Create recovery, restore or system image for Asus X401A1 Notebook

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I purchased two Asus X401A1 Notebooks. They didn’t come with any restore disks. I’m looking for a way to restore if I ever lose the hard drive. I use a Windows Home Server V1 to backup all my computers. When I add the Asus Notebook and configure backup the WHS lists the following drives:

(Recovery) 600 MB
(Restore) 20 GB
C: (OS) 119.24 GB
D: (Data) 118.79 GB

I understand drive C: and drive D: but do not understand the (recovery) and (restore). I have been in contact with Asus about how to backup everything and they emailed me a file and a process. The file is called AsFixWFR.exe and the following is some of the process:

How to create a system backup image in windows 8
This section will show you how to create a Windows 8 system backup image to be able to use to restore the contents of your ASUS computer back to the state it was in when the system image was created if your HDD or computer ever stops working.

You must prepare these resources before you backup your computer:
1. ASUS Patch file, AsFixWFR.exe. It will resize the recovery partition.
2. Enough hard disk space. You can choose your system backup image to save to local disk or external hard disk. Make sure your local disk or external hard disk is enough space to save your system backup image.
3. An empty CD/DVD. Use this empty CD/DVD to do repair disc.

I do not understand the part that says it will resize the recovery partition. I have also included screen shot of disk manager.

33310-Screenshot-1

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Just choose a 3rd party Imaging app and create a full system Image. There are several that are discussed repeatedly in the Maintenance forum, so no need to rehash all that here. Using an Imaging app to accomplish this task will allow you to create an Image of your system at the exact time you create the Image. This Image file will include ALL the customizations you have added, all updates that have been installed, and all apps you have installed. Most of us take more time to set an OS up the way we want it than the original installation time. Restoring to the factory Image leaves you a totally reinstalled PC as it was when it left the factory. It DOES NOT include everything you have done with it. An Image you create includes everything, factory OS, Customizations, Updates and apps you have installed.

The first 2 partitions contain (I believe) Recovery Tools to assist with a Factory Restore, and a Restore partition that actually contains the Restore Image from the factory.

Personally, I use Acronis True Image 2013. Others discuss Macrium Reflect or EaseUS ToDo, or Gost, or several others I can’t think of just now.

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The first 2 partitions contain (I believe) Recovery Tools to assist with a Factory Restore, and a Restore partition that actually contains the Restore Image from the factory.

Thanks for reply. It doesn’t seem you are sure about first two partitions. If you look at my screen capture it shows a (EFI System Partition) at 300MB. I’m educating myself on new technology but isn’t EFI the new way bios is done?

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Hello, Niemand. I do a little bit of IT for friends here. One of them has a Dell laptop and it also had that pair of partitions on the HD. They take up about 12 Gigs on it.
I got him set up with a clone programme and then deleted both these small partitions; with a clone, they are not needed. A clone done recently will take you back to that date. If you use the Recovery partition on your machine, you would be back to OoTB ( out of the box ) conditions, you would need to redo all the apps that you had installed, your personal stuff supposedly is not touched. Do you see the advantage to a clone ?
I would not be without. An image is better than nothing but to recover your data takes a bit of finger work as a clone will redo it in one swoop. JP.

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If you do an “image” backup, it should make an exact copy of everything that’s on the hard drive. I’m pretty sure that all of your partitions and everything else will be preserved in the image. If you have everything set up the way you like it, then an image backup will recreate everything that you now have exactly the way it is now.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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If you do an “image” backup, it should make an exact copy of everything that’s on the hard drive.

Well, everything that the imaging application believes is relevant, anyway. One would certainly hope that no reputable vendor would place important data anywhere on the disk that a normal imaging application would NOT consider to be relevant, but it has happened in the past (especially in areas which such a vendor might believe to be ‘off limits’ to direct user involvement, and a special ‘recovery’ partition might conceivably qualify as such).

I tend to prefer to take an image of a new system’s activated ‘boot’ partition, verify that it’s usable, and then delete any ‘special’ partitions the vendor has included (yes, I may then need to create a ‘system’ partition of my own and populate its BCD, but then *I* know that there’s nothing unusual there), thus ensuring that no such shenanigans will ever pop up to bite me in the future. Failing that, however, I’d use the vendor’s special backup application (as the OP describes) just to make sure the backup included EVERYTHING the vendor expected it to.

