OS partition backup

I have two bootable disks: an SSD and a mechanical HDD. The SSD is my boot disk and it has one partition. The HDD has two partitions: one for the OS and the other for Data. I would like to periodically backup the OS and applications on the SSD to the boot partition on the HDD and keep it bootable. I want to do this periodically to keep the applications current on the HDD. Eventually, when Windows on the SSD becomes corrupted, I can recover the OS and applications from the HDD. Should I use "Backing up partitions and disks" to do this? Will the HDD still be bootable after a backup? Are the files backed up in native format or to a tib file?