Recovery Disc

[jbubb]

I recently posted about my PC with Windows 10 that went nuts on me after cleaning it. I made a recovery disc for the computer I'm on now but it came with windows 10. The computer that went nuts started with Windows 8, upgraded to 8.1 and then managed to still slide Windows 10 on it even though the introductory offer had expired. I don't remember making a recovery disc for it and wondered if I wiped it and used one that I make, would it be a recovery disc for 10 or revert back to 8. I'm used to 10 now and would like to keep it but have noticed several on here are still using Windows 7? I know sometimes change is hard and as well for me to but if anyone has any age at all on them, they're probably similar to me and have gone through multiple Windows. I've gone through 95, 98, XP, 2000, 8, 8.1 and now 10 myself. There are several I've missed but it doesn't really matter if it still is supported does it?

Back to my original question, if I attempt to make a recovery disc for a PC that has Windows 10 on it but came with 8, which will it make a recovery disc of 8 or 10? Also does the hard drive in the PC need formatting before using a recovery disc. I could do a search on this but came here first because several on here have mucho knowledge. I've forgotten most of what I learned in the past because I haven't had to fool with them for a long time.

[Allan]

The recovery disk will recover whatever is on it. If you are running W10 then the recovery will be W10.

Personally, I prefer using disk imaging software on a regular basis. That will insure that if you ever have to recover your drive you will be able to do so and it will be CURRENT as of the last image you created. Acronis True Image is the best of breed but it isn't free. Macrium Reflect is the best free alternative (and it is an excellent option).

[patio]

The recovery disc will be the os that is currently installed...IE Win 10

[jbubb]

Thanks to both of you (Allen and Patio) I wasn't familiar with the disk imagining software you mentioned and it being possibly better than a recovery disc. I've looked around on the computer a bit but don't see anything I really need to save, but also need to know if the hard drive needs to be formatted before using a recovery disk. BTW, some say disc and some say disk, what the hey?

[Allan]

No

[jbubb]

Thanks Allen.

[patio]

c   k

it is what it is

[Geek-9pm]

Optical discs like CDs are spelled with a "c," and other kinds of computer storage media such as floppy disk drives and external hard drives are spelled with a "k."

Although there is some disagreement, Stedman's medical dictionary recommends the spelling "disc" for all medical uses. You can remember that "optical" has a "c" in it and the spelling "disc" for optical drives and biology (like your optic nerve) also are spelled with a "c."

https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/disc-or-disk

[jbubb]

Thanks Geek. I also found something on a recovery disc, this was asked before about having to re-format a hard drive before using a recovery disc. This was from a search engine:

"A recovery disc is any of various media containing a backup of the original factory condition or a favored condition of a computer as configured by an original equipment manufacturer or an end-user. OEM supplied recovery media are often shipped with computers to allow the user to reformat the hard drive and reinstall the operating system and pre-installed software as it was when it was shipped".

I was thinking you used a recovery disc to re-establish the essentials because of some malfunction, virus infection or other reasons. How can you use one otherwise? you already have a situation and use the recovery disc or you format and use it. My computer is totally different than it was, it won't even keep the setting of my mouse to a single click. Every time I boot it up, it goes back to a double click mouse. Just that alone is pretty messed up in my book.

Something else to add, when I say recovery disc, I'm not talking about the one on the page that shows your main hard drive, I'm speaking about the one you copy to a flash drive to boot off of in case of a serious situation where the S*** has hit the fan and all hope is lost. That's the way I feel about this computer because of its totally erratic behavior. The recovery disc that shows on the same page as your hard drive and your DVD drive was loaded with Windows 8.0. At least I believe so. I replaced the hard drive on it and just looked it up and it said it came with Windows 7, 8 and Mac OS. I would think it would boot to a Windows 8 install.

[Geek-9pm]

We are talking about a Recovery Disc.
Here are some thinks to consider.
This topic in general terms has been well covered here on this forum. For Windows 10 users the following may be considered the method most suitable for most Windows users.
The first step is to get a suitable hard drive that can be used for testing and experimentation. This is needed for the user to get experience and understanding of how Windows installation and recovery works using the tools available in Windows 10. Previous versions of Windows had different features for recovery and installation of Windows.
Once you have a spare disk available for testing, you place this into your desktop computer the same way the original drive was installed. When you boot up your computer you'll have to set it to boot from an installation media. For most users the installation media will be a USB to arrive that hand then previously set up from a Windows 10 computer. You may have to find a friend that has the same version of Windows 10 and have them createusb device for you. This is legal to do if you really do have a legal installation of Windows 10. In fact, you should have already created some kind of backup media for your computer, but apparently you have not.
So this exercise is to get you familiar with how backup and recovery and installation is done in Windows 10.
When you have a Windows 10 installation media and it is installed into the USB port and you have selected USB from the B IOS options the computer will start the installation process from the USB media. If everything goes right Windows 10 will ask you if you want to install Windows 10 on the drive you now have set in your desktop.
This is why it's important to remove the original drive. You do not want to destroy anything on the original drive, you may need it later or it may have important personal information that you don't want to lose.
Windows 10 should have no problem installing to a new or used hard disk drive. It may ask you if you want to format the drive or if you want to remove a partition on the drive. So you're going to experiment with this and see what it does. It should allow you to destroy or remove the existing partitions and create a new partition and format the new partition.
After the formatting is complete, Windows 10 will begin installation of Windows 10 on to the hard drive. There are several steps you'll go through and at one point there is an option for a recovery, but if the drive is empty there's nothing to recover so it will not ask you if you want to do recover.
Later on, using this same installation media, if you boot it up that would give you the option of doing a repair or recovery.
Perhaps can understand outline telling you have to go through the experience in order to understand what people are talking about. Sometimes it just easier to go through the experience and notice what it says and then tried again and notice the difference.
Yeah, this is the sort of thing where you learn more by doing it rather than trying to understand what somebody else is talking about. The key ingredient here is to use a blank hard disk drive that does not have anything on it you need to save.
And yes, Windows 10 does have an activation protocol that can limit your use of a new installation if you do not have a proper product the. Nevertheless, Windows 10 now makes it easier for people to do an installation just for the purpose of testing the system to see if it's compatible and in good running condition. In other words, you don't need the activation key just to see if the system will work on your computer. I really appreciate this thing that Microsoft has made in the activation process. This allows everybody to check out their computer without worrying about the activation process.
Later, when you want to do the activation, you have to have a good Internet connection so Microsoft can verify that your product key is legitimate and is suited for the version of Windows you have installed.
Most of this has been documented in other places and I thought I should do in formal conversational style summary of how it's working so did you get the drift of what is going on here.

I do hope this is of some help to you. 

Links:
https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001822.htm
https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000186.htm
https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001499.htm

[jbubb]

Geek, read the bottom of my post where I added some things. I want you to know I do appreciate your taking the time to post such a detailed explanation of things. I've went through most or all of what you've said after replacing the hard drive a couple of years ago.