surface rt Surface RT/2, apps, the Store and full HD backups?

[Dutchie64]

Ok..... Putting on my tinfoil hat for a moment here, and fire off some thoughts and questions.

With the demise of the RT platform, we Surface RT/2 users are in some kind of stale mate.
Not knowing what the Update 3 will bring us, I'm looking into ways of running my S2 as long as I can. Especially because I bought it just over a year ago.....
That basically means, running useful apps as long as they work. Or are available in the Store.

Recently I saw some apps disappear from the Store, or became inert as the devs had stopped support for it. If this happens to most of the ARM based apps in the Store, my S2 becomes basically an expensive paperweight.
And another thing, with MS pushing Win10 HARD, what will happen with the Win8.x Store when 'momentum has been reached'? Will the "RT Store" just vanish?

So:
1. What would be the best way to backup one's Surface RT/2 for future "mishaps"? And with backup I mean a full disk backup, not the USB restore one that you can create from within RT. That's just the OS.
No, a full HD recovery backup, OS and apps and all.
2. Does anybody has a clue how Store apps work, in regards of functionality, after they're installed on the tablet? It seems anything based on web services will just not work anymore. Or when the app is pulled from the Store, can you reinstall it from somewhere?
It is still listed in your app list, so one would expect it to be there after a reinstall of the OS....

I dread the day I have to fully reinstall my S2, and find the Store barren from the apps that I had installed, and only be left with a handful of apps that are not the daily drivers :-\

If anyone has thoughts, tips, solutions on the backup question, I'm all ears ;-)

rob
 

[ccoltmanm]

This has already happened to me and the built in Travel app. I looked into backups and found no solutions. Sorry dude.

[Dutchie64]

Hi,
Yes, and the Health&Fitness and Food app as well. :-\
That's why I'm looking into a way of 'rescue-ing' my current install. One of the problems (as you also found out) is you cannot make an image from a ARM device, like you would with a regular pc. So no way to make a timestamp of your device to put back when things went wrong.

Hopefully the September upgrade brings more than just a Start Menu we don't need :-(