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Will Aomei One Key access System Restore Points in Windows 10

Good Evening 
I am already a user of Aomei Backupper Standard and regularly use it to make disk backups on my desktop PC and Lenovo ThinkPad laptop. I also have the Aomei bootable media on USB flash drives which do start the Recovery program on a testing basis - never yet had to use them in anger!!
I have another problem which I am finding unsolvable and now wonder if Aomei One Key Recovery might help me with it.
I also have Windows 10 Recovery drives for both machines which do boot up both of them when tested - the desktop allows progress through the recovery environment to allow clicking through to the box which gives access to the System Restore points already set up on the computer but the same thing is not possible on the Lenovo laptop. The eventual message is shown in the attached image.
I must stress that I do not want at this stage to reinstall Windows with these Recovery media but for now just want to be able to start a 'blocked' computer to then get back to a previous point of normal function.
Would Aomei One Key be able to get me to a point where I could use the System Restore points - or even get into Safe Mode ?
Sorry if this is not explained very clearly, but as a bit of a computer beginner I am not sure of the various correct descriptive terms that I should be using.
Do hope someone can help me.
Regards,
Roy.

Comments

  • edited September 2020
    Roy,
    You may find that Windows 10 will do what you are asking unlike the earlier versions of Windows.  Try the following:
    1.  Hold down the shift key.
    2.  Click on the start button and then the power button like you do when shutting down.
    3.  Click on the restart option. 
    4.  The machine should reboot and present you with a condensed menu.
    5.  Select Advanced options.
    6.  The Advanced options screen will appear and one of the options is system restore.  Selecting the system restore selection will allow you to access all of your system restore points.

    The screen that you are getting on your Lenovo computer makes me think that your recovery partition contains a different version of windows than the machine is running on.  For example: your recovery partition most likely contains the exact image of the operating system that was on your computer initially (perhaps even Windows 7 if you upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10).  Or perhaps the recovery partition contains Windows 10 version 1703, 1709, 1801, etc, and your computer may be running on windows 10, version 2004.  In that situation then Aomei One Key would allow you to update the recovery partition so that it contains the same version of Windows as your active system, but I am not sure if it would allow you to access the System Restore Points.  I have not actually used Aomei One Key but I have read what it is supposed to do and one day when I feel flush I may purchase a copy and try it out.

    There are other ways to get to the system restore area so if you have additional questions or need a better explanation don't hesitate to ask.
  • Good Morning Vbbritt - many thanks for your prompt reply.
    I did know how to get into the Advanced Options screen OK  by your Shift/Restart method  as I had read it up earlier.  
    It works OK when the computer is running normally but my problem has only cropped up when I try to boot up using a Recovery Drive/ Installation media  on USB flash drives produced through Windows on the laptop. It is when I test that procedure that I get the situation as described in my first post. 

    Your further comments in your post are inspired !!  I had already been suspecting the Lenovo Recovery (Q) partition and your own suspicions would support this. Facts are :-

    1) Laptop bought Sept. 2016 with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit installed. Specification says "upgradable to Windows 10 Pro".
    2) Laptop upgraded (by local computer 'tech' ) to Win 10 Pro on 20/01/2020.  This 'tech' has suggested removing the recovery partition, but I was worried about doing that, so didn't.
    3) Laptop now running Windows 10 Pro - just because it is, not really because I wanted it.  In fact I don't know what the difference is or the relative advantages over Windows Home.

    I am interested in your comment about Aomei One Key being able to update the recovery partition to current active system.  Do you think I should do that anyway ?

    When coming across AOK on the Aomei website last night I see that they have a 50% reduction on it at the moment for the rest of today - may be worthwhile buying it now.

    I have attached several screenshots associated with the subjects above which should cover everything - please let me know if more info. needed.

    As before, your interest and help is very much appreciated.

    Best regards,

    Roy.
  • edited September 2020
    Personally, I do not think that a recovery partition is beneficial if you make system backups on a fairly regular basis.  The reason that I feel that way is because with a rescue media (bootable disk) you can restore your machine back to the state it was in when the backup was created.  I make a full system backup weekly and then I keep five backups so I could roll back my machine a month if needed.  If you ever had to use the recovery partition then your machine would be placed back at that particular point in time which is generally like it was when it was brand new.  So if you went back that far then you would lose you photo's, documents, patches from Microsoft, video's, etc.  It would be much the same as starting over from scratch. 

