If you have the time, money, and tech know how or willingness to learn, once I get a clean system fully updated, I clone the boot drive onto a second SSD or hard drive.
The default recovery partition only reinstalls the base version of Windows 10 Home :) This way I won't have to redownload all those updates. I use a 128GB usb thumdrive so I can occasionally save system image backups over time when Windows 10 updates to their newer versions like the Windows 10 Fall Creator's Update. It'll just take longer than the slightly pricier USB 3.0 thumbdrives. 64GB or larger should give you ample room, and they're cheap enough these days, especially if you get a slower (really not that slow) USB 2.0 drive. Remember to make sure the Windows Recovery disk/usb thumbdrive has enough space to back up everything. If you use a different version of Windows.for example Windows 10 Pro, then the Key won't apply and you'll have to use a new Windows Key for that version.
HOW TO REFORMAT WINDOWS 10 BIOS INSTALL
The Windows 10 Home "key" is built into the BIOS, so if you install a clean copy of Windows 10 Home, it will pick up the Windows 10 Home Key automatically. And it'll give you the option to keep your files (just reinstall the OS without reformatting) or erase the drive and install clean.Īlso, as a precaution in case you accidentally delete the recovery partition or have to change out the boot drive, always use Windows own method to create a recovery disk or usb thumbdrive. It should reinstall the OS from the recovery partition on the original Corsair ONE boot drive. The Corsair ONE comes with Windows 10 recovery partition on the boot drive.