Harddrive going out... Can I transfer the information some how?

[LightingBird]

I have another problem.

On one of my computers the hard drive is clicking away. Just so happens its my computer where I back up all the other ones. So I'm assuming its about to go out sometime in the future.

Heres my question.

I have a extra 80 gig hard drive that is not in use. Is there anyway to put this hard drive in this computer, copy the information, and then put windows on it. Doing all this so I can take out the defective hard drive.

Or am I doomed to simply removing the hard drive, losing all the information and reformatting the new one?

Any help, as usual, will be appreciated.

 

[Leonidas]

most harddrive manufacturer websites have utilities for transferring files from one harddrive to another...

 

[Apokalipse]

you could try it, but the hard drive might completely fail in the process

there are other ways of getting your data back, like taking it to a lab where they physically take out the platters and read the data on the drive, but that is usually expensive, mainly because it has to be absolutely clean, like with not even the slightest bit of dust