Is it possible to put the recovery partition back on SP once it's been moved to USB?

[QuentinJ]

Hi,

I'm thinking about following these instructions: Create a USB recovery drive for Microsoft Surface | Free up Surface storage space in order to move the recovery partition of my SP on a USB drive.
I'm however wondering now - if I do this, is there any ways in the future to put the recovery partition back on my SP or is it gone forever if I move it to a USB drive?

Kind regards,

Q

 

[xandros9]

You can repartition the drive later and copy the files back, but it wont be 100% the same. it probably wont matter though unless you're trying to WIMBoot.

 

[QuentinJ]

Thanks for the answer.
Only asking to maybe free some space (although 128gb + 64gb microSD (upgrading to 128gb soon ) + >1TB OneDrive is a lot) but also wanted to know in case I upgrade to a newer SP and giving this one to someone in my family, I though it'd be easier if they only require the SP in case of problems rather than having to keep the drive as well.

Also, how do you go about putting the recovery files back on the SSD?

Thanks again

 

[xandros9]

Thanks for the answer.
Only asking to maybe free some space (although 128gb + 64gb microSD (upgrading to 128gb soon ) + >1TB OneDrive is a lot) but also wanted to know in case I upgrade to a newer SP and giving this one to someone in my family, I though it'd be easier if they only require the SP in case of problems rather than having to keep the drive as well.

Also, how do you go about putting the recovery files back on the SSD?

Thanks again

I would use Disk Management to shrink the main drive however much space is needed for the recovery files.
Then I would create a new volume, copy the files back to it. It's not exactly the same, but its still something.

I think you could also hide the drive.

 

[RajeevT]

Then I would create a new volume, copy the files back to it. It's not exactly the same, but its still something.

Point is, will it work when the time comes? Are you sure simply copying the files back to a new partition is sufficient? No changes to be made in the BCD or anywhere else so that the refresh/reset OS functions will be able to locate the files and work properly?

 

[xandros9]

Point is, will it work when the time comes? Are you sure simply copying the files back to a new partition is sufficient? No changes to be made in the BCD or anywhere else so that the refresh/reset OS functions will be able to locate the files and work properly?

I've reset my Dell Venue tablet with the recovery information on an SD card.
This is the same idea, just more permanent.

 

[RajeevT]

I've reset my Dell Venue tablet with the recovery information on an SD card.
This is the same idea, just more permanent.

Yes, but when you specifically boot from the recovery USB/SD card to reset, the OS knows that is the source to consider. When you restore the files like this then will the reset function know which partition contains the necessary files? If it searches all available partitions for the data then that's fine, but if on the other hand it refers to the BCD to find out which partition is to be used for recovery, it might very well fail if you simply dump the files into a new partition without updating the BCD to point to their location.

The Windows RE (Recovery Environment) partition also has a specific Partition ID (27h in case of MBR) or GUID (DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC in case of GPT), so again if the reset function only looks in partitions with these specific (GU)IDs, a manually created 'normal' partition is likely to be skipped.

Your idea may very well work, but unless someone knows how the reset function locates the required files or better still actually tests it there's no guarantee of success. I'm sure you'll agree that with such an important feature one simply can't afford to take chances and wait for disaster to strike, only to find that the manually recreated recovery partition is useless!

 

[xandros9]

I initiated the reset via normal controls in PC Settings where it asked for the files, since i had removed them some time ago.

plugged in an SD card and voila, we were off. I would imagine it would easily find the extra partition.

 

[RajeevT]

I would imagine it would easily find the extra partition.

I wouldn't leave it purely to my imagination, assuming that the restored recovery partition will work just as before. Better to at least test once before getting rid of the recovery USB's contents deliberately or by mistake, thinking it's not required any more. When handing out advice on something so important, far better to be 100% sure than leave it to chance, don't you think so?