1 Download and install
Head over to http://www.aomeitech.com/
pe-builder.html, where you’ll see a pair of
links, for 146MB and 72MB downloads.
The larger download contains AOMEI’s
Partition Assistant and Backupper utilities,
which will be incorporated into your
rescue disc. These are key tools – Partition
Assistant can recover lost and deleted
partitions, for example, while Backupper
can be used to take a full system image
of your drive – so we recommend
downloading the 146MB version.
Once downloaded, simply double-click
PEBuilder.exe, and follow the on-screen
prompts to install the software. Once
complete, launch it from the Start menu
or via a search for “AOMEI”.
2 Select rescue
disc system type
The opening screen provides a series of
hyperlinks, explaining various aspects of
the rescue disc’s interface, as well as
included tools and utilities. Once you’ve
reviewed these, click Next. By default,
‘Download WinPE creating environment
from the Internet’ is selected – it’s
required if you’re running Windows XP,
Vista, or 10, and is recommended (but not
compulsory) on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, too
[Image A].
Your key choice here is 32bit or 64bit.
Typically, you should choose the same
system type as your own Windows
installation (press Win-Pause/Break if you
don’t know this), but there are two
considerations. First, 64bit boot media will
work with both older BIOS and newer
UEFI systems, while 32bit media onlysupports older legacy systems (see the
troubleshooting box on page 46 for a
possible workaround). Second, you need
to source portable apps and drivers of the
same system type as your rescue disc –
32bit apps are more common than 64bit
ones. Make your choice, then click Next.3 Customise portable apps
Expand the File, Network, and System
sections to see what bonus tools are
included with your rescue disc by default.
Select one to read a description. In most
cases, you’ll leave these all selected – but
we recommend deselecting the web
browser QtWeb (it doesn’t work properly
in 64bit environments).
Click Add Files to add your own
portable tools to the rescue disc – up
to 2GB of programs can be added this
way. It’s worth gathering these apps in
their own folder, then adding each
tool’s subfolder individually as shown
[Image B] – they’ll be accessible from
the rescue disc’s desktop under the
UserTools folder. See the box opposite for
tips on tools to look for, but remember
you can also run portable apps directly
off other drives, so long as they’re
detected by your rescue media, so
don’t go overboard.Create user-friendly
rescue media
If Windows fails to boot, or you’re otherwise locked out of your system, what can you do? Built-in
recovery tools are certainly helpful, but they’re not the most user-friendly. Microsoft developed a special
‘pre-installation environment,’ called Windows PE, which gives you access to a cut-down version of
Windows that can be started from a bootable DVD or USB flash drive. It’s basic, but it contains a familiar,
user-friendly graphical interface that gives you access to your system even when it won’t boot.
Creating this recovery media by hand can be tricky, but AOMEI PE Builder 2.0 makes it possible for
you to build your own customised recovery disc, complete with the tools you know and trust for
recovering data, restoring a previous backup, researching the problem online, and even performing
certain repairs to bring your ailing PC back to life.YOU’LL NEED THISA BLANK DVD OR
USB FLASH DRIVE
at least 2GB in size.AOMEI PE BUILDER
Available for free from
http://www.aomeitech.comABImages : LG44 |^ |^ November 2019