Originally Posted by kevs
1- but that can be done if not bootable right?
Sort of, it all depends on what and where the failure is.

Originally Posted by kevs
12 - The real point as you state is to run repair, but since invention fo the Recovery drive that is less important now right?
Yes and no. I have a recovery drive backup on a bootable thumb drive just in case. but that is the system only and does not include data and setup.

Originally Posted by kevs
13 - Other OS is not important, except for my old copy of Dreamweaver and I use Parallels for that. And being that I just renewed that at $50 per year ( still way better than subscribing to DW new with Adobe which is $200 year); maybe I don't even need parallels with a bootable back up.. since I'm using El Capitan with Parallels?
As far as I know you cannot use El Capitan on an M1 Mac, but then they just announced a beta Parallels that is running on an M1 Mac. You need to check with them.

Originally Posted by kevs
1I guess Parallels is nice as you don't have to do a full reboot, which is a pita,
See my previous response.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein