Hi, Good question! I’m not familiar with backup key. I think the name you give the usb drive might be regional. I kinda stuck with thumb drive since it is close to the size of a thumb. I’ve also heard it called a pocket drive because it fits in a pocket. Good to hear from you!
Great video. If I have more than just the system drive installed, does this process affect the other drive(s) in any way? I envisage reinstalling the system on my C drive and accessing all my files on a secondary drive.
Hi, first before you attempt this, be sure to backup your critical files to an external drive for that “just in case” situation, and disconnect that drive from your pc before you start the recovery for safe keeping. It has been a while since I attempted a recovery for a system with multiple drives, I recall the recovery detected more than the one windows system drive and asked if to remove all files from all drives or only the drive where Windows is installed. I don’t recall if that was Windows 10 or 11.
Hi a follow-up, I had the opportunity to reset a Windows 11 device earlier today, it has a main drive (windows 11) and a secondary drive as well. After booting to the recovery thumb drive, at the Recover from a drive screen, "Just remove my files" was selected. I did not see an option to select remove all files from all drives or only the drive where Windows is installed. Still proceeded with the recovery, the end result was the Windows 11 was reinstalled on the primary drive and the secondary drive's files were still available on the secondary drive. The best advice is back up your critical files to an external dive first, just to be safe. Good luck!
Very interesting. So a “thumb drive” is the same as a backup key? Or also called a flash drive?
Hi, Good question! I’m not familiar with backup key. I think the name you give the usb drive might be regional. I kinda stuck with thumb drive since it is close to the size of a thumb. I’ve also heard it called a pocket drive because it fits in a pocket. Good to hear from you!
Great video. If I have more than just the system drive installed, does this process affect the other drive(s) in any way? I envisage reinstalling the system on my C drive and accessing all my files on a secondary drive.
Hi, first before you attempt this, be sure to backup your critical files to an external drive for that “just in case” situation, and disconnect that drive from your pc before you start the recovery for safe keeping. It has been a while since I attempted a recovery for a system with multiple drives, I recall the recovery detected more than the one windows system drive and asked if to remove all files from all drives or only the drive where Windows is installed. I don’t recall if that was Windows 10 or 11.
Many thanks.
Hi a follow-up, I had the opportunity to reset a Windows 11 device earlier today, it has a main drive (windows 11) and a secondary drive as well. After booting to the recovery thumb drive, at the Recover from a drive screen, "Just remove my files" was selected. I did not see an option to select remove all files from all drives or only the drive where Windows is installed. Still proceeded with the recovery, the end result was the Windows 11 was reinstalled on the primary drive and the secondary drive's files were still available on the secondary drive. The best advice is back up your critical files to an external dive first, just to be safe. Good luck!
Thanks again. Your thoroughness speaks well of you.