I use Macrium Reflect on 3 desktop computers and can vouch for how well it works.
You'll need a USB drive in addition to another hard drive, either in your desktop PC, or as an external unit.
I make back ups once a month on each computer and have used them twice on 2 different computers due to a hard drive failure and a corrupt operating system. It takes about 10-15 minutes to create the back up and if you need to use it, it'll take about 15 minutes to restore your computer (SSD or HDD) back to what it was like when you made the back up!
Macrium Reflect:
Rescue media and Windows PE: (I use a USB stick to put the Rescue media onto).
If you lose your Windows operating system, you can start your PC using Macrium Reflect rescue media on CD, DVD, or USB stick. This makes creating rescue media the first thing you need to do with Macrium Reflect. It contains a bootable, lightweight version of Windows and a full version of Macrium Reflect.
Disk imaging: (This is where you'll need another hard drive or external storage)
Macrium Reflect creates an accurate and reliable Image of a hard disk or the partitions on the disk. In the event of a partial or complete system loss, you can use this image to restore the entire disk, one or more partitions, or even individual files and folders.
During the imaging process, Macrium Reflect copies the contents of entire volumes including a reference to their physical location on the storage device to an image file (.mrimg). You would normally store the image file on local or network drives, or removable drives connected using USB or eSATA.
We strongly recommend that you create an image of your system at regular intervals.
