any program that will copy harddrive to another

[Vormund]

Also - My current HDD is 160gb and the partition is like.. 150gb or something. My blank HDD is 320GB and I don't want it to just make a 150GB partition on the blank one, I want it to make the max size it can but still have all the stuff on it.

Even if it does clone the ~150 GB partition, it's really easy to resize it later on, from within Windows.

http://us1.download.acronis.com/pdf/TrueImage10.0_ug.en.pdf
Looking at the manual there, it looks like it should work just fine (and automatically enlarge the partition as you wanted above) - their steps are under Chapter 13. It might be worth trying to do as you said: format the disk and see if it shows up, although the guide does say it checks if it's empty vs. has stuff on it, and prompts you about losing the old data...:freak:

 

[EricB]

drive image would have simplified that for you.

why don't you hook the second drive up, format it in windows. then hit start, right click my documents and select properties, then click move, select the second drive as your destination, then when it ask you to move the files, select yes. wait a while

this will make the new drive, your documents folder. this way you won't lose data if you reinstall windows and it will speed up your computer performance as oppose to having 1 320 gig windows drive with everything cluttered up on it. you also won't have to defrag that drive an you can turn system restore off on it.

if you are slick enuff, you can make 2 partitions at first. one 5 gig and one 315 gig. you could then put your swap file in the first partition on the second drive, this will also speed up performance.

 

[carnageX]

Easiest way to do this:

Get a Norton Ghost 2003 boot disc. You boot off of the disc, and you cancopy partitions over to your new drive/resize the partitions to whatever you want. I did it with my SATA drive, from my old IDE. There are default values for partitions if you have existing ones (I believe it just reads what percentage the partitions are on the old drive, and takes that percentage to the new drive). Easiest way to do it, IMO. Took about an hour to copy 80GB worth of data to a 320GB drive.

 

[EricB]

drive image is easier. it ask if you want to keep the partition the same size or do you want to fill in the unused space. it will format an unpartitioned space automatically

I use every program mention here. drive image is the most reliable and easiest. acronis has more potential, but it actually copies unused space (which add unnecessary time to the job) and can leave you with an unbootable system. ghost has compatibility issues

 

[mrpiddly]

Isnt there a built in disk utility tool that has a copy hard drive button, or is that OSX? Sorry but i cant remember.

 

[Max Power]

Well I copied the drives and they seem to be the same but one I try and boot from the new one it sais Windows failed to load

 

[EricB]

Well I copied the drives and they seem to be the same but one I try and boot from the new one it sais Windows failed to load

that's another side effect of using those programs

 

[Max Power]

that's another side effect of using those programs

what should I do? Just go with the process of installing windows on the new drive then copy everything over in windows with just copying + paste.