I'm so glad I used Acronis True Image 2014 to create a system image of my Dell XPS 15 1TB SSD.
And then confirmed that I could restore image to a new drive sometime much earlier in this thread.
Because motherboard (MB) had to be replaced ( DSP port died ). Dell came out and replaced MB within 40 mins ( i removed back panel before they got here ).
Powered it up and system would not boot.
System booted before replacing motherboard.
Long story short, we ( Dell tech and myself ) called Dell they could do nothing. The USBs Dell sent were useless as was advice and suggestions...
I did image backup using Acronis True Image 2014 before replacing MB.
I did retore and system came up with no issues. Took 1hr 15 mins to restore.
The incident happened yesterday...
So my advice...
Getting image backup to complete means nothing unless you verify it works by restoring to a disk ( preferable new as you don't want to wipe out your original ).
Just like there have been numerous issues getting image created, there could be issues restoring.
There is absolutely no way I could have rebuilt a new drive to same configuration from scratch. There were too many apps and program configs to remember not counting licenses, passwords, etc..
!!! Important Note.... !!!
Don't let anyone convince you that you are safe until you have confirmed you can backup and even more significant, essential and important is confirm you can restore and system comes back up.
Anyone who says or suggests less is either naive concerning purpose of backups, lazy or deceitful...
If your boot drive dies and can't be used do you know what to do next? If you purchased a system recently many don't come with software on CDs or DVDs and many do not have CD or DVD player so how you going to restore Windows System Image Backup you created
without any software?
Maybe you created a rescue disk on either USB or flash drive... But do you know how to use it?
If you don't care about system config or programs then just copy your data to external media or cloud.
Microsoft WILL NOT send you any media or software. Your manufacture " might " send you some sort of recovery media you can boot from... However, this is all speculation.
IF Your Data And System In It's Entirety Is Important To You, Then Make Sure You Can Backup And Restore Before You Have or Encounter A Disaster.
If you don't really care then why are you even reading this thread?
Anyway, on positive note..
Can't wait to get new Dell XPS 15 9550 fully loaded i7 6th Gen, 16GB MEM will upgrade to 32GB when available, 4K screen, 512GB will upgrade to 1TB when available...