God only knows whether EUFI introduces additional complications, though. I’ll cross that bridge when I have to.

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I would image all partitions and after verifying the image for integrity, would delete both Recovery partitions. It seems that the EFI system partition contains the boot loaders for the installed operating systems, so that partition cannot be deleted. You can always keep this original image intact and restore it whenever you want to go back to factory condition.

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My whole point was that the built in Image will only restore to factory, whereas the 3rd party Imaging app will Image the entire system AFTER the OP makes all his changes. It does not matter what the 2 unknown partitions are. I did give my best educated guess as to what they are. I am fairly certain the Restore Partition includes the factory Image. I believe the Recovery partition includes various tools to assist with system recovery. Since the PC is not sitting in front of me I can not be absolutely certain of those 2 partitions, but based on my knowledge of various manufacturers setups my “best guess” seems very appropriate.

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The EFI partition contains your boot loader and BCD Store. The presence of an EFI partition means that the rest of the disk is GPT. The EFI partition must remain where it is. Deleting that partition will make the system unbootable, as Windows cannot boot from GPT without the EFI partition (which is formatted FAT32).

The 600MB Recovery partition contains system tools, like RAM diagnostics, disk drive tools, other hardware tools, etc. and the launcher for a factory restore. The 20GB Recovery partition contains the image files used to return the machine to its “as new” condition. There may also be an option to “refresh” the operating system while leaving user apps and settings intact. Some OEM’s have this option, others do not offer it. I can’t say whether yours does or not.

And you know what C and D are.

I use TeraByte’s Image for Windows, which has various options for imaging, including making an image of the entire hard drive, every byte included, whether “hidden” or not. Most other imaging apps likely offer the same option, but I’ve never used any other than TeraByte.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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I use TeraByte’s Image for Windows, which has various options for imaging, including making an image of the entire hard drive, every byte included, whether “hidden” or not. Most other imaging apps likely offer the same option, but I’ve never used any other than TeraByte.

Yes, other imaging applications offer the same option but AFAIK none use this option as their DEFAULT behavior, which was my reason for responding to Jim’s comment as I did. Furthermore, I don’t know of any that access hidden areas on the disk such as the Host Protected Area (I would hope that no vendor would either, but once you get into mechanisms that the vendor may consider private and off-limits to users, such as their proprietary recovery mechanisms, one just can’t be sure). It is for these reasons that I take steps to eliminate such private mechanisms up front and ensure that a normal image recovery will work.

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Furthermore, I don’t know of any that access hidden areas on the disk such as the Host Protected Area (I would hope that no vendor would either, but once you get into mechanisms that the vendor may consider private and off-limits to users, such as their proprietary recovery mechanisms, one just can’t be sure). It is for these reasons that I take steps to eliminate such private mechanisms up front and ensure that a normal image recovery will work.

The OEM recovery partition/tools come in handy if one wishes to pass down a desktop or laptop to a family member or friend, or donate to charity. After insuring that one has copies of all data, the factory restore option can be used to format the disk and reinstall the factory image.

This is only the second OEM desktop I’ve owned – I built all the rest – but for this desktop, and for my laptops, the first thing I do is make a full drive image, which includes any hidden/recovery partition. Once that’s accomplished, I personalize them.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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The OEM recovery partition/tools come in handy if one wishes to pass down a desktop or laptop to a family member or friend, or donate to charity. After insuring that one has copies of all data, the factory restore option can be used to format the disk and reinstall the factory image.[/quote]

One can accomplish the same goals if one takes an initial image as I described and wipes the disk before restoring it (something which the factory reinstallation may or may not do, depending upon how it was set up).

the first thing I do is make a full drive image, which includes any hidden/recovery partition

Areas like the Host Protected Area aren’t part of any partition, nor are they even addressable by the normal raw disk access functions (that’s why they’re called ‘protected’, though the protection is not absolute if you know how to address them). There’s really nothing to prevent an OEM who assumes that the user will use the OEM’s proprietary recovery mechanisms from making use of such areas in an effort to ‘harden’ its recovery facilities against inadvertent corruption, but simply imaging the ‘entire’ disk (even byte-by-byte) using a normal imaging facility would not preserve its recoverability in such a case.

I guess I just trust a well-established imaging utility more than whatever recovery hodge-podge an OEM may have concocted: the former if nothing else gets a great deal more exercise in the field to flush out bugs.

