[DARISC]

Dunno if this veers off-topic, but:

Dell tech. had to replace motherboard and both 500 gig hard drives (raid 1setup) before he could reload Windows on my yr. old box. Arrrgh! Four days to download my encrypted Carbonite backup awaited me.

Fortunately, my computer savvy buddy was able to use a SATA dock to recover my data and erase the old disks before I had to return them to Dell (or pay for the new drives).

On his recommendation I then bought a 2 terabyte external drive ($90) and loaded everything, including system (Carbonite only backs up data) onto it.

So now, if I crash and burn I can use the image thereon to put everything back, exactly the way it was before the crash - no reloading Windows, apps, preferences, customizations, etc.

I keep the two terabyte drive stored in a remote location in case zombies burn down my house, or...

For $55 a year, I'm keeping my subscription to Carbonite (which saved my bacon on a previous crash) - I figure you can't be too safe.