Returning pc for repairs ...Should I clone my drives or back them up ?

provlima said:

Just received an RMA from Asus to send back my GL552 laptop under warrantee for a repair (flickering screen problem)
Their support site warns to backup my drives as some or all files may be deleted during the repair process.

Should I do a clone or a backup of the SSD and data drives just in case my files are deleted?

Thanks for your help!

Hi.
I would recommend making an image of everything - every partition on your OS drive, and all your data (if that's separate), using Macrium Reflect Free.
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - Windows 10 Backup Restore Tutorials

If ASUS end up changing drivers and/or other software to fix things, then you'd want to only restore your data, and not the entire OS, because you'll be back to square one. But, if it's hardware related (like replacing the motherboard or GPU), and they mess up things, you can restore your entire image and be right back up and running. Just make sure you know what they did for a fix.

provlima said:

If there are two separate drives one an SSD with the OS and program files and the other a regular HDD, would that entail making an image of each drive separately?

Correct.
Actually, you might see if you can send it back without any drives, or at least without the data drive (they may need the OS drive). I'm sure they have tons of drives to put in systems for troubleshooting. Your data is private, and you'd like to keep it that way, you know?

simrick said:

Correct.
Actually, you might see if you can send it back without any drives, or at least without the data drive (they may need the OS drive). I'm sure they have tons of drives to put in systems for troubleshooting. Your data is private, and you'd like to keep it that way, you know?

You can backup both drives in one image. Only restriction is you cannot image to drives being imaged.

I would do it separately any way in case one fails so you do not lose everything.