Hard Drive on the way out - Clone Windows, Software etc onto new drive?

JamesU2005 · 21 Dec 2009 at 21:12

Is it possible to clone an entire Windows OS, software, documents etc onto a new hard drive and just run it as if it has always been there?

My current hard drive with Windows and software on has one bad sector and thus want to move over to a new drive ASAP but don't really want to have to install everything all over again.

I might be dreaming but is there anyway this can be done?

JamesU2005 · 21 Dec 2009 at 21:58

And I won't have to reinstall Windows, all my software, docs etc?

Wow, I should really keep up with the times!

JamesU2005 · 21 Dec 2009 at 22:05

Thanks for all the help so far guys.

Should I format the new drive before cloning the Windows OS drive onto it?

I've just ordered a new Samsung F3 which I will be cloning onto.

JamesU2005 · 23 Dec 2009 at 23:34

Used Acronis True Image in the end, worked perfectly!

Plus I didn't have to format the new disc first!

Though it's recommend that if you want to clone a drive with Windows on you should run Acronis via the bootable CD rather than from within Windows, which is what I did.

It was so quick too, cloned a 250GB hard drive to a fresh unformatted 1TB drive within a couple of hours!

JamesU2005 · 25 Dec 2009 at 18:21

Swordfish said:
How full was the 250 Disc ?

Pretty darn full, about 220GB.