New HD question (Newbie)

[laezyre]

My one year old WD HD is starting to have errors. I want to replace it before things get ugly. Guess I got a lemon...

Anyway, what is the easiest way to copy the data from my current drive to the new drive? I will, of course, load windows first. Thanks for any help.

system:
E8400 cpu
4 gig gskill mem
msi 8800gt
250 gig WD HD (exactly on year old!)
windows vista 32

 

[corkyg]

Get the new drive ASAP. Then use the drive's copy utility to clone the old drive to the new drive - no need to start Windows. The WD DLT utility is bootable. Such a CD comes with the retail version of a new drive. If you go OEM, then you will need to download it and create your own bootable CD.

 

[nvalhalla]

Yes, look up "clone HDD", that's what you want to do. The OS and everything is copied over, no need to reinstall.

 

[laezyre]

I saw a program called data lifeguard on the WD website. It is used to copy one HD to another it says, but vista is not listed as a compatable OS.

Is the acronis software better? I saw that on this forum. I'm trying to go oem if possible.


Thanks for the fast responses.