Replacing HDD in old laptop. Is there a bit for bit backup software?

[jaguarskx]

I have an old IBM ThinkPad T40 from 2002. I am taking out of mothball status and I would like to replace the hard drive since it is 8 years old by now.

The issue I have is that the Windows XP Pro "install disc" is on a hidden partition. Is there any software that will allow me to backup all data on my current hard drive to a new hard drive including the hidden partition?

I would hate to be forced to buy a new copy of Win XP Pro and search around for various drivers that are specific to this old laptop.

Thx.

 

[jsc]

I use Acronis for backup software. It can image a complete hard drive.

There are undoubtedly free solutions that do the same thing, but I have always like Acronis. I thing that they have a trial version on their website. And there's a free version, customized for WD on their site.

 

[lysinger]

I have an old IBM ThinkPad T40 from 2002. I am taking out of mothball status and I would like to replace the hard drive since it is 8 years old by now.

The issue I have is that the Windows XP Pro "install disc" is on a hidden partition. Is there any software that will allow me to backup all data on my current hard drive to a new hard drive including the hidden partition?

I would hate to be forced to buy a new copy of Win XP Pro and search around for various drivers that are specific to this old laptop.

Thx.

I'm a big fan of Norton Ghost and it will do a bit by bit copy of your hard drive. Acronis has already been mentioned and is good as well.

More importantly:

Do you have the windows Certificate of Authenticity on the bottom of your Thinkpad still? If you do, you can borrow the CD media from someone and use that key without having to buy a new copy. If you do not have the COA on the bottom, get a copy of Magical Jellybean Keyfinder and it will read the windows CD key out of the registry. Print the key file and save it for the future.

Another item of note is going to be your new hard drive. That laptop is old enough that it may suffer from the 137gb partition limit for hard drives. 80gb and 120gb western digital scorpio blue EIDE/PATA drives are my faves for old laptops. They breathe new life into old laptops as they have 8mb of cache memory (upgrading to 2gb of ram on a Thinkpad doesn't hurt either). I've had several T40-42 Thinkpads and they rock.