[tech] How does one clone a notebook HDD?

[nemonowan]

I have successfully done this same thing with an asus netbook (to install a bigger SSD than the original) this way:-Booting from a pendrive with Hiren's Boot CD installed-Using Ghost to image the full drive (including any hidden partitions) to an external USB drive (or the same pendrive if big enough), or even a network drive if you can access one. This makes sure that all files in the disk will be properly imaged, since the OS installed in it is NOT running-Open the notebook, remove the old drive and install the new one (KEEP THE ORIGINAL DRIVE IN A SAFE PLACE!!!)-Fiddle with the BIOS as needed to make sure the new drive is being recognized by the hardware-Boot again from the pendrive, and use Ghost again to write the image to the new drive.-Try to boot from the new drive. If everything works, be sure to keep the image and the original drive available while you test the new setup.