Factory Image not working on Samsung Series 5 with Windows 8

I would like to securely wipe the hard drive on my Windows 8 Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook and restore it to the state it was in when it left the factory.

I have used Samsung Recovery to try to create a bootable factory image on a USB hard disk thinking I would then be able to securely wipe the hard disk, reboot, press F4 and restore using this factory image.

However when I try to create the bootable factory image I get the error message "An error has occurred while processing partition for creating a boot disk".

I have also tried to do a disk copy to an external USB HDD. This also does not work.

I've contacted Samsung via their usually helpful online Samsung Support chat but they say they can't help me and i need to speak to Samsung on one of their expensive phone support lines.

Does anyone have any similar problems and solutions?

Thanks for listening.

 

You have to backup to a USB stick in order to use the Create Boot Disk option in Recovery. For most models a 32GB stick is required, but some may be able to do with a 16GB stick. One member also described ( here) that he was able to use an SD card in a USB card reader.

You can back up the factory image to an external HDD, just not with the bootable option.

 

I see. Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't see that mentioned anywhere in any documentation.

So how does one erase the hard disk completely and restore to factory condition using a non-bootable USB HDD?

Looking at my hard drive I have 3 recovery partitions (500MB 23.64GB and 1GB plus an EFI partition and a 440GB partition assigned as C). Presumably at least one of these partitions must not be deleted for a recovery to be possible using F4?

 

I should have answered that already in my last response, since you did say in the OP that that was what you wanted.

You don't need an external disk for that: Just boot into Recovery (F4, NOT the Samsung Recovery app in Windows), chose Recover and select the earliest restore point there, that should get you to factory state. Also check the Partition Setting option to completely re-partition the drive.



If you're concerned about securely wiping data, Windows 8 has an option under Charms - Settings - PC Settings - General - Remove everything and reinstall Windows. It should prompt you before starting if you want the super secure wipe & restore (I forget the exact name). Note that the process takes many hours.



It is normal that you have all those partitions. Two are used by Samsung Recovery Solution (SRS6 in your case), and one is for Windows' own Recovery Tools. See this post for details on partitions. It also includes links to some great Microsoft articles on the subject.

 

Thanks that worked perfectly.