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How-to: Use Ministation Extreme NFC to make a full image backup of a Windows 10 PC

Learn the top 5 ways to secure and backup your home office here.

Note: The following examples are using Windows 10 version 1909

Connect the Ministation Extreme NFC to the Windows 10 PC

Note: Since Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is unable to unlock an encrypted Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC, you will have to disable the encryption feature of the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC to be able to restore the image backup using WinRE. Please refer to this article on how to change the drive mode.

Create image backup with Windows system image tool
1.   Click the Backup and Restore (Windows 7) option from the Windows 10 Control Panel.


2.   Click the Create a system image option from the left panel.

3. Select the “On a hard disk” option for the storage location to save the backup image.
From the drop-down menu, select the Ministation Extreme NFC device (HD-PZNU3).
Click Next.

4. Select any additional drives that you want to include in the backup. Click Next.

5. Confirm the backup settings and click the "Start backup" button.

6. After the backup process completes, you will see an option to create a system repair disc.
You can skip this step if you don’t have an optical disk drive installed on your PC.
You can create a bootable recovery USB flash drive later using the Windows 10 built-in tool.

7. Image backup process complete, click the Close button.

Safely eject & disconnect the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC drive and store it in a safe place.

Create a recovery USB drive
If you need to restore your PC from the backup image located on the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC, you can use a bootable USB flash drive which contains the system repair files to access the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE).
Please refer to this Microsoft KB to manually create a recovery USB drive.

Restore your PC from a system image stored on a Ministation Extreme NFC
1. Connect the Ministation Extreme NFC which contains the system image backup to your PC.

2. Boot your PC to the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) by using the recovery USB drive or other entry points.

3. Click the Troubleshoot option.

4. Click the System Image Recovery option.

5. Choose Windows 10 as the target operating system.

6. On "Re-image your computer", select the "Use the latest available system image" option and click Next.
The Ministation Extreme NFC (HD-PZNU3) device and the system image version should be shown.

If you are trying to restore an older copy, use the "Select a system image" option.

7. Select whether to “Format and repartition” your hard disk then click Next.
Use the Exclude disks option to prevent formatting other partitions or other attached storage.