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Using a Bootable USB drive to facilitate a System Restore

edited August 2016 in AOMEI Products Support

I have read your description of the system restore procedure and I have a few questions.  In that description I believe that you said that one would need to have created a SYSTEM BACKUP previous to the problem in order to be able to do the restore.  I have done a DISK BACKUP, so I am assuming that that type of backup wouldn't work.  Is that correct?  And if so, what is a DISK backup good for?

I understand that if my system has a catastropic failure (crashed disk, virus invasion, etc) that requires either a new disk drive to be installed or a complete scrub of the existing disk (erase/reformat),  that I would need to begin the system restore process with a bootable media (which I would also need to create in advance (ie in anticipation of such an event).  My question:  If  I should choose to create a bootable USB to facilitate the System Restore, will the computer automatically boot up from the content of USB drive when I turn it on with the USB drive installed?  You mentioned in the instructions that something might need to be reconfigured in the BIOS to get the system to boot up from the bootable CD.  Would that also apply to using the USB drive or not?  And is there a procedure written down somewhere for how to do that (configure the Bios)?  I am assuming that this can be done on the system with a completely empty C drive(after all the purging has been done)?  Also, what would the capacity of the USB drive need to be to do this?

I am assuming that the bootable media created would include enough of the AOMEI program so that I could locate and select the version of the SYSTEM backup that I would like to restore to.  Correct?

Just one more thing:  If I restored the system as described above, would my complete system be restored, including all my data files.  Or would I have to restore those files and all my other apps separately?

Comments

  • " I have done a DISK BACKUP, so I am assuming that that type of backup wouldn't work.  Is that correct?  And if so, what is a DISK backup good for?"

    You do the disk backup right? Did you do the restore? What is your problem when you do the restore or when you boot the system.

    "My question:  If  I should choose to create a bootable USB to facilitate the System Restore, will the computer automatically boot up from the content of USB drive when I turn it on with the USB drive installed?  "

    You can create the bootable USB in another computer.

    "Just one more thing:  If I restored the system as described above, would my complete system be restored, including all my data files.  Or would I have to restore those files and all my other apps separately?"

    Yes, it will restore all the data, system and the program which is in the backup image.That is to say, it will restore to the satus when you do the backup.

  • Ok, as to question 1 above:  I have done a DISK backup. I have NOT done a restore because I haven't needed to.  What I am asking is, is this type of backup (DISK) that I have done already at all useful if I wanted to restore my system?  The description in your user's guide says that I need to have prepared a SYSTEM backup if I wanted to restore my computer after a major failure.  So, I am just asking, what good is a DISK backup if it can't be used in the restoration of my system?  Again, I have not needed to do a restore of my system. I am just trying to determine exactly what it is that I need to do in advance so that I could do a successful restore of my system in the future if I needed to.


    I don't need to create the bootable USB on another computer if I do it now (while my computer is operating properly).  I understand that I need to create the bootable USB to be used as part of the system restoration process if I should ever need to do a restore in the future.  All I am asking is: 1) what size USB drive do I need to use to create this bootable USB? and 2) if I did need to use the USB to facilitate a restore process in the future, would my computer AUTOMATICALLY recognize the USB as  a bootable media on startup?  Or would I have to configure the BIOS in some way for this to happen? (as mentioned in your user's guide in the case where a bootable CD were to be used).


    Ok, do understand that whatever was backed up would be restored.  Just to reiterate, I would need to do this restore using the SYSTEM backup, right?  The DISK backup would not work for restore process, correct?  Please clarify.

    Thank you so much for getting back to me on this.  I am learning - maybe slowly - but I am learning.  Al

  • yes the disk backup will work it will restore your computer is now and the usb drive probably wont boot until you go into the bios and tell it to boot from usb drive when you want to restore your computer with the disk backup you made

  • 4gb or higher for your usb drive

  • Thank you stoneyc,  can you explain to me or point me to a written description of how to configure the bios for USB boot up?  

    Per your answer about the disk backup (comment #3 above), just to be clear, I can restore the system using just the DISK backup.  I don't need to do and have on hand an additional SYSTEM backup for this purpose.  All I would need is a bootable media and the DISK backup folder and I am good to go?  Right?

    Thanks again,  Al

  • Yes, you need to have the bootable USB made with AOMEI Backupper and the backup image for the disk backup. If you want to boot it from the USB, you need to connect the USB to the computer and then restart to the BIOS to set the USB as the first boot. How to restart to the BIOS, you can check it in the internet because it varies from different computer.

  • edited August 2016

    >>>>>can you explain to me or point me to a written description of how to configure the bios for USB boot up? 

    This depends completely on your computer. On current HP one has to press esc during boot, and then F9, or directly F9. This F9  gives a menu showing the devices to boot from. On very traditional computers you go into bios setup, by pressing either ESC, or F2, or F12, or DEL (key usually shown very quickly during boot in a line at the lower edge of the screen), and then set the boot order of the devices, in the boot section of setup.

    >>>>  I don't need to do and have on hand an additional SYSTEM backup for this purpose.

    That's not exactly true for AOMEI Backupper. A system backup, when restored, will do some extra magic that restore of a disk backup will not do. This matters mainly on UEFI computers. The extra magic ensures that it will boot. Such magic can also be done by hand, in Windows command shell, after a disk backup restore.

  • Yes if you have the disk backup, there is no need of the system backup. Can you  boot into the BIOS? 1. boot into the BIOS  2. move to the boot option.   3. find the boot priority or the first boot item.   4. Choose the USB.  5. Move the USB to the first.  6. Save setting. 7 reboot the computer.


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