New
#11
You are totally correct about having a backup.
I have always made them for operational systems and tested on the betas. Keeping the Recovery system intact, is important to me. If you do have an OEM system, you need to have the Factory Image partition backed up somehow, and any other strange partitions from the original install. Dell is willing to sell there own version of backup software, which I assume will restore the install back to what it was. I also assume the other backup options you mention would include all the partitions on a drive so they could be reinstalled correctly. I may have to start using one of those.
Right now, I have the same type of setup as you, with the beta on a separate drive.. But since many of us will have nightmares for years concerning the 8 to 8.1 process, I wonder if Microsoft will be using the same type of thing for Windows 10. I probably need to do an install over a working 8.1 system to see how it works. They are still using the smaller Recovery Tools partition in 10, which I was disappointed to see, since that limitation was involved is some of the problems encounter during the update.