    I have had to restore my machines on various occasions due to file corruption, picking up ransomware somehow, and various other problems.  Within a few minutes (15 to 30 minutes) my machine is back up and running exactly where it was before the incident happened.  I do not have to restore much of anything, perhaps a weeks worth of data at best.  I have used different backup programs over the years and when you develop confidence in a recovery product then the importance of a recovery partition is minimal.  Especially since the recovery partition is on the same physical drive as your boot disk.  Usually when you have a hard disk crash you lose your recovery partition as well.  I have not needed or used a recovery partition in the last 12 years, but I have had to restore backups numerous times in that same period.   

    So if it were me I would simply delete the recovery partition, depend on my backups, and regain use of the 13 GB of disk space being occupied by the recovery partition.  I have become very fond of Aomei's Backupper and I am of the opinion that if I create a backup and verify it for accuracy upon completion that the backup will save my bacon if I run into trouble.  I purchased a license for the pro version and that would be my recommendation for anyone because of the additional options that the pro version gives you.  Aside from Aomei's Backupper there is a product from Acronis called True Image that I am also confident using.

    As for buying Aomei's one key I think that it is a waste of money since windows 10 provides you with the capability of performing virtually the same thing.  The one thing that I would look into is the amount of ram memory that you have.  If your laptop has a couple of spare memory sockets I would install an addition 4GB of Ram memory.  Windows 10 runs so much better and faster with 8GB of ram and the cost is really minimal.  If you don't have any spare memory slots then replacing your 4GB of memory with 8GB of memory will accomplish the same thing.

    Good luck my friend.
  • Thanks for that Vbbritt - just a few clarifications if I may.

    Is Systems Backups (on Aomei) the same as Disk Backups ?   Our regime is disk backups for both desktop and laptop fortnightly on to external HDDs on an alternating basis and we save the last 3 on each one.  Am I correct in understanding that these backups just return the system/disk only to the date selected ( a bit like an extended system restore point) as opposed to a full reset/install which would result from a recovery partition restore which would lose all data and programmes ?

    Deleting recovery partition- how much is there a risk of this causing the laptop to become unuseable ?   What are the steps I have to take to carry out the deletion ?  Can you talk me through it ?

    I am still confused as to why the bootable Windows media (on USB flash) is able to take me eventually to a simple system restore point selection on my Win 10 desktop, whereas a similar bootable USB done on the Win 10 laptop doesn't allow me to do the same thing there.  Is it because of the presence of the Recovery (Q) partition on the laptop but there isn't one on the desktop or is the difference of one being Windows Home and the other one Pro involved in some way ?

    I have attached an image of the desktop disk arrangement for you to compare with the laptop one.

    With regard to Aomei One Key Recovery vs Windows capability, -  are you saying that the Windows Recovery Drive and/or MCT Installation Media are the same as the Aomei OKR insofar as it would still act as essentially a 'factory reset' option ?   In that case then it would not help me as I already have both Windows recovery / install systems already built and stored on individual USB flash drives.

    Thank you for the advice about the Ram memory upgrade.  I will try to find a computer firm locally to do that for me - things are a bit disjointed here at the moment because of the Covid difficulties but I will look into it.

    Best regards,

    Roy.
  • Yes, the system backup and disk backup do essentially the same.  With the system backup, Aomei Backupper automatically determines which partitions are part of the active system and should be backed up so all that you have to do is specify the destination for storing the backup.  With the disk backup you select both the source disk and also the destination for storing the backup.  Both the system backup and the disk backup will only restore the hard disk on your computer back to the point in time when the backup was created. 

