Quite frankly, this is kind of thing that every single one of us should always be ready to deal with
1....The Pubic, that's us, SHOULD be DEMANDING every time we buy a new machine, to get installation disks for the OS and software, or at the very least "restore" disks. What is NOT acceptable is the current state of a "restore partition" on the hard drive..........because WHEN the hard drive dies, "you are screwed."
I quit buying off the shelf 'puters some time ago. I have mine custom built with the amenities I want. It also comes with the OS disk.
Learn to use "imaging" programs and BACKUP your data, your photos, your documents. Nowadays, with USB devices, this is easier than ever. So called "cloud" type stuff online is also available, although I do not like this approach........jus' my opinion
I do store a ton of stuff on an external hard drive, if my PC gets hit or just plain dies I still have it.
