I want to replace my laptop's hard drive. What is the best software to use for HDD imaging?

I have a 60 gig drive now and am upgrading to a 160 gig. I have the two drives and an external USB hard drive. I have a Thinkpad T60. I am hoping to make an exact copy of the current disk so that the operating system stays intact and working.

I have a 60 gig drive now and am upgrading to a 160 gig. I have the two drives and an external USB hard drive. I have a Thinkpad T60. I am hoping to make an exact copy of the current disk so that the operating system stays intact and working. I have used Acronis but I do not have a way of running the program after I take the hard drive out, as I do not have a cable to hook up both laptop hard drives at the same time.

You have to have a way to connect both laptop IDE/sata drives to the same computer (that may or may not be a laptop). That's first and foremost. It can be an IDE Converter to LT size in desktop. It can be a USB external drive for LT, it can be a lot of things, but first and foremost, you must have a physical way to do it.

After that, it's software. There are zillions of software programs to do THAT, like Nortons ghost, classic software for HD duplication to the point it's become brand named for it "Ghost those HDs" like "get me a Kleenex" or "Xerox this" you don't say "do a bit-by-bit copy of HD" or "get me a facial tissue" or "photocopy this". It fits on 3.11 floppy and boot off of... but, whatever software is fine here, as long as it fits the physical way both of these LT HDs are connected to each other. It's certainly the most popular though. Any will do, though, depending on your physical connections.

There isn't a "best" here. Some may do it faster or whatever, or offer other options like partitioning, etc... but assuming they do bit-by-bit duplication there isn't "better" programs here. All of them do (or offer) verification. Either they do it, or don't do it.


Edit: You need a ghost file of HD, an exact copy. As I said before, nortons ghost can do it. But other programs can do. Note in YOUR case, from your edit, you require bootable media to do it......... Else, you have to use restore disks, install a windows program, then run program, and then reboot (at which point it does same thing as bootable media, which is pain in the *** and leaves you no options if it doesn't work for some reason)

Make sure program you use for HDD duplication isn't restricted to windows and has bootable options that can read all USB devices. Even ghost might not read it, depending on your BIOS. It becomes very difficult after that, as you have to restore an OS to the HD you want to clone to. While the OS is running on the HD you want to clone to....... If you have a desktop (or a friend that has one) it's immensely easier with any software and a $3 IDE/Desktop IDE/Laptop converter. In case of SATA, same connection, desktop or laptop, for HD.

Acronis