Computer Help and Support

the only thing you can do with it is copy from some disk to a Samsung SSD. For the purposes of making backups, if you then wanted to clone your Samsung drive to something cheaper, the Samsung software will not work.

On my main desktop, I have several drives that are clones. If I install something, say an app or Windows update, and it causes a problem, I don't have to uninstall. I just refresh that clone from one of the others.

If I ever have boot problems, say because of a bad shut down, I can just grab one of the clones and I'm immediately functional.

These drives are all 120GB SSDs. I keep my personal data – every last bit of it – on another drive that has nothing to do with these clones.

After you get your new drive in order, you really should clone it to preserve your configuration. Microsoft is capable of being absolutely reckless when it comes to their updates.

Welcome to the world of SSDs. They are a joy.