Normally I would suggest something like free Macrium Reflect or Acronis True Image...but if the hard drive is already in fail mode it may be too late. Not much to lose by trying, I suppose.

Here is a link that might be useful: Macrium Reflect

This post was edited by azinoh on Sun, Jul 6, 14 at 12:42

azinoh- It still functions fine, so I may have time to make an image. I assume that Macrium gets installed on the failing hard drive and then it is used to install an image on an external HD. Then the old drive gets replaced. After I boot up the computer with a new drive, what then?

This post was edited by kudzu9 on Sun, Jul 6, 14 at 13:14

I mention Macrium Reflect because it appears to function as desired in creating an image...is pretty straightforward to use and gets updated regularly...and I haven't heard much about it that was negative. But since 1993...none of the hard drives in 4 different desktops have ever failed so I have never had to actually restore a saved image. Seems to me that the basic process would be:

Create the image as desired and save to an external drive
Create bootable rescue media as described
Replace the bad hard drive with the new one
Boot rescue media
Follow the instructions to restore the saved image to the new drive.

As I said, I have not done it myself so I do not represent this as being the correct procedure. Hopefully, someone else will chime in with more info if needed. If you get it done, please report back so everyone will benefit from the info.

This post was edited by azinoh on Sun, Jul 6, 14 at 13:44

Might want to read what the free version off macrium wont do.

Might want to read up on the wbAdmin command for vista. Makes images that are supposed to work on dissimilar hard drives. Often referred to as 'bare metal restore'.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

This post was edited by mikie on Sun, Jul 6, 14 at 15:05

Thanks, all. Useful info.

I don't know if this is true or not, but when my hard drive went bad and had to be replaced,I was told I could no longer use my reformatting CD's???

I don't know if this is true or not, but when my hard drive went bad and had to be replaced,I was told I could no longer use my reformatting CD's???

That does not make sense, you are only swapping out a hard drive. I assume you mean the CDs to return the computer to factory defaults?

Did you buy a new operating system and have someone install it for a fee?

No, it would cost $300 for them to replace the HD so I bought a new PC. I did not want to spend that kind of money when I could buy a computer with a new OS.

On my XP computer I had to replace the HDD as it was failing. I made a complete image (clone) using EaseUS todo on an external drive. After the new drive arrived and was installed, I used the restore function of the imaging program to put everything, including OS, on the new drive. I never had a need to restore to factory defaults, but I see no reason why my disks would not have worked.

I haven't needed to do this lately, but the $300 quote sounds to be 2X or 3X too much. Replacement internal drives can be had for $60 or less, there isn't much time needed labor-wise for a good tech to swap one out and trigger a reinstall of the OS.