PC Applications forum

Question

Create recovery disk so all software installed at once?

by rytis2017 / April 16, 2017 4:20 AM PDT

Is there a way to make a recovery disk or hard drive, so that if I need to completely reformat my computer, all my software (meaning different programs I personally use, not just what comes with the package) can be reinstalled with one click, instead of one by one?

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Clarification Request
Depending on
by itsdigger / April 16, 2017 5:55 AM PDT

What operating system , things have changed now.

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Windows 10 - samsung laptop.
by rytis2017 / April 16, 2017 8:34 AM PDT
In reply to: Depending on

Windows 10 - samsung laptop.

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Answer
Re: recovery disk
by Kees_B Forum moderator / April 16, 2017 8:45 AM PDT

I'd make an image backup to an external hard drive. It's easier to restore if you put just Windows and your programs on the c:-partition and everything else (ypur data) on a d:-partition. That isn't effected then by a restore.
Many programs that can do this, even Windows 10 itself.

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I don't understand
by rytis2017 / April 16, 2017 9:18 AM PDT
In reply to: Re: recovery disk

The programs install automatically on I assume drive C? And when you do complete pc recovery, everything on drive C is lost. If you are saying copy all installed programs from C and back them up? which exactly folder should I copy?

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Not folder backup. The entire hard drive is copied.
by R. Proffitt Forum moderator / April 16, 2017 9:30 AM PDT
In reply to: I don't understand

TODO and other companies have apps to copy the entire drive so you can restore it to the state it was at the time of backup.

Post was last edited on April 16, 2017 9:30 AM PDT

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Re: image backup
by Kees_B Forum moderator / April 16, 2017 11:25 AM PDT
In reply to: Re: recovery disk

Since I happen to have an Western Digital external, I can use the free WD version of Acronis True Image (download from WD site).
Others here recommend Easeus Todo Backup Free.

It's all your choice.

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I just did this
by itsdigger / April 16, 2017 11:43 AM PDT
In reply to: Re: image backup

for the first time today .I added a SSD a few days ago and now I have the internal 1TB HDD to use as a backup. Cool
I used the free version of EaseUS Todo Backup to make an recovery image on the Internal and the external HDD's .
I was pretty painless , I'm not sure how long they took because I was doing other things and not paying attention . Blush
It was easy ! Shocked

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Answer
never will have a one click
by renegade600 / April 16, 2017 12:26 PM PDT

all you have to do is to create a clone of the drive and store it until needed. there are many different cloning utilities out there. I personally use clonezilla. other good ones have already been mentioned

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