-left corner of your screen. This should open the Start menu.
- On the Start menu, there should be a search bar. Here, type in “recovery drive” and an option that says ‘Create a recovery drive’ should show up.
- There should be a toolbox showing up. From there, check the Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive box followed by Next.
If this option is greyed out, then that only means that your Windows doesn’t support the creation of a USB recovery drive. Fortunately, we have another method for you, but we’ll discuss that later. For now, let’s head to the next step.
- Insert a USB drive on one of your PC’s USB ports. Make sure this drive is empty so as to avoid losing any data. There should be a size indicated along with the drive letter. Take note that you may also do this step in the first part of this process.
- Once you select a USB drive, click on the Create This will start the duplication of the whole system into the drive. Depending on the size of the system, it may take a while. Regardless, remember to not interrupt the process.
- Finally, click on Finish to finalize the process. As a friendly reminder, before unplugging the flash drive, eject it properly first to avoid any issues.
At this point, you now have a ready-to-use USB recovery drive. Now all you have to do is to learn the steps on how you can actually use it.
Part 4. Using the USB Recovery Drive
Fast forward into the future, and you now have a damaged Windows operating system. Now, what do you do? Fortunately, you’ve created a USB recovery drive before it happened. With that said, here are the steps you need to follow to use this method:
- Insert the USB recovery drive on your computer through the USB ports. Make sure the computer is turned off at this point.
- Now turn on the computer and it should display be a different screen from usual with appropriate options.
- First, you have to choose the language which should be up to you. Throughout this process, you will be using your Mouse to navigate as well as confirm.
- After the language, you should see a Choose an option This is a list of options for what you want to do with the USB recovery drive. First, select the Troubleshoot option.
- Now on the Troubleshoot screen, there are more options. From here, select Recover from a drive.
- Again, there will be options. Select Just remove my files this time.
- Finally, click on the Recover
- Once you boot up the Windows operating system, you will be taken through the setup process again, just like when you first got the computer.
At this point, you are now able to do the things you weren’t able to do before your Windows operating system failed you. there shouldn’t be any problem at this point, except if you weren’t able to create a USB recovery drive. In such a case, you don’t have to worry since you have more options than you think.
Part 5. Additional Options
Although we chose to Recover from a drive earlier, there are actually more options that can be used on your Windows operating system. We only chose the one that seems to be the best way to use a USB recovery drive. Nevertheless, here are the other options you may have:
- System Restore. This would allow you to revert your PC to a point in time when it was still as healthy as it can be. This functions the same as with a USB recovery drive, but this time it wouldn’t delete all your files and instead, keep the files that were there before.
- System Image Recovery. This method is similar to the System Restore in a way that it allows you to restore the system to a certain point in time. While System Restore is limited to restoring your system to when you created restore point, this method is limited to when you created a system image. Plus, it will only change certain parts of your system and will leave everything else as it is.
- Previous Build. Again, this is like the System Restore option except that it is limited to turning back time on your system to its previous builds. This means you can only revert it to how it was before you updated the firmware.
- Startup Repair. Startup Repair, on the other hand, is a minor solution since it is very quick to do and carries much fewer risks. This can be done during bootup as well. Either way, it’s worth a shot to try it out if you don’t enough time.
- Command Prompt. The Command Prompt option is more of professional advice. This is because you won’t be needing a USB recovery drive, but you will have to memorize all the codes needed to recover your system. In short, you have to be an expert and have a considerable amount of know-how in such situations.
These five options should be able to serve as additional options for recovery. However, none of these seems to work similarly with a USB recovery drive. Coincidentally, we have just the method for you that you might be able to use easily.
Part 6. Similar Method as USB Recovery Drive - System Repair Disc
A similar method to using a USB recovery drive is by using a System Repair Disc instead. Of course, there are differences between the two. But if you already know how to manage the USB recovery drive, this should be a piece of cake for you.
As you may have already realized, the difference between the two is the fact that you will be using a DVD or CD instead of a USB drive. So without further ado, here’s how you can use this method to your advantage:
- Go to the Start menu on your Windows just like how you did before.
- This time, launch the Control Panel which should be located at the right side of the Start
- Next, click on the Backup and Restore
- In this section, you should be able to see a Create a system repair disc option on the left side of the window.
- The operating system should start looking for available DVD or CD drives. There should be a dropdown menu at the center. Click on this and select the drive you want to use.
- Now click on the Create disc
This will take a while depending on the size of your operating system. Either way, you should already acquire a ready-to-use recovery disc after this. Now let’s head to how you can use it:
- Go to your Windows Settings.
- Head to Update & Security followed by Recovery.
- Under the Advanced startup section, there should be a Restart now Click on this button.
- During the bootup of the operating system, you will see a list of options. Just like we did before, head to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options, and this time select the System Image Recovery
At this point, you’ve already restored your Windows the way you want. With this, you already have multiple options for recovery besides the USB recovery drive. This should be enough for you to have no worries with handling your operating system.
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Final Words
A lot of problems arise as we use our computers. It’s only natural to think of a way to not go to the trouble of solving these issues with typical solutions. Thus, we’ve introduced to you the creation of a USB recovery drive.
This is a method used by professionals to solve even the most severe problems. However, that doesn’t mean that you can solve all of them with this method. With that reasoning, you have to make sure you take care of your computer and not wait until the problem occurs.
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