At this time yesterday, I awoke to find the dreaded 'blue screen'. It started the day before, when my computer couldn't "see" either of the 2 external drives I wanted to use for back ups. I had hoped to use one for the Back Up & Restore and the other for my Paragon (best) back up. By the way: my 'Back up & Restore' on here won't let me change the 'destination' drive! That's why I haven't been using it lately. But I was hoping to fix that.

I 'googled' the problem, which told me to open Disk Management, but I couldn't even open Disk Management! I tried everything I could think of: changing USB ports, not using my USB 'hub', & other things I can't even remember right now.  The funny thing was: when I checked Properties on my C drive (Windows), it 'showed' those two external drives & said they were 'working properly'.

Then, because my brain just wouldn't stop 'worrying' about it, I didn't sleep well; so at 4am, I was sitting here trying to 'fix' it. I thought I had figured it out. But, then, as I said, I woke up to find the blue screen. I tried several things: system restore--didnt work; then, doing a 'system image', etc. I wish I could remember exactly what DID work; I'm thinking it was a system image from the first of May--but I am not sure. Anyway, whatever it was, it worked & now I'm back to normal. PS--after I re-installed Acronis Disk Monitor, I found that my old back up drive was only 30% 'healthy'--so it's now gone. It was only 1T--which is why I just got a new one, 5T. I can save not only back ups, but copies of all my 'important' files.  I'm just glad my 2 yr old laptop is working again!! I sure can't afford to replace it this soon--or for a long time. 

My suggestion for everyone: make sure you have good back ups (for your files) and a good System Image--saved where you can get to it!

If this hadn't worked, I had two other options: call Hp Support (and I've had bad experiences with them previously!) or use one of my Repair Keys and at least let Cloudeight (TC/EB, the owners of NOTH) take a look to see if they could figure out the problem.  I wasn't sure they could 'do' anything, but they could at least let me know if it was a software or hardware problem.  I'm just  glad I didn't have to do either of those things this time! 

UPDATE: The 'back up & restore' is now working!! I was finally able to change the 'destination' disk. That was a nice surprise.