    A manufacturer's recovery partition is not all that difficult to remove, but it is not something that a novice should attempt.  First you would need to determine whether your machine boots up via the system bios using the Master Boot Record, which is normally stored at the beginning of the disk, or via a boot loader stored in the EFI System Partition.  For example the disk management record above for the Lenovo computer appears to be a UEFI system because according to the disk management record you have a EFI System Partition.  On that same machine you see 4 partitions with the Lenovo Recovery partition as the last partition.  That last partition is the manufacturer's recovery partition and the only one that could be safely removed.  However, to be able to utilize the space freed up by the removal you would need to move the partition and combine it with your drive C partition.  This is not all that simple and would require an optional program like Aomei's Partition Assistant or Minitool Partition Wizard to rearrange and combine partitions.  A UEFI system will generally have a 100 MB Fat32 EFI system partition, a boot partition (Drive C), and approximately a 560MB something (563/565) recovery tools partition.  Those partitions must remain and if you accidentally mess them up or delete one then your machine may not boot.   

    The second disk management example that you included above does not have a EFI System Partition so I would assume that it is a legacy system that boots up using the system bios and a master boot record.  It appears to have a small recovery partition (450MB) but it is not a manufacture's recovery partition and should not be deleted.

    If the bootable USB Windows disk that you are talking about is one that you made with Windows you possibly could have installed the recovery partition on the flash drive when it was created.  If so then it is possible that that flash drive is giving you access to your restore points.  Or if the machine is a Dell and your bootable USB disk is from the manufacturer then it could be a recovery and restoral disc that has both the advanced diagnostic utilities and the complete windows recovery information on it.  Without knowing exactly what the USB drive is and how the bootable media was created I am only guessing though.   

    Your assumption is correct.  The Aomei One Key Recovery appears to be the same as a factory restoral option.  It provides you with the ability to create a recovery partition on your disk and to copy all of the files necessary to restore your machine to a viable working condition. 
  • Good Morning Vbbritt - many thanks again for your kind help in sending me so much useful information.

    A couple of final (?!) points please:-

    1) Deleting Partition - this looks like it is above my paygrade and so I think I will leave it alone.

    2) System backup vs Disk backup - have been doing disk backups for both machines so far, but as the laptop has several partitions should I change to system backups for the laptop ?
        On the system backup screen in the Aomei program for the laptop only the first 3 partitions show ( EFI system : Drive C : and 563 recovery tools ) there is no Lenovo Recovery (Q) partition.

    3) Bootable Windows USBs - I have 2 x USB Flash Drives per machine with Windows recovery media created on the appropriate machine stored on them.
       
     ESD -USB (E) is Installation Media done through Media Creation Tool.

     RECOVERY (E) is Recovery Drive done directly from Windows 10.

    Both of these boot the machines into  the Windows recovery environment (blue screen with white boxes) and then Troubleshoot> Advanced Options > is available.  Then, as you know, I can get to System Restore points on the desktop but not on the laptop - which is what started all this !!
    Attached are a couple of screenshots of the Flash Drives.


  • edited September 2020

    I am inclined to think that doing the disk backup instead of a system backup is really better since you are essentially selecting every partition on the disk yourself instead of letting Aomei Backupper decide which partitions to select.  I have seen the disk backup task display 4 partitions (drive C and 3 other partitions) while system backup task only displays three (drive C and 2 other partitions). 

    The Lenovo Recovery Partition is a vendor specific recovery partition and will only appear on a Lenovo computer.

    I am assuming that you are using the media creation tool to download and create a bootable copy of a particular version of Windows 10 on a USB flash drive.  That way you have a bootable copy of the same version of Windows that is running on a given machine.   


  • This is the screen we see when doing a Disk Backup on the Lenovo laptop after selecting the disk 'to add' and clicking it to go green.   Is this correct for me to do it this way ?



    Yes, I used the Media Creation Tool to create a bootable copy of the version of Windows ( 10 Pro ) on the laptop with the USB Flash Drive plugged into it.  It is exactly specific to that machine and it's running version of Windows at that time.

    Regards,

    Roy.
  • Yes, it is correct to do it that way.
  • Thanks Vbbritt.

    I think we have covered all bases now.

    I am immensely grateful to you for all the help and patience you have shown towards me - it means a lot to a confused novice to get that sort of confidence-building advice.

    Keep well and safe,

    With many thanks,

    Regards,

    Roy.
  • I was pleased to be of assistance.
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