HP Z840 User Guide - Page 36

Creating recovery media and backups Recovery after a system failure is only as good as your most recent backup. CAUTION: Use a flash drive with a capacity of at least 8 GB. Any information on the USB flash drive will be erased before the recovery media is created. 1. After you successfully set up the workstation, create recovery media. This step creates a backup of the recovery partition on the workstation. The backup can be used to reinstall the original operating system in cases where the hard drive is corrupted or has been replaced. You will use a USB flash drive to create a bootable recovery drive that can be used to troubleshoot a Windows 8 workstation that is unable to start. The USB flash drive can be used to reinstall the original operating system and the programs that were installed at the factory. CAUTION: If you select Copy contents from the recovery partition to the recovery drive, you will have the option to delete the recovery partition when the Recovery Media creation is finished. On most systems, this partition is 10 GB in size. HP recommends that you not delete this recovery partition. If the partition is deleted, you will be unable to restore the Windows 8 factory recovery partition to the hard drive using the recovery USB drive. You can free up drive space by deleting the recovery partition, but you won't be able to refresh or reset the PC again. To create the recovery media, from the Start screen, type create a recovery drive, and then select Create a recovery drive. Follow the on-screen instructions to continue. 2. As you add hardware and software programs, create system restore points. A system restore point is a snapshot of certain hard drive contents saved by Windows System Restore at a specific time. A system restore point contains information that Windows uses, such as registry settings. Windows automatically creates a system restore point for you during a Windows update and during other system maintenance activities (such as a software update, security scanning, or system diagnostics). You can also manually create a system restore point at any time. For more information and steps for creating specific system restore points, see Windows Help and Support. From the Start screen, type help, and then select Help and Support. 3. As you add photos, video, music, and other personal files, create a backup of your personal information. Windows File History can be set to regularly and automatically back up files from libraries, desktop, contacts, and favorites. If files are accidentally deleted from the hard drive and they can no longer be restored from the Recycle Bin, or if files become corrupted, you can use File History to restore the files that you backed up. Restoring files is also useful if you ever choose to reset the workstation by reinstalling Windows. NOTE: File History is not enabled by default, so you must turn it on. For more information and steps for enabling Windows File History, see Windows Help and Support. From the Start screen, type help, and then select Help and Support. Restoring and recovering using Windows 8 tools Windows recovery tools provide access to several options for recovering your system. Choose the method that best matches your situation and level of expertise: 28 Chapter 5 Setting up, backing up, restoring, and recovering Windows 8