+x+xI do both kinds of creating a Rescue boot on SanDisk flash drive (based on WinRE 11, NOT PE), and on another system based on WinRE 10, and the time to build the Wim and copy it to both the boot menu and also to the flash drive is less than 10 minutes including also copying the Wim as an ISO file to my repository system and to the second partition on my flash disk. I maintain it that way so that if I ever have to restore the jump drive to an earlier version, I can do it easily on any system that can manipulate the flash drives files and/or copy from the repository system.
I wonder if, on your wife's laptop, that a portion of the time was downloading the WinPE components (one time only). That's not an issue if you use WinRE like I do. (I want to have the WiFi capability that WinPE does not offer).
As it turns out, after 3+ hours the process completed with an error message. I tried over again and after another 2.5 hours it finally completed. 22 GB on a 32 GB SD stick. Must be the entire OS, unlike what Macrium copies.
Okay -- I think you're using terms that mean something entirely different than usual on this forum.
Creating a recovery disk is the process where Reflect can create a CD, flash drive, or ISO file that will reboot this system with a minimal OS (WinRE or WinPE) with Reflect embedded in it, so it can be used to boot the system and when you can't boot the system drive and restore it from an image backup.
Your reported 15 minutes is a bit long, but not excessive
Then you said
On my wife's Windows 11 laptop, using the same type of SD, the Windows 11 system took 3 hours to create a Recovery drive.
I took this to mean you were trying to create the same kind of Rescue Media flash drive.
But I now think you're referring to creating a backup drive or what we call a CLONED drive. Is that what you are doing in both cases? What software is being used for both? Please be very explicit. And spell out what YOU mean by a "Recovery Disk" and a "Recovery Drive".
Edited to add: I see that @jphughan replied while I was formulating my reply, but I think you can see that we both were confused by your original post.
L.W. (Dan) Danz, Overland Park KS
Reflect v8.1.7784+ on Windows 11 Home 23H2 22631.2792+
Reflect v8.1.7784+ on Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.3693+
Reflect v8.1.7638+ on Windows 10 Home 22H2 19045.3693+