Quote from Scataphagos:
Easier yet... use backup/imaging software like Acronis or Macrium.
I've used Acronis for several years... had to "restore image" several times, never a failure. I keep 2, external drives with images... about once per month I make backup images of my entire HDD/SSD... alternating external drives + make daily data backups onto USB drives. (Years ago... conscious then of the need for backup... I had a routine to make 3 copies of data, daily. As fate would have it, I managed to hose all 3 of them with one click of the mouse. Fortunately, I had 4th copy on a separate drive...)
Of course I don't look forward to a drive failure... but I don't live in fear of one either.
For those running sans backup routine... you're playing with fire. As they say, there are only 2 kinds of computer users... those who have had drive failure and those who are waiting for theirs. ALL DRIVES WILL FAIL, EVENTUALLY... if you're running without backups, it's your own fault if you lose everything.