noob question needs answer

ok so i have a harddrive already for my laptop and i was thinking of buying another one. if i get the a new one, i want to copy all of the files from the old HD into the new one, not simply transfer files (ie. usb flash drive to HD) but i want to transfer EVERYTHING, including OS files and such. this way if i start up the laptop using the new HD, it will be exactly like starting up with the old HD. basically i want a clone of the old HD. is this process called "cloning" or "ghosting"? also how do i go about doing it? do i need a program? if so do you know of any free ones, or just good ones for that matter? thanks alot!

 

I personally like to use a program called Clonezilla (I think it's in the big list of free software in the software section) that boots from a CD, but I think a more fail-safe and user friendly approach is to just use the free trial of Acronis True Image.

Install it, clone your disk, and uninstall it; all you need is a way by which to hook up your new drive to your laptop (ie a USB/SATA adapter or eSATA/SATA cable, etc).

 

thanks alot man

 

Acronis true image is an excellent program but I find for a person cloning for the first time the simpler easier more staightforward program is:
Best FREE Partition Manager Freeware for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7. EASEUS free Partition Manager Software Home Edition.

It will guide you through the process,all you have to do is a couple of clicks.

 

ok i used tried both programs to clone my hd but the problem is that the current hd that i want to copy from is dual booted, it has both ubuntu and windows xp on it. so everytime i clone it, the cloned HD won't boot the GRUB menu. anyone know how i can clone a dual booted hd sucessfully?

 

got it to work by reinstalling grub and doing some other things too.

even though i got it to work, if u know a way to fix the problem i had, please post here, 'm always checking out new and faster ways to do stuff, thanks!