Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

My current laptop is getting on a bit but still does the job. Thing is the hard drive is only 60 Gb and by the time the o/s and applications are taken into account I only have 20 Gb or so storage..

I don'tmind the fitting of a new drive but don't have a recovery disc to get the o/s onto the new one and had a hell of of time getting all the drivers sorted a while back which I don't want to go through again.

Is there a way of ghosting my current data/configs onto a replacement drive so it's plug an play?

Cheers

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Yes image your hdd onto dvdrs (will need alot) probably better to use a few usb sticks or to an external spare HDD. Swap HDD's over. Boot from the image bootcd, restore the image from the usb sticks/dvdrs/hdd, job done.

Software -If you have win7 it has a built in HDD imager which works great and creates a bootable CD for you.

If you don't then get hold of a free disk imager (loads on the web) or Norton Ghost if you want to pay. Both will provide bootable recovery CD options. Make sure that both can read from the media u backup to though.

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Example of a free imager;

http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

As an example I imaged my C: to another HDD in Win7, my HDD failed a while back, so swapped the knackered one for new then restored the image and was back online with the exact same setup (thats all apps, drivers, settings etc etc) in 30mins

Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the tips.

Should have mentioned - running windows xp
I've a 500 Gb external hard drive with enough space free to hold the entire image.

When you say boot from the image cd does the imager create it?

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Some do yes like Ghost.