I am trying to change hard drives in my computer. How can I transfer everything (OS, programs, files) from my existing hard drive to the replacement?
by 
crotalus410
ANSWERS: 2
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There are multiple ways to do this. The most effective method (arguably?) to do this is with a cloning application. I'm going to assume that you are using a file system such as NTFS, EXT, Reiser, or FAT. (used by Windows/Linux) Some examples of these programs would include: Symantec Ghost Symantec Live State Recovery (formerly V2I) Veritas Replicator (soon to be Symantec too...) Acronis True Image g4u PC INSPECTOR™ clone maxx miray HDClone the DD utility which is part of most linux distros I'm only listing ones I'm familiar with and know to work reliably. This does not mean that others wouldn't do the job as well or better. Some can do this "on the fly" with the operating system running. Others require booting from a cd or other media into another OS environment to perform the clone. Possibly of importance: Once you've duplicated your drive, do not boot into your operating system with both drives still plugged in unless you've wiped the original or your operating system could become pretty unhappy with you...
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Once you have the O/S setup on your new system, a quick way would be simply to burn files such as music files, documents, videos etc to a CD/DVD and tranfer them. Just remember to burn MP3 files to a data disk, as many programs automtically convert them to CD audio files if you don't specify data. Or I often use my hard-disk based MP3 player to transfer large amounts of data between computers, if you have one.
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