HP ProBook 430 G3

Hello!

I have ordered a HP ProBook 430 G3 laptop, which will arrive in a couple of days. It comes with Windows 7, but I intend to completely wipe it off and install Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. I do however want to take a backup of Windows 7 on a USB, just incase I will need it for whatever reason. (The USB will most likely just be gathering dust in a drawer.)

I have a few questions:

1. Should I use "Control Panel - All Control Panel Items - Recovery - Create a recovery drive" (Windows tool) or "HP Recovery Manager - Create recovery media" (HP tool) to backup Windows 7? (These are options which are available on the laptop I am on right now. Not sure if the options are exactly the same on the HP ProBook 430 G3 laptop.) What is the difference between them, if any? I assume the first option will just take a backup of a vanilla Windows 7 install (Microsoft build), while the second option will backup HP's customized Windows 7 install with all drivers, etc in place. (HP factory build) If so, I guess I will opt for option 2. I intend to create this backup USB as soon as I have booted up the laptop, then proceed with downloading the latest HP updates and finally installing Ubuntu. Would it be wiser to get Windows and HP updates before making the recovery USB, or does it not matter? I believe the recovery image will be unaltered even if I download Windows and HP updates, and it won't matter.

2. As mentioned, I will download HP updates. (BIOS, etc) If HP releases new updates after I have wiped Windows and installed Ubuntu, will I need to reinstall Windows just to get the updates or will I somehow be able to download the .exe files and update HP in Ubuntu?

Question 1 might not be directly related to Ubuntu, however I want to figure this out before proceeding with Ubuntu. If it is not fit for this forum, pardon me.

Greatly appreciate any help I can get!