“My PC needs repair and will be reformatted. Should I just save my files and programs, or should I clone my entire hard drive?”

The silver lining, when you have to reformat a PC, is that it’s chance to start over with a 100% clean rebuild — to set up everything afresh in a like-new, pristine setup.

For that, a simple “files and data” backup can suffice: After the repair, reinstall the OS from your official setup/install medium, add drivers from your hardware vendor support sites, reinstall your apps, and then restore your previously backed-up user files. Presto! A perfectly lean, clean, like new setup!

But if that doesn’t work perfectly, having a full-on image backup (“clone”) of the previous setup — with everything known to be working properly — can be very useful as a relatively fail-safe option.

So: (1) use this opportunity to start fresh with a like-new setup; and (2) be safe — make both types of backup!

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1 Reply to ““My PC needs repair and will be reformatted. Should I just save my files and programs, or should I clone my entire hard drive?””

  1. Remember, if all you do is “clone” your system, you may replicate the problem that required reformatting in the first place. Best to do both approaches, as per Fred; then, if the “clone” approach doesn’t work, you can always go the full “install from scratch” approach.

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