Suggestions for external backup solution

I know the original is working so if all else fails, my c drive literally ONLY keeps applications so the worst that happens if one of my others fails is I have to reinstall and reconfigure some stuff. Which would really suck. But not the end of the world. Given that I keep multiple in rotation and have used them in the past I feel that’s not-not a priority, but lower on the totem pole next to my files which are on various other drives. If I have to take them to my laptop, at least then I can. Definitely interested in not mirroring my finished projects as revisits get jumbled up, but I don’t really need it for my life projects since I keep very detailed saves down to the day and time I worked on an edit. That’s just engrained in my muscle memory. I just wouldn’t overwrite in the first place a day later. Maybe same day, but not a whole day later.

You may or may not consider imaging to be a better system backup method than cloning.

Imaging doesn't tie up a drive that sits in the closet.

Takes only a few minutes to make, under 5 minutes for me. You can keep image files anywhere they will fit other than C and copy or move them at will, like kitty.jpg.

The average image file is about half the size of the occupied space on C. My image files are about 23 GB.

In reality, I make 1 a month and keep only the 2 most recent months. So, my C could be as much as a month out of date. Not a problem for me.

I've been imaging for at least 10 years, but have had to restore only 5 or 6 times and never because a drive failed. Ideally, you never have to.

Disadvantage: takes 20 minutes or so to get back up and running after the restoration process.

ignatzatsonic said:

see comments:

I got it. Awesome. Yeah. I did that before and I really remember having some sort of licensing problem with windows afterwards like I do when I upgrade major hardware since my version of Windows 10 is an upgrade from Windows 7. I don’t know if maybe it was a fluke, or maybe how I did some thing, but so far this has been not causing any problems but I will try it out again at some point if it works then I will switch to that

ignatzatsonic said:

You may or may not consider imaging to be a better system backup method than cloning.

Imaging doesn't tie up a drive that sits in the closet.

Takes only a few minutes to make, under 5 minutes for me. You can keep image files anywhere they will fit other than C and copy or move them at will, like kitty.jpg.

The average image file is about half the size of the occupied space on C. My image files are about 23 GB.

In reality, I make 1 a month and keep only the 2 most recent months. So, my C could be as much as a month out of date. Not a problem for me.

I've been imaging for at least 10 years, but have had to restore only 5 or 6 times and never because a drive failed. Ideally, you never have to.

Disadvantage: takes 20 minutes or so to get back up and running after the restoration process.