Is it practical to make a copy of a HD?

[wumply]

By this I mean get the entire contents of the hard drive in current use onto a brand new hard drive. My logic being that if the current drive should quit or it got badly corrupted--say the read/write arm dragged on the head--I could simply pop my new drive in, plug it in and away I would go. With very little work. I save the few files I really want to CDs and floppies, but if my idea IS practical, I"d not have to load every blasted program in front scratch and tinker and tinker with settings.

Am I a dreamer? What are the pros and cons?

[FastGame]

wumply, its the most practical thing you could do, its the best anti virus, the best screw up fixer and the fastest way to a clean install :)

Most of us TZ'ers do this, thats why we're not afraid of trying all kinds of stuff on our PC ;)

Best way is...save your important data, format and start over and when you get the OS installed with all the updates make an image. Now install all the programs you know you need and like then make another image. As time goes along you can make more images if you like.

I use the image in combination with XP backup utility.

[petard]

Google on "ghosting a hard drive".

[wumply]

So tell me more of the details, please. I gather I use Norton Ghost or Partition Magic or similar programs to make an "image" of my HD. Well, where does this image get put? Does the software put it in the empty space (of which I have tons) on my current HD? Then do I physically install a new HD in my computer and copy the "image" to the new HD? Won't this have left the "image" on my old HD, using up space? After that, take the new HD out, store it, and if my old or current drive gets damaged, just take it out and pop the new one in?

Is there a site that explains all this fully on the net--or willl it be only with the instructions that come with those software programs.

[petard]

So tell me more of the details, please. I gather I use Norton Ghost or Partition Magic or similar programs to make an "image" of my HD. Well, where does this image get put? Does the software put it in the empty space (of which I have tons) on my current HD? Then do I physically install a new HD in my computer and copy the "image" to the new HD? Won't this have left the "image" on my old HD, using up space? After that, take the new HD out, store it, and if my old or current drive gets damaged, just take it out and pop the new one in?

Is there a site that explains all this fully on the net--or willl it be only with the instructions that come with those software programs.


In short, yes.
google, google, google...

[Conan]

Acronis True Image is the best "cloning" program for me.

[rik]

Acronis True Image is the best "cloning" program for me.


Best one for me also.