R.I.P. HP Pavilion dv1000

[Submeg]

I have found someone who has an 80 GB IDE drive! How can I go about cloning the drive so that I can just swap the drive?

[Bloodwych]

You can try Drive Image XML: http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

Free and can be used from a boot CD or bootbale USB stick (check out BartPE): http://www.runtime.org/peb.htm

Or just go with the Ultimate Boot CD - it should have cloning software on it but I've never used it: http://www.ubcd4win.com/contents.htm

You'll need to store the image on an external USB hard drive though, or burn the image to DVD's. To be safe, I'd back up all your personal data files separate to the image too just in case something goes wrong writing the image back.

As for the largest hard drive you can use, I'd imagine you'll be fine with the largest laptop IDE drives you can find (320GB?).

[Harrison]

320B is about as large as you will find for a laptop 2.5" IDE drive. You can get larger but they go up in price. Samsung make some nice drives at good prices.

There are loads of programs that let you clone an HDD. The commercial program Acronis True Image is the best, but if you want a free one try http://www.macrium.com/ they offer a commercial and free version, plus a 30 day trial of the commercial one which might be all you need.

[Submeg]

So I was able to score a FREE 80 GB from an IT guy at work! My laptop now is in the hands of a guy at my dad's work who is gonna do the mirror for me!

[J T]

Awww, I was gonna suggest a viking funeral

[Submeg]

That free hard drive failed, however I was able to get a 250 GB online. Installed and everything is working again!

[Submeg]

NOT SO FAST. Restarted on me randomly again. Maybe a motherboard issue?