Hi Joe! It's always a good idea to have a virus free back up image of your OS for the very reason in your thread.
I can be up and running on a brand new Hard Drive is less than a hour. Yes there may be a few up dates if I was lazy and didn't create a image when I should have. I had forgotten about those slipstream tools. That was a long time ago.
I wish more people like us would take the time to learn how to use a 3rd party image program.
I have been using the free version of Macrium Reflect for years, It has never let me down!