Windows 10: Returning pc for repairs ...Should I clone my drives or back them up ?

Just received an RMA from Asus to send back my GL552 laptop under warrantee for a repair (flickering screen problem)
Their support site warns to backup my drives as some or all files may be deleted during the repair process.

Should I do a clone or a backup of the SSD and data drives just in case my files are deleted?

Thanks for your help!

:)

 

Windows 10 won't boot "Repairing disk errors this might take more than an hour to complete"

Could I still clone my drive anyways? because I just to have my drive cloned in case chkdsk screws something up I can have an exact snap shot of drive that I can revert back to. Do you think that I could reapair all of the errors on my hard drive? Do you
think they are physical errors that can be reapired or just soft, operating system errors that be repaired?

 

Best practice system backup

Hi all,

I currently have three internal drives on my PC, one for the system drive and programs, one a clone of the system drive and one for data. The data drive is backed up twice daily to two external drives using Allwaysync. The clone is created by AOEMI Backupper.

It is set as a dual boot WIN 10 system, so that if the main system has a corruption or failure, I can boot from the backup OS and continue working, although this may involve removing the faulty system drive first. I feel the chances of having two simultaneous
drive failures is so small as to not be worth worrying about.

My thinking behind this process is it is quick and easy to be up and running again.

I am now thinking I should abandon this approach and create a Windows system backup on an external drive and use a system repair disk to get up and running again, although that will take longer to recover. Downtime is not a critical issue for me these
days as it used to be.

Which is the best method? Or is there a better alternative?

 

Hi.
I would recommend making an image of everything - every partition on your OS drive, and all your data (if that's separate), using Macrium Reflect Free.
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - Windows 10 Backup Restore Tutorials

If ASUS end up changing drivers and/or other software to fix things, then you'd want to only restore your data, and not the entire OS, because you'll be back to square one. But, if it's hardware related (like replacing the motherboard or GPU), and they mess up things, you can restore your entire image and be right back up and running. Just make sure you know what they did for a fix.

 

In addition to what @simrick posted, if you make the image of the entire SSD with Macrium Reflect, you can restore either way he suggested. You can mount the backup image and copy only data files out of it, or you can restore the whole thing so it is a win-win.

 

If there are two separate drives one an SSD with the OS and program files and the other a regular HDD, would that entail making an image of each drive separately?

 

Correct.
Actually, you might see if you can send it back without any drives, or at least without the data drive (they may need the OS drive). I'm sure they have tons of drives to put in systems for troubleshooting. Your data is private, and you'd like to keep it that way, you know?

 

You can backup both drives in one image. Only restriction is you cannot image to drives being imaged.

I would do it separately any way in case one fails so you do not lose everything.

 

I have never sent a drive in with a notebook for repairs. Of course your mileage may vary with Asus as I have never had any dealings with them.

At a minimum I would image and test the images for both drives.