Create windows 7 system repair disc/usb

littlemoney

I have been given a Windows 7 computer to replace my own dying windows 7 laptop. I want to keep this computer going as I have some old software that will not run when I buy a new laptop. It already had some software installed such as Firefox, Office etc on it but to ensure the computer will continue to work I want to ensure I can restore it. I read I should create a System repair disk. Can I do this using a USB stick and if so what size/capacity do I need please or does it need to be a CD/DVD please. Thanks

Neil_Jones

All a repair disk is boot to an environment to repair the installation.  It won't help you "restore" anything (save for System Restore, which isn't particularly reliable outside of Windows anyway).

You'd do better to have a spare disk and clone the drive.  Then if it falls over you just replace the drive and clone it back.

littlemoney

Neil_Jones said:

All a repair disk is boot to an environment to repair the installation.  It won't help you "restore" anything (save for System Restore, which isn't particularly reliable outside of Windows anyway).

You'd do better to have a spare disk and clone the drive.  Then if it falls over you just replace the drive and clone it back.

Do you mean an external hard drive and copy the entire contents of the computer on to it?

Neil_Jones

It can be done with USB hard drive but if you have access to desktop and spare drives/cables it'll be far quicker to do it that way.

googler

What are you aiming to "repair"? I think we need more info

littlemoney

Nothing at the moment but I read that its a good idea to create this and a system image if problems arise in the future. I need to read up more about an image.