Help with cloning my hard disk. (WinXP Pro SP3)

[Jamesreeves_2007]

I want to clone my hard drive because I want to upgrade my hard disk. I want to make an exact copy of the drive with the OS, all my files/ programs/ drivers Etc. and want to restore it to the new drive. I'm kind of stuck. How would I save it so that I can access it again as I can only use one drive at a time. I'm using a laptop you see, and can't exactly plug 2 drives in at the same time. I'm not sure if a 2.5" Laptop Sata to USB adapter would help. I believe I only have one partition visible from my computer which is of course C:/ and that's the way I'd like to keep it on the other drive, however if I need to make another one on my current drive to aid the Clonezilla process then I'd be more than happy. If anyone could take me through it, I would be most grateful. Thanks

 

[voyagerfan99]

What's the manufacturer of the drive you bought? Each manufacturer usually has a utility to clone the drives.

And you can get one of these to do it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812161005&name=Adapters-Gender-Changers

Cheaper alternative:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002&name=Adapters-Gender-Changers

 

[Jamesreeves_2007]

Current drive is made by Hitachi and my new drive
is made by WD.

 

[voyagerfan99]

You can download WD's version of Acronis True Image to clone the drive over.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en

You'll still need one of the USB connectors I linked above. The second and cheaper one is a better option because you could use it on both laptop and desktop drives in the future.

 

[Jamesreeves_2007]

Ahh nice one, thanks for the help

 

[voyagerfan99]

You can't use the WD Acronis on non-WD drives, no (yes, you can clone from other drives to WD drives with it), but the adapter will work with any hard drive.