Create a System Image of a USB Drive in Windows 10/8/7

If you're looking for a solution to create a Windows system image on an external USB drive, check out this page for a comprehensive guide.

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The Benefits of Creating a USB Drive System Image

Some of you might wonder why so many users choose to create system images on USB drives. Here are the reasons and benefits:

• 1. Free up system disk space and save more available storage
• 2. Safely back up the Windows system, installed programs, and saved data on system drives
• 3. Portability to restore system images to any computer
• 4. Emergency recovery when the system fails or to revert the system to a previous stable state

Unlike a System Restore point, the main advantage of creating a system image is portability. You can save your system backup image to a local drive or an external storage device.

So, how to create a system image on USB? Following the guidelines below, you'll learn how to do this on Windows 10, 8, or 7 and fix the “Can't create a system image on a USB drive” error on your own.

A Guide to Creating a System Image on a USB Drive in Windows 10/8/7

Before we begin, there are a few important things you should know:

There are two ways to create a system backup image to a USB drive: 1. With the assistance of automated Windows backup software; or 2. Using built-in Windows tools.

Method 1: Use Automatic Windows Backup Software

Pros: 100% safe, 3-step operation, compresses system image – saves storage space on USB drive, suitable for users of all levels

If you're not familiar with system backups on your Windows PC, or you need a time-saving way to create a system image onto a USB drive, you've come to the right place.

A professional Windows backup and recovery software - tools Todo Backup can help. With it, you can flexibly back up system images and save them to a hard drive partition, external hard drive, USB, or SD card, etc., without extra effort.

Connect the blank USB drive to your computer, and then create the system image on it yourself by following these steps:

Step 1. On the main screen, tap "Select Backup Content".

Step 2: Click on the OS among the four options available.

Step 3. Todo Backup will automatically select your system partition; you just need to choose a backup destination.

Step 4. You can choose to save the backup file on your local disk or NAS.

Step 5. Once the backup is done, you can check its status, restore, open, or delete it by right-clicking on the backup task on the left.

Be patient while the backup finishes; with this image, you can restore your system at any time.

In addition, you can enable the Pre-OS feature in Todo Backup to safeguard against issues with your current system. If your system runs into problems, you can boot from Todo Backup and immediately restore your Windows system from an image created on your USB drive.

You might also like: How to Create a System Image Backup in Windows 11/10

Option 2: Use the built-in Windows tool – Backup and Restore (Windows 7) – for assistance

Pros: Free

While it's said that system images created with the “Windows Backup and Restore” option on a Windows PC are compressed, don't expect the system image to take up too little space on your USB drive.

Note: Make sure to format your USB flash drive as NTFS before proceeding. Otherwise, you'll run into an error that says "The system image cannot be created on the USB drive." This issue is addressed in Part 3 of this article.

Here's how to create a system image in Windows 10/8/7 manually:

Step 1: Connect your blank USB flash drive to your computer. If it's formatted as FAT32, reformat it to NTFS.

Step 2: Open the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) pane.

• On Windows 7: Right-click the “Start” icon, then select “Control Panel,” and then choose to open “Backup and Restore.” • On Windows 10/8: Right-click the Windows icon, then select “Search,” type in Control Panel, open it, and then click “Backup and Restore (Windows 7).”

Step 3: Click “Create a system image.”

Under “Destination,” choose the external USB drive or USB flash drive as the location to save the Windows system image, then click “Next” to continue.

Step 4: By default, "System" and "System Reserved" partitions are selected. Click "Next" to proceed.

Click “Start Backup” to back up your system to the USB drive.

When it's done, you'll have a system backup image on your USB drive.

For your reference:

1. A system image can only be restored if the current Windows operating system can boot normally or access the Recovery Environment.
2. In other words, if your system is unbootable, you won't be able to use the image on a USB drive to restore Windows.
3. A system image can only be used to restore the original computer it was created from.
4. You cannot restore a system image to a different computer with a different system, such as restoring a Windows 7 system image to a Windows 10 PC, which is unsupported.

Resolve the "Unable to Create System Image on USB" Error

If you can't create the system image on a USB drive, or if Windows doesn't let you save the system image to your destination USB drive, don't worry.

