my hd is about to die... its a 160 gb ide and my primary drive - windows and whatnot, id like to replace it with my 250gb serial... i know that a ghost image would grab everything... but can i put an image from a 160 onto a 250? is there another way to essentially copy the hard drive onto one that is different?

but can i put an image from a 160 onto a 250? Yes you can. You will end up with 90 Gbs of free space. Once you have the system up and running again, you can partition and format to give you another drive(s). Stuart

You could clone the 160 to a 250GB but I wouldn't recommend doing that. If the drive is dying the data on the drive may be comprimised (corrupted). Better to install the 250GB and install Windows to it then copy any needed files over by connecting as a slave. Don't connect until absolutely necessary. If the drive is going you want to recover the files before it quits completely. All the major drive makers have software to clone entire drives but you can't partition the drive. I would recommend partitioning into 2 or 3 drives. When installing the new 250GB drive you will need to have WinXPsp1 or better on the CD or you can't use more than 127GB. If you have original XP then you can partition the drive and install WinXP on the first partition. After updating to SP2 you will be able to partition and format the remaining disk space. Look at the TWO links below for more info. http://www.48bitlba.com/index.htm http://partition.radified.com/

thanks for the info guys. ill take it from here!

PowerQuest Drive Image works for me. We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. Aesop ~550 BC