Hi, sorry my bad english but i want to know about refresh feature i think it is similar to a clean install, What are the difrerence between refresh start from zero or clean install, i see if i refresh i can conservate my power cfg and my drivers. One microsoft tech says me refresh are a feature who create a clean system taking all good things of the install like "drivers and some seetings" but really do not udnerstand diference.
About refresh option
- Thread starter Aktiffiso
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- Jul 3, 2015
- 8,153
Refresh will save a lot of settings. This may be good, as it will spare you some work in configuring your new Windows installation, but it is not the same thing as a clean install. Try it, and see if you like it. It's hard to describe which settings it will save.
Make a system image beforehand. Even if you don't make a system image, it will save a copy of your old Windows installation, and as long as you don't have bad luck, you will succeed in rolling back, if you wish to do so. But a system image is more reliable.
Even if you do a clean install, and you log into a Microsoft account that you used previously, certain settings will be synced. But you can change the sync settings, if you wish.
Make a system image beforehand. Even if you don't make a system image, it will save a copy of your old Windows installation, and as long as you don't have bad luck, you will succeed in rolling back, if you wish to do so. But a system image is more reliable.
Even if you do a clean install, and you log into a Microsoft account that you used previously, certain settings will be synced. But you can change the sync settings, if you wish.
The reset option set to keep nothing will give you exactly the same result as doing a clean install. No configurations or files whatsoever will be kept.
The only difference is the clean install option at the bottom, will download the latest version of Windows 10.
The only difference is the clean install option at the bottom, will download the latest version of Windows 10.
As an addition to existing above, bear in mind that regardless of the selected option, data stored on the root of the kept partitions will remain. Windows will only wipe data according to the selected options which apply to Windows itself (e.g. files from Documents, Desktop, Pictures, Program Files, etc.).
- Jul 3, 2015
- 8,153
A few weeks ago, I ran a Reset on Windows 10 1809, and I selected "remove everything." But it didn't do what it said. It saved a lot of settings. That actually saved me some trouble, but it was not what I thought.
- May 29, 2018
- 2,606
The built in clean install is nice, but its faster to download ISO. and run from disk/usb stick to save hour or two
- Jul 3, 2015
- 8,153
The time you are saving is when Windows is making a backup of your old system. So if you don't need that backup, you will save time, and also disk space.
For the record, the reset option which Local Host was talking about will be more effective when it comes to erasing data than using the Windows installation media and "formatting" the drive (depending on how you're doing it).
The reason why is because when Windows deletes a file, it isn't really "deleting" the file - you're supposed to believe that the file is "deleted" because you can no longer locate or access the contents of the file by normal means. What really happens in the background is the space which the file was using up is being marked as "free", which means when you have other data being saved, Windows knows that it now has more space to store data. Eventually, the data which the "deleted" file was using up will be overwritten by data for something else (e.g. a new file).
All in all, this is why when you're using the Windows installation media, it can quickly format a drive. It will feel magical, like Microsoft invented a special secret algorithm for doing it to a drive consisting of over 200GB of used space. Nope. It didn't happen. The data still exists and the data is still recoverable by both manual and automatic forensics.
However, when you choose the reset option to literally wipe all your files from the Windows recovery, it may feel like it is taking absolutely forever... I've seen it take well over 5 hours before. It's because it isn't simply "deleting" the file, the data is actually being overwritten X (X = unknown in this instance) amount of times, thus making it much harder to recover the original contents (because it no longer "exists" in the same way as a normally "deleted" file). Microsoft 100% definitely do this for the option which implies you'll be passing the system on to someone else (e.g. selling it).
Windows knows which data is free and can be used for new data thanks to how the NTFS system works, and the Volume Boot Record (VBR) comes to play with all of this. The VBR is used to tell Windows where "files" are located (the data). This is also why... ransomware attacks like Petya which encrypt the VBR will prevent Windows from knowing where your files are (it will not even know which files there are) and hence Windows itself cannot load.