With the solutions provided here, you should be able to effectively resolve the issue on your own.

Fixing the Error - "This drive can't be used to store a system image..."

Figure 1: Unsupported file system, unable to create USB system image

If Windows tells you "This device can't be used to store a system image because it's not formatted using NTFS," don't worry! You can just skip back up to Method 1 in Part 1 and use the Todo Backup tool to create your system image instead.

You can also effectively resolve this issue by formatting your USB drive through the following steps:

Step one: Plug the USB drive into your computer and open File Explorer.

Step 2: Right-click on the USB drive and select “Format.”

Step 3: Choose “NTFS” for the file system, and click “Start.”

Then, you can manually copy the system image over to the USB drive by repeating Method 2 from Part 1.

Troubleshooting - "Drive is not a valid backup location"

Sometimes, due to system errors or USB drive issues, you might not be able to create a system image on a USB drive. Since the causes can be many, the solutions are equally varied.

Therefore, try each of the following solutions one by one until the USB becomes available to save the system image in Windows 10/8/7:

Method 1: Check and Fix USB Drive Errors

A USB drive might not work properly if it has file system errors or internal errors.

You can use a partition manager software - Partition Master Tool with the feature to check file system errors to fix USB drive errors.

Or, you can follow the manual steps here to manually check and fix USB drive errors:

Step one: Plug the USB into your computer, open File Explorer, right-click on your USB, and select Properties.

Step 2: Click the “Tools” tab, then click the “Check” button.

Step 3: Wait for the scan to complete, and then close the scanning window.

Step 4. Eject the USB drive, and then plug it back in.

If the USB drive appears and can be accessed, you can proceed with creating the system image.

If the USB device still doesn't show up, try the next method to update the USB driver.

Method 2: Update the USB driver

Outdated USB drivers can also prevent you from creating a system image.

Here are the steps to update your USB driver:

Step 1: Connect the USB flash drive or external USB hard drive to your computer, and then open Device Manager and expand Disk Drives.

Step 2: Right-click on the problematic USB drive and select “Update driver.”

Step 3: Click “Search automatically for updated driver software.”

Wait for the driver to finish updating, then restart your computer. Try plugging the USB drive back into your computer and see if it's recognized.

Method 3: Create a folder on a USB drive and share it as a network drive

Step one: Format the USB as NTFS and create a new folder in the black area of the drive.

Step 2: Share the USB drive as a network drive:

• Right-click the folder, select “Share with People,” then choose “Specific People.” • Select yourself from the user list, then click “Share” and “Done.”

Step 3: Make sure that the Advanced Sharing permissions are set to “Full Control.”

1. Right-click on the folder and select "Properties." 2. On the "Sharing" tab, click "Advanced Sharing." 3. Click "Permissions" and set all permissions to "Full Control."

4. Use the steps in Method 2, Part 1 to create the system image on the USB network drive.

Note: When choosing the destination drive to save the system image, browse to your computer and select the USB share. If your password is blank, enter a space and click “OK.”

After going through these steps, you'll be able to repeat them to back up your system image to a USB drive again in the future.

In short

When planning to create a system backup image to protect your Windows setup, one safe and space-saving method is to store the image on a USB drive.

For this, you can choose automated Windows backup software or back up Windows manually by yourself. To save time and ensure safety, you can use the automatic tool Todo Backup to help you.

If you can't create the USB image, refer to Part 3 for a complete and working solution.

Frequently Asked Questions about Creating a System Image on a USB Drive

Can I create a system image on a USB drive?

Absolutely. Creating a system image on a USB drive can free up space on your system hard drive and save more available storage. It's a secure way to back up your Windows system, installed programs, and saved data on the system drive. The USB is portable, allowing you to restore the system image to any computer.

How do I create a bootable image from USB?

AOMEI Backupper is a reliable tool that allows you to flexibly back up your system image to a hard drive partition, external hard drive, USB, or SD card, and any other storage device without additional hassle. First, connect an empty USB to your computer, then use the operating system's backup feature to create a system image on the USB.