I need to ship my laptop to HP because the Shift key has stopped working. I normally sign in with face recognition and a PIN, but support warned that they might need to reinstall the operating system. What's the safest way to back up everything before sending it in? I have a 2TB external drive available.
2 Answers
Disk-imaging software is another good approach. Tools such as Macrium Reflect can create a complete backup, but be sure to make the program’s bootable USB rescue media before handing over the laptop. Test that the USB starts properly, and keep the backup drive disconnected when you’re not using it.
A full disk image is the safest option because it preserves Windows, your settings, programs, and files. You can use a backup tool such as Veeam to save the image to your external drive. Also create a bootable recovery USB so you can restore the image if needed. If you only care about personal files, copy those separately as well.
Thanks—I downloaded Macrium but hadn’t realized I needed to create a bootable USB too. The laptop won’t be shipped for a few days, so I still have time to make and test one.