How to Create a Recovery Flash Drive for Windows 8 (and Free Up Some Hard Drive Space)

Whenever Windows 7 had problems, you could just insert your Windows 7 installation CD and run its recovery tools. Most Windows 8 users, however, don't have an installation CD. Here's how to make a recovery flash drive, and, if you bought a Windows 8 PC, delete the space-hogging recovery partition that came with it.

If you have a regular hard drive, the recovery partition probably isn't a big deal, but if you have a smaller SSD, for example, the recovery partition can waste a lot of space—sometimes up to 15GB or higher. If you built your own computer, you won't have a recovery partition, but having a recovery flash drive can still be very handy to have around. Luckily, it's easy to make:

1. Grab a flash drive that's at least 256MB, or at least as large as your recovery partition if you have one. Plug it in and make sure it's empty, since you'll need all that space for your recovery files.
   
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2. Head to the Start screen and typecreate a recovery drive. Click the "Settings" option in the right sidebar, then choose the recovery drive option in the search results.
3. Go through the recovery drive wizard. If your computer came with Windows 8 preinstalled from the manufacturer, you'll have an option to "Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive." This will include the data on your manufacturer's recovery partition.
4. Choose your flash drive from the list and click Create. If you're prompted to delete your recovery partition (if you have one), delete it. You can free up a lot of space if you do.

Now, if you ever have problems with your computer, just plug the flash drive in and boot from it. You'll be able to run Windows' recovery tools, as well as your manufacturers' when applicable. Plus you'll have freed up quite a bit of space!