Envy 17t recovery

Question

new envy 17t, well refurbished.  first, I delete a lot of the crapware.  I have about 40GB on a Win install that I need.  good.  now, I need to move to an SSD.  (why would anyone still use an HDD on a nice notebook?  beats me.)
I first try Paragon OS hard drive manager migration.  no dice.  ok, not recommended, and possibly Paragon's fault.
so I go for the HP app route, slow.
First, I create a recovery USB on my 128GB stick.  it warns me that I am only allowed 1 copy.  ok.  I create it.  then, I swap the SSD for the HDD, insert the USB, and start the "complete erase and recover to factory" choice.
the stage 1 works nicely.  it boots the stick and writes all sorts of stuff.  then it tells me that it needs to restart a few times to finish, which is normal.  (it forgets to tell me to uninsert the stick, 'cause it ain't smart enough to realize that it has already started, but this is ok.)  I let it go.  altogether, about half an hour into the process and after a few reboots (and I did the half-hour procedure repeatedly), I get a message that it failed.  lovely.
In the log, it tells me that it detects some error during PININST_BBV, followed by a few more recommendations of what files to save.  I cannot scroll up, so I don't know more about what the error really was.  It's a USB stick that was just written by the OS, so it is highly unlikely that it is correct.  (Well, I would hope that they check the integrity of a recovery file when they write it.  In any case, this is a good USB flash, used before, and it would seem highly unlikely that its hardware went bad.)  this should be even more so the case, because they should record that I have used up my 1 unit after they have successfully built the recovery medium, not before.
so, now I want to save the log file.  I insert a new USB stick (and I know that it sees it, because if I insert an ext4 USB stick, it knows to complain that there is not 2MB available), and save.  It tells me it saved to E:\HP_RM_LOG.CAB.  I shut down and look at the stick on my OSX computer---no dice.  there is no HP_RM_LOG.CAB file.  really?!  really!
I wish I could create another recovery disk, but this is of course not possible, because HP told me that they would allow me only one.
what exactly is going on here?  the HP software seems rather amateurish.
/iaw

Answer 1

Hi @iaw4 ,
I have brought your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. They will likely request information from you in order to look up your case details or product serial number. Please look for a private message from an identified HP contact. Additionally, keep in mind not to publically post ( serial numbers and case details).
If you are unfamiliar with how the Forum's private message capability works, you can learn about that here.
Regards,
George
I work for HP