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How to Back up Windows System to USB in Under 5 Minutes

A USB recovery drive is always useful to restore your system

3 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Key notes

It is always a safe bet to create a backup of your Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 operating system just in case something goes wrong, and you would like to have your Windows OS back to the way it was.

For you to create a backup of your Windows 8.1 to yourUSB stickyou will need to have a big enough USB to support everything you have on your Windows 8.1 system. But fortunately for us we only need approximately 6 GB of free space on our USB or less therefore we shouldn’t have any issues with this.

Another good feature in Windows 8.1 is the fact that it offers us the possibility to save directly to an external USB thus making the process a lot easier for us.

So if you used your internal hard drive to save the backup image of your Windows 8.1 operating system you can now transfer it to your USB stick and free up some space for other stuff. For a detailed explanation of how to backup Windows 8.1 to your USB follow the tutorial below.

How do I back up Windows 10 on USB?

How do I back up Windows 10 on USB?

1. Use the Create a recovery drive option

2. Use Control Panel

Also, another thing you need to keep in mind is that if you upgraded to Windows 10, 8.1 from a previous Windows 8, 7 version you will need to upgrade again your system after you use the USB stick as a backup.

With this being said, you now have a workable backup copy of your Windows 10, 8.1, 7 system ready to use whenever you have any issues with your operating system. If you have any questions regarding this article, let us know in the comments below and we will reply in the shortest time possible.

More about the topics:Windows 10 Guides,windows 7,windows 8.1 tips

Ivan Jenic

Windows Hardware Expert

Passionate about all elements related to Windows and combined with his innate curiosity, Ivan has delved deep into understanding this operating system, with a specialization in drivers and driver troubleshooting.

When he’s not tackling diverse driver-related problems, Ivan enjoys watching good movies and spending time hiking with his family and friends.

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Ivan Jenic

Windows Hardware Expert

Ivan has delved deep into understanding the Windows OS, with a specialization in drivers and driver troubleshooting.

Reviewed byAlex Serban