Getting some additional activity and a SMART failure on a 160G Seagate drive.  Just bought a new 500G drive and was planning to just clone everything tonight but they won't have Acronis in stock until tomorrow. Was wondering how effective the Seagate clone software is and if I should trust it to transfer OS, programs, and data or just wait for the acronis software. Yes, I'll backup all critical files but would prefer to not have to reinstall all the programs. I really need the machine operational until the weekend so need to get the copy done tonight if at al possible. What do you think - will the Seagate software be ok?
 
Thanks in advance.

Bump - really want to get this started tonight but a little leery about using the seagate stuff - anybody have an opinion of either one or any concerns about the seagate disc??

I have not used the SeaTools utility, but have used the Western Digital set very effectively, as well as the Acronis.
 
Zero luck with either on an IBM x-61s, due to the weird bios/recovery partition, but never an issue on a desktop drive.
 
Go for it, try the new drive, and if it does not work, just put the old drive back in till the Acronis gets in stock. It does not erase the old drive unless you ask.

Thanks - I was more worried about my old drive going south before the transfer was complete.
 
BTW - just read on another forum that the Seagate software is actually Acronis and that I can download a trial version of Acronis anyway. Guess I was worried about nothing - Thanks again.

I don't know but it seems to me it wouldn't hurt to try the seagate software.  Just don't erase anything off of the 160GB disk so you can redo it with acronis later if the seagate software didn't get it right.  (On second thought I guess it could hurt if your hard drive is that close to dying)
 
I would think either would work.  I usually just download a copy of knoppix or a Gentoo minimal install CD and use "dd."

I have used Acronis Universal Restore it works great. I have also used ghost. Either is fine.

Funny part is, I didn't think there was much wrong with either of my 160G drives, I was just hearing some additional activity in the background. I used the SMART monitoring feature of SpeedFan and the only thing it showed was an unusually long run time (2+years 24/7) but it wasn't in the bad zone. Decided to run the Seagate diagnostics and both drives failed the SMART diagnostic but were fine on all the other tests. Even though it's a non-specific potential failure, I'm not taking any chances. I've played the game of losing vital drives too many times to wait for something else to happen.

In case anyone is interested - Got 'er done and the Seagate clone software worked just fine.