Is it worth having a clone disk?

[ppppenguin]

I note you're leaving your backup drive connected to your PC at all times. Not a good idea. If something goes horribly wrong (for example some types of malware) your backup files could easily be lost. You can also accidentally overwrite something on it that you didn't intend.

All you really care about is your own files. Windows and other software can be re-installed from scratch if something goes wrong. I've done it a few times over the years.

My main PC has two separate SSDs. One for the OS (Linux Mint as it happens, if would be the C drive on a Windows PC) and the other for my files, which might be the D drive on Windows). I back up my files regularly on to a number of ordinary HDDs. I could do this with a USB drive. In practice I have a caddy in a front panel slot and slip in a drive when I'm using it. Not possible with a laptop I keep copies of many installation files for my software on my data drive to save having to hunt for installation media when I have a problem. Though it's often easier to just download them from the net.

Having another usable PC is a huge help when you've had a failure. When I killed my previous main PC (don't ask!) it was long overdue for replacement. I used my laptop to download Linux Mint and make a bootable USB. Then I built my new PC from scratch.