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Dag Wolters

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Alternative to AOMEI OneKey Recovery that can make recovery partition?

Is there any alternative to AOMEI OneKey Recovery that lets you make your own "factory" recovery partition on your computer when you have installed all the software you need, and then, when needed can restore the entire C-drive to from this partition by holding down the F11 key during boot. I am having problems installing AOMEI OneKey and am looking for an alternative. Thanks!
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nobus
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there are several possible solutions
1- a standard image of your disk, with any of the free imaging softwares, like paragon :
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/download.html
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you need to make a bootable cd, orr usb stick to start from - so NOT with F11 key
2- since you mention F11 key, i assume your system can be a Dell?
here some good articles  on it :
https://www.dell.com/support/article/uk/en/ukdhs1/sln297924/create-windows-10-recovery-media-for-your-dell-computer?lang=en
http://www.dell.com/support/article/uk/en/ukdhs1/sln298442/how-to-create-and-use-the-dell-recovery-restore-usb-drive?lang=en
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Dag Wolters

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Thanks nobus!

No, it is not a Dell. It is a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet. The F11 key option is added by AOMEI OneKey Recovery software which I have installed on several of those Surface tablets. The neat thing with AOMEI is that it creates a recovery partition on the same computer it is installed on, then it makes an image of the entire system and a bootable Windows Preinstallation Environment and places the image and the WinPE in this "recovery partition" (see enclosed picture) on the tablets hard drive. So if I want to revert the Surface tablet to the stage when the image was made, I just press F11 at boot and the AOMEI will then start up from this recovery partition instead and is able to replace the drive with the contents of the stored image. This means that I do not have to have CD:s, thumb drives, etc, which will not work in my case as I have several Surface tablets that should be restored to their initial configuration including software and file I have installed on them, every week or so, as they are used in classroom situations where students use them during a course over a week. Then a new group of students will use the tablets so that is why I need something very simple in order to reset the tablets.

As mentioned the AOMEI OneKey Recovery software, for some reasons, only functions properly on 75% of the tablets (even if they are exactly the sam model), and that is why I am looking for something similar in functionality (the possibility to store the recovery image on the same computer) as the AOMEI software.

Would it be possible to get to the same solution using the Paragon Backup & Recovery Free edition? For example creating a partition with a partitioning tool and then make an image of the entire disc and store this image in this newly created partition together with some WinPE setup? I guess you will also have to set up some boot time solution in order to direct the booting to this other partition holding the Paragon image?
Partition.PNG
The option you are looking for is offered from both Paragon and Acronis. By Paragon it is called Backup Capsule which you can make bootable and store your system image into it.
By Acronis it is called Secure Zone. Works similar to Paragon or AOMEI.
Paragon and Acronis had this feature long time before AOMEI started copying their features.
Thanks noxcho!

I did download and installed Paragon Backup & Restore 16 Free as @nubus suggested. However I cannot find "Backup Capslule" in that version. It seems that they dropped this feature when rolling out version 16. It was present in version 15. Acronis only offers a paid version which does not work for us as we are a small non-profit organization with very limited budget. Someone mentioned Rollback RX maybe that could be an alternative?
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noxcho
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