HDD Cloning

So I recently purchased two SATA 500GB HDs to upgrade my desktops. I have the first one almost to the point I want it to be at. When I get done, I want to clone it to the second one so I don't have to go through all the trouble again.

What is the easiest way to do this?

I think my dad uses something called "Norton Ghost" to clone drives, idk. Where's Cai? lol

It's been a few years since I used Norton Ghost. Was looking for something a bit different (unless it's improved). Never was a fan of it (though it got the job done).

Edit: Just did a quick bit of research on Norton Ghost 14. Looks decent. I'll give it a shot tonight. Any other suggestions would still be welcomed.

I guess I'd have to ask if this was to be used in another machine or just as a straight backup?

If this was to be used in another machine that is setup with the same hardware, then norton ghost would be best.

If this is meant to be data redundancy/backup then you might want to look at RAID1.

Ah, was going to edit to clarify, but didn't. It is for two different desktops.

You quoted before I ninja edited=D I meant RAID1 as RAID0 is for making two drives act like a large one with twice the throughput.

For cloning I'd recommend Ghost.

Let me know how well Ghost works for you. I've been trying to image my disk with Easeus Partition Manager, but it never completes for some reason.

For Partition-work I use the GParted Live CD, but for image backups I like Macrium Reflect which also allows you to make a boot CD and re-image a machine over the network. Clonezilla is another popular live CD.

You're looking to image the current hard drives, install new, better drives and re-image those new drives with your old drives' images right? lol /mouthful

Wealth of info, I'll have to try one or two of those.

Also in the same vein is the System Rescue CD which I have mainly used to fix broken boot partitions and recover damaged partitions, but has many other useful stuffs. It has saved my bacon many a time, and may save yours as well.

LOL when I read SATA, i immediately thought of <sneak attack> <trick attack>. think I play too much?

Thanks! I'd only really heard of UBCD and Hiren's Boot CD for the precious system recovery live CDs. lol

Huge performance bonus when they're back-mounted.

That's what she said.

<3

The new SATA HD is what I want to clone. This way it saves time on the second desktop. I started from scratch and installed Windows 7 and all my games/apps. My old HD is just going to be an archive / backup in case this HD or OS dies on me.

Unfortunately I didn't get to finish installing everything last night due to Dyna, so I haven't tested out the ghost software. I should be able to tomorrow afternoon since no events.
I think it every single time I see it, my friend.
I lol'd at both.

I have to say that CloneZilla is flippin awesome. Let me connect to another Windows computer using samba and fired the image across my network instead of having to put in another physical disk temporarily.

This! ^