Government agencies usually use similar file erasing tactics to make recovery near to impossible or literally impossible with the technology we have in this current day and age - and even if it was possible, it would take far too long manually to recover huge GBs of data which has been deleted and suppressed by such file erasure tactics.
One really famous file erasing technique would be the "Gutmann method" which consists of 35 passes on the file with randomly generated junk. Other algorithms would be "US DOD 5220.22-M (8-306. C)" and "US DOD 5220.22-M".
Data can never be deleted because the hard-drive/SSD doesn't have a dustbin which it can throw things into for you to dispose of manually and "deleted" data doesn't just disappear into thin air. It has to be overwritten with something. Old data which is no longer needed and is marked as free is how we determine "how much storage" we have left available for new data (e.g. new documents) and thus the process just repeats in a cycle.
Solid State Drive's work differently to a Hard-Disk when it comes to file management for removal... I do not know enough about SSDs and this process specifically therefore you should take this with a grain of salt when thinking about an SSD. For once, there are no moving parts on an SSD, and they tend to be "flash" based. They work differently.
The reason why is because when Windows deletes a file, it isn't really "deleting" the file - you're supposed to believe that the file is "deleted" because you can no longer locate or access the contents of the file by normal means. What really happens in the background is the space which the file was using up is being marked as "free", which means when you have other data being saved, Windows knows that it now has more space to store data. Eventually, the data which the "deleted" file was using up will be overwritten by data for something else (e.g. a new file).
All in all, this is why when you're using the Windows installation media, it can quickly format a drive. It will feel magical, like Microsoft invented a special secret algorithm for doing it to a drive consisting of over 200GB of used space. Nope. It didn't happen. The data still exists and the data is still recoverable by both manual and automatic forensics.
However, when you choose the reset option to literally wipe all your files from the Windows recovery, it may feel like it is taking absolutely forever... I've seen it take well over 5 hours before. It's because it isn't simply "deleting" the file, the data is actually being overwritten X (X = unknown in this instance) amount of times, thus making it much harder to recover the original contents (because it no longer "exists" in the same way as a normally "deleted" file). Microsoft 100% definitely do this for the option which implies you'll be passing the system on to someone else (e.g. selling it).
Windows knows which data is free and can be used for new data thanks to how the NTFS system works, and the Volume Boot Record (VBR) comes to play with all of this. The VBR is used to tell Windows where "files" are located (the data). This is also why... ransomware attacks like Petya which encrypt the VBR will prevent Windows from knowing where your files are (it will not even know which files there are) and hence Windows itself cannot load.
Government agencies usually use similar file erasing tactics to make recovery near to impossible or literally impossible with the technology we have in this current day and age - and even if it was possible, it would take far too long manually to recover huge GBs of data which has been deleted and suppressed by such file erasure tactics.
One really famous file erasing technique would be the "Gutmann method" which consists of 35 passes on the file with randomly generated junk. Other algorithms would be "US DOD 5220.22-M (8-306. C)" and "US DOD 5220.22-M".
Data can never be deleted because the hard-drive/SSD doesn't have a dustbin which it can throw things into for you to dispose of manually and "deleted" data doesn't just disappear into thin air. It has to be overwritten with something. Old data which is no longer needed and is marked as free is how we determine "how much storage" we have left available for new data (e.g. new documents) and thus the process just repeats in a cycle.
Solid State Drive's work differently to a Hard-Disk when it comes to file management for removal... I do not know enough about SSDs and this process specifically therefore you should take this with a grain of salt when thinking about an SSD. For once, there are no moving parts on an SSD, and they tend to be "flash" based. They work differently.
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Wait, wait guys i have to read all, and is dificult to me because i do not speak english. When i use referesh option remove all "only windows partition", all was deleted except some configs like energy options and another. I think the refresh option is more slow because i have to download all apps and deelays 1 hour. if I perform clean install i deelay 30 minutes and 15 minutes download and install updates. When the refresh options i do not have to install drivers or updates.
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