Resolved Error - Reboot & select proper Boot device

That's good news

You will need to reinstall your programs into the new installation - when a program is installed it not only places files in a folder in Program Files, but also other files deep in the bowels of Windows and multiple references into the Registry. Thus you cannot copy programs to a new installation.

 

I use Acronis to image my OS drive on a weekly, incremental basis to another internal drive which is backed up weekly on a schedule to an external drive and copied to a second external drive. 3 copies - belt, braces and piece of string

The image can be easily restored using a boot CD made through Acronis.

You could use RAID 1 (Data Mirroring), but I am not familiar with RAID and have no idea if this works for the OS drive. You will need to do some research.

Acronis would seem to be the straightforward solution.

 

You cannot backup Windows by straightforward copying because many files are in use and thus cannot be copied. A disk image is just that - a mirror of your working drive stored on independent media. The software used has the ability to mirror files which are in use.

It is vaguely similar to an .iso file which you dealt with yesterday, but these require Windows to be operational to burn to an accessible format.

Acronis provides the means of creating a bootable CD which includes a copy of Acronis. In the event that a disk requires recovery booting from the CD opens up a copy of Acronis in which it is straightforward to navigate to your disk image and reload it. Everything that was on the original drive at the time of imaging is restored - it is important to keep the image current by incremental imaging on a regular basis - I do it weekly on a schedule set up through Acronis.

They offer a 30 day trial - give it a whirl!

The UK site is here.

 

No sales pitch - just a satisfied user

Nothing - I retired in 1999 when the company for which I had worked for ~35 years as a metallurgical development engineer closed. During my time there I was introduced to computing and spent a lot of time designing stuff in Autocad.

I always build my own computers and tend to go to the top of the specs to extend their life. Apart from WindowsBBS the main use is digital imaging in Photoshop which I not only use to process my own images, but I also give Photoshop demos.

If you are interested in seeing some of my work left click on my name > PeteC's homepage.

 

If there is I am not aware of it - this is new territory for me

Try it!