cloning a hard drive vs making an ISO image

[paulwece]

I bought a ThinkPad. Currently I'm at college where I can get a download Windows 10 for free from the school bookstore, along with other software.
In case one day I get a virus, I might want to do a "factory reinstall". Back in the old days if one has a copy of Windows they can reinstall it after reformatting the hard drive and the computer would be exactly as newly bought.

If I make an image of a hard drive and store it in an external hard drive, will this allow me to achieve the same thing but without the hassles of reinstalling all the software (I can't after I graduate)?

As for cloning, that'll also work except I make a copy to another hard drive and I can just swap it in if I need it?
thanks

[axur-delmeria]

When I upgraded from the stock 320GB on my X220, I cloned its contents to the new 1TB HDD, then increased the partition size after making sure that the data was copied properly. I kept the old HDD in a box for insurance in case the new HDD suddenly died.

I know other members in this forum have used disk images to restore their OS installation following HDD replacement or upgrade. Let's wait for their input, especially regarding software recommendations.

[paulwece]

Thanks. I got a 1 Tb external hard drive collecting dust right now. I think my preferred method is to create an image of the hard drive and store it on the external drive. Windows have this capability built in right? I don't need any special software for this?

After I get an ISO image on my external hard drive, and let's say later I get a virus and I just want to nuke everything and start over, how can I get the ISO image on an external hard drive onto the hard drive of the computer?

Thanks

[jaspen-meyer]

After I get an ISO image on my external hard drive, and let's say later I get a virus and I just want to nuke everything and start over, how can I get the ISO image on an external hard drive onto the hard drive of the computer?

I use Clonezilla for cloning, and restoring, drives.

[axur-delmeria]

I use Clonezilla for cloning, and restoring, drives.

I used Clonezilla as well -- booted to Parted Magic from UBCD 5.21 (it's old but it's what's burned in my flash drive), then ran Clonezilla from there.

This topic thread has some recommendations on cloning and disk imaging software.

Hope it helps.