Fixed! 
heck, I finally get to tear a HD apart! Already savaged the case intact. Just need to break the seal to the drive.
Again, nothing serious lost. Already backed up all business files and my image library on another drive (Western Digital!). My windows 8 machine is an "experimental" laptop so nothing goes on there that needs saving. I have everything from the Windows 7 install from that laptop saved.
If I regularly had to maintain important data on a high volume basis, you are all correct that I would have to invest in a more robust system. But for the most part, my work is done when it is done. The data is saved for quick reference more than continued work. Most clients prefer their data be removed from my workstation. I normally provide them with a DVD with all their data cataloged in case more effort is required at a later date. To me, that makes for the best offsite storage and limits my liability.
However, nothing that I know of will bring you back "online" when you change hardware. There is still a lot of manual work in case of system upgrades. From what I understand, cloning will only work on the hardware you have right now or an "identical" system. Licenses tied to CPU, hard drives, or NIC addresses will fail if you change out any of these.