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I guess I just trust a well-established imaging utility more than whatever recovery hodge-podge an OEM may have concocted: the former if nothing else gets a great deal more exercise in the field to flush out bugs.

Once I get a Windows system setup the way I want it, it bears no resemblance to its original form. And I can recover my systems reliably, should the need arise. I’ve been using drive imaging for more than a decade as my primary backup regimen, and it has never failed me.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Once I get a Windows system setup the way I want it, it bears no resemblance to its original form. And I can recover my systems reliably, should the need arise. I’ve been using drive imaging for more than a decade as my primary backup regimen, and it has never failed me.

It has finally dawned on me that you may not understand the point I’ve been trying to make. It was very specifically that 1) taking a normal (not byte-by-byte) image of a drive might not be sufficient to be able to use its proprietary ‘recovery partition’ mechanism after restoring that image if said ‘recovery partition’ had other than normal file system content (because the normal imaging process would preserve only what it understood to be required in a normally-organized partition and the PC vendor might not have considered the possibility that the recovery partition itself might be backed up and restored using third-party products) and 2) that even if the imaging application took a byte-by-byte image of the disk that still might not be sufficient to be able to use its proprietary ‘recovery partition’ mechanism after restoring that image if said mechanism used, e.g., the disk’s Host Protected Area in some way (since the image would not contain that).

The problem with proprietary recovery mechanisms is that they never tell you exactly how they work internally nor necessarily are they designed to work in a standard manner (because the PC vendor may assume that the user or other applications should not touch them, just use them). By contrast, setting up your own recovery mechanism (as you, I, and Medico have chosen to do) based upon standard imaging products (which ARE designed to work in a standard manner with standard content) should be resilient to whatever other standard activities one performs with no need to hope that the PC vendor has done its recovery job taking all such other standard activities (including those operating on the recovery mechanism itself) into account.

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It was very specifically that 1) taking a normal (not byte-by-byte) image of a drive might not be sufficient to be able to use its proprietary ‘recovery partition’ mechanism after restoring that image if said ‘recovery partition’ had other than normal file system content (because the normal imaging process would preserve only what it understood to be required in a normally-organized partition and the PC vendor might not have considered the possibility that the recovery partition itself might be backed up and restored using third-party products)

The only imaging software I’ve ever used (or will use) is from TeraByte. I use both Image for Windows and Image for DOS. Byte-by-byte is what they do. If the entire drive is selected, Image for Windows

“Automatically recognizes and backs up used area of FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, HFS+, Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, ReiserFS, and XFS partitions. Partitions with other file system types can be backed up in their entirety. Supports all standard partitions in an MBR, EMBR, or GPT.”

As for Image for DOS,

“As its name implies, Image for DOS runs under a DOS environment, but it can backup or restore any partition, including those of Windows or Linux.”

IFW and IFD read the target byte-by-byte. It doesn’t really matter what file system contains those bytes – they still get read. If it is a file system unsupported by IFW/IFD, the entire partition, including free space, gets read byte-by-byte and turned into an image. If it’s in a partition, it’s in the image.

I have no concern RE the Host Protected Area. I can always get back to where I want to be.[/SIZE]

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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In my case I guess I trust my system better than the OEM system to make my PC sellable. I set up a separate partition for my data. I have the OS and apps on the C Drive and data on a D Drive. In this way I can format the D Drive, then overwrite the entire data drive with a wiping app such as that included in CCleaner to completely obliterate the dta that was on the D Drive. If I wish I can also uninstall apps I installed on the C Drive and take it back to a basic OS without the OEM garbage. I feel comfortable that this cleans things nicely on a PC I am getting rid of.

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I guess you still don’t understand.

1. If a vendor assumes that its ‘recovery partition’ is used exclusively by its own software, then it need not adhere to the conventions of the file system which is nominally present in that partition – e.g., it can place data in locations which the file system considers unused if it thinks it has reason to. The result of that would be that Terabyte, backing up only what it thought was ‘used’ in a file system it assumed would not contain any significant data elsewhere, would not be able to restore the recovery partition to a state where recovery using it would proceed properly: I know YOU don’t care about that because YOU don’t USE those proprietary recovery facilities, but I wasn’t addressing you when I made that comment originally.- I was addressing Jim’s statement

If you do an “image” backup, it should make an exact copy of everything that’s on the hard drive.

and noting that when the subject includes potentially strange use of nominally-unused space within otherwise ‘normal’ partitions (because the vendor thought their internal structure would never have external implications) this statement might not effectively be true with respect to the ability to restore such a partition and still have it perform its expected ‘recovery’ function (it is of course almost NEVER literally true, since by default most imaging applications back up only the data within a recognized file system that they consider to be relevant).

2. A similar observation applies to possible use of ‘invisible’ areas such as the Host Protected Area by a proprietary recovery facility (e.g., because it wanted to ‘harden’ its recovery data against inadvertent corruption): Terabyte does not consider such an area part of the disk at all hence will not restore it to a state where that proprietary recovery facility can use it properly (again, something YOU don’t care about because you have no interest in using that proprietary recovery facility).

The possibility that a vendor might do things like that under the mistaken assumption that the internal structure of its recovery mechanism is completely transparent to outside applications is one reason why I don’t wish to depend upon proprietary recovery facilities either and instead use the same kind of imaging that you and Medico do: I just think it important that people realize that once you enter the realm of ‘special, private’ data you may have left the realm where you can depend upon conventional imaging applications to deal with it adequately, especially since it constitutes a ‘corner case’ which has been far less exhaustively exercised in the field than the normal cases have been.

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Bill, hello.
These Recovery partitions are not really “protected”. I did a clone of this a/n Dell and the said partitions were on the clone, a clone is sometimes referred to as a mirror. An exact copy of the source and I found out that it did, it was. I also redid a laptop with an OEM CD and I was surprised to see that these partitions were not “remade” on the install, I presumed that having used that CD to get the machine going again, a repeat of it from the CD was there to be made, should the need arise again. It never did so now the user is cloning, my suggestion. I am not talking about an image, a different animal from a clone and a different programme too. Your comments are appreciated. JP.

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These Recovery partitions are not really “protected”.[/quote]

I do understand that: I was using as an example an area that IS ‘really protected’ (the Host Recovery Area) to demonstrate how some proprietary recovery mechanism COULD (if its creator chose to, because s/he didn’t consider the possibility that someone would try to back up the recovery mechanism and then restore it to a different disk and DID want to try to protect that mechanism better than simply placing it in a different partition would) wind up being inoperable after being restored to a different disk. Unless you’ve tested EVERY vendor recovery mechanism out there to verify that none of them do anything like this, such possibilities exist (since their internal behavior is not at all well-documented) – which is why I prefer to develop my own recovery mechanisms based upon standard imaging applications.

I did a clone of this a/n Dell and the said partitions were on the clone, a clone is sometimes referred to as a mirror. An exact copy of the source and I found out that it did, it was.

Really? Did you actually check every addressable byte on the disk, including areas outside the file systems and outside any partition, against the original (because that level of ‘exact’ restoration is what I was talking about, just in case the proprietary recovery mechanism felt free not to play by standard rules because its developer thought that it was effectively a ‘black box’ the internal details of which would not affect anything outside it)? So once again, unless you’ve tested EVERY vendor recovery mechanism out there to verify that none of them do anything like this, such possibilities exist (since their internal behavior is not at all well-documented) – which is why I prefer to develop my own recovery mechanisms based upon standard imaging applications.

By contrast, a ‘mirror’ of a disk really IS a byte-by-byte copy (save possibly for some whole-disk-level metadata) that is maintained synchronously as changes are made. A clone is just a point-in-time copy (which may or may not be byte-by-byte identical): they are not the same thing at all.

I also redid a laptop with an OEM CD and I was surprised to see that these partitions were not “remade” on the install, I presumed that having used that CD to get the machine going again, a repeat of it from the CD was there to be made, should the need arise again.

There just isn’t enough room on an XP installation CD to include not only a full XP installation but also all the bloatware that vendors package with their systems, let alone a full recovery facility as well, so the CD just performs only a slightly modified version of what a normal Microsoft XP installation CD does.

I am not talking about an image, a different animal from a clone and a different programme too.

Many imaging programs also offer cloning support – the real question is exactly HOW they create the clone, and I doubt that most of them, at least by default, make byte-by-byte copies of the original disk rather than use their normal imaging mechanisms to copy only the disk contents they consider relevant (otherwise, cloning a multi-terabyte disk that was largely empty would take a LONG time). In fact, some of them allow one to ‘clone’ to a new disk of a different size and offer the option to expand or shrink the original partitions accordingly to fit, so in those cases they CLEARLY aren’t making a byte-by-byte copy.

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