Would anybody happen to know if it's possible system image backup file directly to a formatted USB drive of suitable size using Windows 10? It should apparently work but I've read of many people being unable to do this but many agree that windows should be able to do this using it's native image creation and backup tool; I've never managed to do it despite trying different brands of USB drive
rustigkarl599, On the first window, "Where do you want to save the backup?" there is an "On a hard disk" choice. In the drop down list you can't see your USB hard drive? I see all non HD0 partitions plus my USB HD.
Hi Brian; thanks for responding to my query; yes I can always see the "USB drive" but it comes up with an error message "The drive is not a valid backup location"; I'm not alone in this issue; it's highly repeatable and many people have had this issue but the only solutions I've seen are workarounds; but this should apparently work; my intuitive feeling based on the research I've tried to do is that it's some strange issue with the brand of USB drive; if you google this problem with the error message "The drive is not a valid backup location" you'll see that there are many people with this issue; I just was wondering if anybody here might have come across it and knew what the actual problem was; it would be so much easier to be able to do a complete backup and restore of a system image without needing any third party software even if it's good
rustigkarl599, Thanks for the explanation. Sorry, I don't have an answer. I've tested many backup/restores with Windows Imaging and it always works but out of the dozens of imaging apps available, I'd put it at the bottom of the list.
As @taotoo has mentioned above, I believe the issue to be PORTABLE vs FIXED drives. In all the dialogue I have seen for the Windows imaging, it has only mentioned HARD DISKs, one or more DVDs, or a NETWORK LOCATION. Windows shows disks as REMOVABLE or FIXED when they are discovered. USB-based HDDs always show up as FIXED disks where almost all USB Flash drives show up as REMOVABLE drives (very few will be discovered as FIXED drives due to the "Windows to Go" feature that appeared in W8.1 and the few drive manufacturers who scrambled to create a FIXED discoverable USB flash drive). It looks as though the indigenous Windows imaging choses HDDs only for its targets. I will try and test this later as I have a 64gB Scandisk Extreme flash drive that is discoverable as a FIXED device.
I stand corrected. It matters not whether a UFD (USB Flash Drive) is discovered & mounted as a FIXED or REMOVABLE drive, the indigenous Windows imaging system under W10 WILL NOT make it available as an imaging target. Testing as well with a USB connected HDD worked as expected... it was made available as an imaging target.
