A cautionary tale with a happy ending...

Recently I had what could only be described as a catastrophic failure where Windows is concerned.  I was going about my normal routine, and I noticed that there was an update available for my backup software.  I was trying to install it when I was getting a strange error from the software that it was unable to complete the task.

Since I always start with the easy stuff first, I decided to reboot the computer....

Normally you would expect to see this message when you remove a hard drive, or if a power cable has come unplugged.  Since I had done none of these things,  I figured I definitely had more than a minor issue.

What I checked:

• Software changes: none were made, no windows updates recently, etc.
• Hardware: date/power cables are connected, both to the hard drives, and on the mainboard (or to the power supply, in the case of power cables. Note: if you have a modular power supply, also check that the power cables are connected at the power supply as well)
• Made sure that my primary & secondary drives appear in the BIOS.  On Dell PC's you hit the F2 button during startup to enter the BIOS.  (My secondary/data drive was there, but my primary/Operating System (OS) drive was not.

So it seemed pretty clear to me that my primary boot/OS drive was having issues.
Luckily for me, I have a backup solution in place, and I am reasonably faithful in keeping it.  <More about that later>

Clone to the rescue

I grabbed my most recent clone of my OS drive, removed the <old> OS drive, and exchanged the two.  I then reconnected everything else, rebooted the system, and Voila!  Windows came right up!  Because it was a clone, windows didn't even know the difference; it came right up to the point that the clone was created.

Now, that took care of most of my issues; my recent backup was only about 10 days old.  Any other important files would be handled under my Dropbox (cloud backup).

My backup procedure

Since I have 2 drives in my system, (one for programs, Windows, etc., and one for data: documents, downloads, photos, etc.).  I needed a way to back up both drives, and I wanted a simple way to schedule and manage my backups.

I have been using software called Backupper from AOMIE for a few years now.  I was using Clonezilla before that (for just making clones), but Backupper is more simple layout, easier to use, and I can run backups, Clone drives, and some other taks right from a single program (since it is run right from Windows).

<<By comparison, Clonezilla is run off a CD or USB and it is run through a DOS-type interface (not Windows).  As its name suggests, it only does clones, no backups.>>

I have a Dropbox set up for small important files (like word, excel, and pdf files.)  I've been using my free account for years, and never felt the need to upgrade.  I don't keep larger files, pictures, etc. in my dropbox, so I rarely get close to running out of storage.

I do a monthly backup of my data drive, and at least bi-monthly clone of the OS drive.  I keep a 2nd clone drive around (so I actually have 2 hard drive backups in case one were to fail.

I replace my main OS drive on a 3 year rotation.  At that time frame, the drive is out of warranty, and (at least if it contains valuable information) then it's time for a replacement.

My data drive gets replaced on a 5 year rotation, unless I start to notice performance issues with the device.  Then it gets replaced immediately.  I am a big fan of the WD black line of hard drives; their 5 year warranty, combined with years a reliable service, make it easy for me to recommend them.

It's not really a backup unless you know it works

I have an identical system to my desktop that I can drop my clone into for testing purposes.  It's also really handy to have a spare machine in case you experience a hardware (mainboard, CPU, etc.) failure.

How it turned out 

In the end, the OS drive was still under warranty.  I sent a quick email off to Kingston (my OS drive was a Kingston V300 SSD drive), and they validated the warranty and replaced the drive with a new one.

Everything else has been working fine, and I have not really had any further issues.