Whether you are running Linux or Windows, its a good idea to clone your system before upgrading your system software, or doing anything that may brick your system.
Its easy to create a clone of your current system which you can then use to re-image your computer, in the event of a problem.
However, it should go without saying that re-imaging is a destructive process. The whole computer hard drive is going to be re-written when you restore an image.
