Good HD for my system -- please advise

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Guest

I have XP Home, using ASUS motherboard in an ATX case. There are two
hard-drives; one is from an old HP Pavillion I bought several years
ago; the other was installed by a computer guy down the street after
the HP motherboard fried. One is 8 Gig; the other is 14 Gig.
The 14 Gig drive installed by the computer guy is making little
thunking noises. Yes, I have backed up my data. But how to back up
all my programs and settings?
Does the thunking noise mean anything?
If I need a new hard-drive, what kind should I buy? (Do you need
more information about my system setup and other components)?
If I buy a new harddrive, how do I transfer the system from the
old hard-drive to the new drive?
Lots of questions here -- sure would appreciate some hand-holding
while I figure this out.

<*((((><{
(e-mail address removed)
 
The Files And Settings Transfer Wizard, or FAST, is designed to do exactly
what its name implies. Use Help and Support to find out more about FAST.
You can check out hard drives on the manufacturers websites. You probably
can't go wrong with drives from Seagate, Maxtor or IBM.
 
Kevin responds:
The Files And Settings Transfer Wizard, or FAST, is designed to do exactly
what its name implies. Use Help and Support to find out more about FAST.
You can check out hard drives on the manufacturers websites. You probably
can't go wrong with drives from Seagate, Maxtor or IBM.

Fishy:
First of all, you know the answer to your question, "Does the thunking noise
(of my HD) mean anything?", don't you? Can "thunking noise" be anything
good?

As Kevin stated, any of the current HDs marketed by the leading
manufacturers, e.g., Maxtor, Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi-IBM will be
fine. You just have to determine what capacity you need, presumably 80 GB on
up.

But Kevin's recommendation about using FAST to transfer the contents of your
old drive to the new one is not what you want. That program is not designed
to transfer programs/applications. It is primarily designed to copy over the
data files you have created and certain of your configuration settings.

What you want to do is to clone the contents of your old drive over to the
new one. For this you need a disk imaging program, e.g., Symantec's Norton
Ghost, Acronis True Image, among others. If you purchase a retail boxed HD
(not an OEM version), it will include a disk utility to do exactly that.
Art
 
In addition to Art:

If you buy an OEM version of a Western Digital Drive or Seagate, you can
download the cloning software from the manufacturers website.

r.
 
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