Ghosting a drive...

[Renanton]

I have a hard drive that I know is soon to die. I just recently wiped it clean and now have a fresh install of Windows XP on it and all my network settings, etc are up and running. (Problem with this disk is it doesn't always want to boot. Its 8 years old)

So I want to upgrade to a newer HD. I've been reading about Ghost. Is it feasible for me to:
* purchase a new HD and Ghost software
* install it in/on my computer
* use Ghost to make a copy of the old one onto the new one
* Shutdown and remove old HD (toss it in the trash)
* Move new HD to the old ones spot
* And reboot and be fine?

I've been reading Radifieds site on how to and what all it does. I just dont want to purchase software thats not going to do what I want it to do.

[QuickSilver]

Yep, it will do exactly that. Ghost is a great program. If you want, it will allow you to install the new HDD with the old one still in the system, and just install the ghost copy directly to the new one. Then, you can remove the old one, jump the new one to master, and away you go.

[Renanton]

Excellent. That is exactly what I wanted to hear :) Thanks for the quick response. I love this site!

[QuickSilver]

So do I! Best darn support site on the net man! :D

[RayH]

To just clone the drive, the hard drive manufacturers have a free utility for this.

[QuickSilver]

That will only work if the two drives are made by the same manufacturer. Those free utilities are less reliable and don't have near the options.

[glc]

That will only work if the two drives are made by the same manufacturer.

Nope - only ONE drive in the system must be made by that manufacturer. I used WD's Data Lifeguard to clone an IBM to a Quantum drive - it worked because the 3rd drive in the system was a WD.

The software is plenty reliable, I use WD DLG and Maxblast all the time and seldom have problems - the only time it falls on its face is when the source drive is corrupted.