There is REALLY a simple way to do this.You can do that with the simple Linux Ubuntu version 9.04 32-bit edition.This will all now sound weird,but trust me it works like charm and I have done it a million times.(You might want to print this so you can follow my instructions while doing this)...
So do the following:
-Download the Linux Ubuntu 9.04 32-bit edition from this link:
http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownload/Ubuntu-Jaunty-Jackalope-Download-43130.html
Just click the first link called "Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) Alternate i386 (ISO)".Download that and burn it to your CD using programs like Power ISO.
-Now plug that bigger drive where you want to copy the bootable partition to in your computer.Now go in the "Computer Management"."Computer Management" can be found in "Control Panel" -> "Performance and Maintenance" -> "Administrative Tools" -> "Computer management" or you can simply go right mouse click on "My Computer" or "Computer" and click the button called "Manage".Inside of that "Computer Management" choose the "Disk Management".Now inside of that "Disk Management" format your bigger drive completely.So delete ALL the partitions on him,create just one PRIMARY partition that uses the entire drive and then format that PRIMARY partition using the NTFS file system,put its name something like "CLONE" or whatever you want and TURN OFF THE 2 OPTIONS CALLED "Quick format" and "Enable file and folder compression".Now finish the wizard and the formatting process of that big drive will start.
-After the format process is finished,you will see that it says "Healthy".That means that your big drive is now properly formatted.Now close that "Computer Management".
-Now what you want to do is to copy the ENTIRE bootable disk contents to a totally another hard disk drive.We will do that in just a moment,but before that,verify WHICH Windows version you have installed.If its Windows XP,then put the Windows XP CD in your CD/DVD-ROM drive.If its some other Windows version then put its CD or DVD in the CD/DVD-ROM drive,restart your computer,go into the BIOS and put your CD/DVD-ROM drive to be the first device to boot from.Now save those changes to CMOS using the BIOS options and restart your computer.
-Now the Windows CD or DVD will start booting.After its fully booted up,when you get to the screen with the partitons,delete ALL the partitions on that hard disk drive which we before formatted using the "Disk Management",create just ONE partition that uses the entire hard disk drive and then select that partition,press the ENTER button on your keyboard.Now the moment you selected the partition where you will install Windows,the BOOT informations have been created and that is EXACTLY what you will need later!Now format that partition using the NTFS file system.If its the Windows XP then choose the option called "Format the partition using the NTFS file system".DO NOT USE THE "Quick" METHOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!If its some other Windows version then just format that partition using the Windows regular way for the formatting the partition just like you were usually doing.
-Now the Windows installation on that other hard disk drive will start...
-After the Windows installation on that other hard disk drive is COMPLETELY finished,you are done!DO NOT INSTALL ANY DRIVERS OR ANYTHING!!!
-Now put the CD on which you have burned the Ubuntu 9.04 in your CD/DVD-ROM drive,restart your computer,go into the BIOS and put your CD/DVD-ROM drive to be the first device to boot from.Now save those changes to CMOS using the BIOS options and restart your computer.
-Now the Ubuntu 9.04 CD will start booting.The first thing that you will see is that you choose a language.Simply select the "English" language and press the ENTER button on your keyboard.Now select the first option called "Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer" and press the ENTER button on your keyboard.
-Now the Ubuntu 9.04 OS will start loading files from its CD disk and that may take a few minutes so let it finish.
-After the Ubuntu 9.04 has completely loaded all the files from its CD disk,you will see the desktop.Now simply go in the "Places" -> "Computer".Now the COMPUTER file browser window has opened.Maximize that window so we can see all more clearly.Now simply go into that hard disk drive on which we have just installed the Windows OS few minutes ago and delete EVERYTHING FROM IT!I MEAN EVERYTHING!!!To do that,simply select ALL the items then go right mouse click on any of them and then click "Move to Trash" and in the small window that has just opened click the button called "Delete all".
-After ALL the items are deleted,go back by clicking the "Back" button and now go into the hard disk drive which you want to copy.In it select ALL the items and then go right mouse click on any of them and then click the button "Copy".Now again go back by clicking again that "Back" button and then go into the hard disk drive from which we just deleted all the items few seconds ago.In it simply go right mouse click and then click the button "Paste".
-The copying process has just started!
The copying process can take up to 4 hours depending on the size of the files so let it finish!!!
-After the copying process is finished,THATS IT!!!YOU ARE FINALLY FINISHED!!!
-Now simply close the window and in the upper right corner click the button called "Live session user" then click the button called "Shut Down" and in the small window that has just opened click the button called "Shut Down".
-The computer will start shutting down and after its almost shutted down,the CD/DVD-ROM tray will open and on the screen you will get a message "Please remove the disc,close the tray (if any) and press ENTER to continue".
So simply remove that Ubuntu 9.04 CD from the CD/DVD-ROM tray,close the tray,wait for 5 seconds and then click the ENTER button on your keyboard and the computer will shut down.
THE END!!!!!!!!!!!
You now have COMPLETELY bootable hard disk drive with all the files and settings like on your old hard disk drive.
By the way this way I explained you here works for ALL Windows versions.
This way is also 100% safe for cloning ANY hard disk drives no matter what Windows version they have installed.
I always clone my hard disk drive using that Ubuntu 9.04 OS.I never use ANY of the programs for cloning my hard disk drive directly from Windows because usually that ends up bad and I lose all my files and settings.
Cheers mate!
