When you buy a new computer, almost always, there is a recovery partition inside that is used to do a factory reset and restore the computer to its initial state in case there were problems. On computers where this possibility does not exist there are instead two parallel paths that can be traveled both or even coincide for full data security: make a general backup or only important files and create the recovery partition .
the backup saves the data on a disk other than the one where Windows is installed and allows you to recover the files also from another computer and even if the hard disk breaks.
The recovery partition can also be a backup of your data or it can be another option to be more calm in case of Windows errors, to restart the PC and bring it back to work correctly.
The difference between the partition and the USB recovery pen that can be created on Windows 10 8 and 7 is that the partition remains in the computer and there is no risk of losing it as it can happen with the USB stick.
Furthermore, the recovery partition can be created on the same disk where Windows is installed, therefore it does not require an additional disk (even if in this way there is the risk that if the disk were to break, in addition to the system and all the programs will be lost also the ability to restore your computer).
READ ALSO: How to Reinstall the Windows 10 Recovery Console (Windows RE)
To create a recovery partition, manually, you need to perform some operations on the PC.
1) Following the guide to Create a new partition, give the new volume 11 GB of space labeled "recovery".
If you only had a disk with a single partition, you will need to shrink the existing one before creating the new partition.
Then refer to the guide to create partitions, resize volumes and format disks in Windows 10 7 and 8
Before proceeding, if you have other doubts or to learn more, you can look at another article that explains what it means to partition disks and how to create, extend, merge partitions
2) Once the partition has been prepared, you need to insert the files that the computer will use to restore Windows in the event of a malfunction, error or virus.
On Windows 10 7 and 8, open the Control Panel and look for File History or Backup and Restore in Windows 7.
Then click on " Backup system images ", select the previously created partition, go Next and start the backup.
If you want you can also do a different operation .
Simply copy all the contents of the Windows 7 DVD to the new partition using the following commands in the command prompt by pressing enter after each (which opens by pressing the Windows-R keys and running the CMD command).
- cd d: \ boot
- BOOTSECT / NT60 X: (where X: is the new partition) and press Enter; this is the command to make the partition bootable.
- XCOPY D: \ *. * / S / E / FX: \ (where D: is the letter of the DVD and X: the partition).
In this way you can restore or reinstall Windows without losing personal data and settings, using the disk partition instead of the DVD.
READ ALSO: Restore, reinstall or reinitialize Windows 10 and 8 from a backup
To do all these operations automatically and easier, without having to touch partitions and without launching commands manually, you can use a free program called AOMEI OneKey Recovery that works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 10, Windows 8.1 to create a recovery partition.
Thanks to this program you can create a backup and an environment of tools to repair Windows if something does not work.
The created partition will be hidden and can be recalled, during computer boot, before loading Windows, by pressing the A key at PC startup or, in the case of computers with UEFI bios, by selecting AOMEI OneKey Recovery from the boot menu that appears automatically (also read the guide on how to start Windows 8 with the advanced boot menu).
The partition is created automatically on the main disk without the risk of losing any data, with a linear wizard where nothing needs to be changed.
The contents of the Onekey Recovery partition can be seen from the program itself.
The program is also able to create an image of the system (to be saved in the main partition of the computer) and can be integrated with AOMEI Backupper, always free and useful for creating data backups.
In the program's options, you can remove the boot entry from Windows boot by deactivating the Add the item " Enter into AOMEI OneKey Recovery " to Windows Boot Manager box .
