TheNick

I second both of these posts from Eastman51. You can also look for used/retired servers from 1-2 generations ago like the HP ML110 series. These should still be relevant enough hardware wise to be useful while still being relatively inexpensive enough to play around with. The upside of the old servers is that you may find one with a built-in RAID controller and multiple drive bays which can solve both your file storage needs and allow for you to run a VM hosting OS as suggested to take care of your experimentation needs, all in one box.

You could create a new VHD in the windows 10 disk management (More actions -> Create VHD) then restore the image to there. From there you could either mount the vhd in the VM and boot, or simply mount it in Win10 and browse to the files you need.

Also... They drop stuff.

Unfortunately there are no shortcuts to saving money. The best way to save money is by cutting out on all the little expenses that you may not think add up to much... When you're playing at your gigs dring soft drinks or water instead of alcohol as they will be far cheaper, and think where you can save money everyday by doing things in a slightly different way... Making coffee/breakfast at home instead of buying it (actually all your meals) is another good way of doing it. [Really just cut out unnecessary expenses] Setting a goal like you have done helps with this because then you look at the end goal and remember why you are making these sacrifices for... Also looking at getting the gear you are after second hand. As it seems like you are starting out you won't be able to afford the hottest gear brand new, start with used items to improve your game and book those bigger gigs then upgrade over time. Good luck!

Macrium Reflect is also a pretty good option. The free version does everything I need it to and it also allows you to store images of your drives as a backup option too.

If you are concerned with keeping your data you would be best off contacting a data recovery professional in your area. It could be costly but only you would know what your data is worth... If, after that you decide it is not worth getting done professionally ONLY then should you try and recover it yourself.

I'm currently running a R9 270x and the new Polaris cards would FINALLY let me run Elite: Dangerous properly on my Rift DK2.

What an awesome little projector! Would suite me perfectly in little New Zealand