Do I need to update my recovery drive?
QI’ve been told that Microsoft supports only the two most recent versions of Windows 10, so is the recovery drive I made a year ago now useless? Do I need to make a new one every few months to guarantee receiving security updates?
AYour impression of Microsoft’s Windows 10 support intentions is not entirely accurate. The company did state that only the “two most Current Branch for Business (CBB) versions are actively serviced”, but CBB relates to versions of Windows 10 used by organisations and businesses.
Most home users will be using what, for support purposes, Microsoft calls a Current Branch (CB) edition. As users of CB editions of Windows 10 are effectively forced to download the latest updates, it is very difficult to avoid using the latest version, though the Creators Edition did add a limited ability to defer applying the latest updates until a convenient time.
But none of this will stop your recovery drive from working, should you ever need it. A recovery drive provides access to a number of tools to help get an ailing PC back up and running, and it’s not itself dependent on a particular CB edition.
So, there’s no need to update a recovery drive. However, it is sensible to make a new one every now and then to check that your USB stick is working. Click Start, type recovery, click ‘Create a recovery drive’ and then follow the prompts.