help with a new internal drive in T60p

I am getting a new bigger drive for my T60p that came with a 100GB 7200 rpm one. The main reasons are extra space and also because the right hand side of the palm rest gets uncomfortably warm upon extensive use of the drive. Now,

1- I did quite a bit of software installation on my current drive. Is there a way to preserve all that so that i donot have to install all software again after i insert the new drive.

2- I did a recovery CD preparation. I also prepared the CD/DVD that restore the machine to its factory defaults. If there is a way to do point 1 above, will this create a similar recovery partition on the new drive like the one lenovo hides now in the current drive.

In essence, i just want to have a bigger and less power-hungry drive, but at the same time keeping the machine in the same state it is now. I've done quite a bit of installs/updates the last week, and would like to avoid repeating all that if possible.

3- Most importantly, would that void my warranty with lenovo?

4- Will the shock protection technology work on the new drive?

I have winXP pro

 

ok, i called the IBM support and they said that it would not void the warranty. I also read in post that the hard drive shock protection is actually on the motherboard, so any drive would make use of the shock protection. Now, i still need help with points 1 and 2 above. Help is most appreciated.

 

Buy an external usb HDD adapter for your 2.5" sata drive, or buy an ultrabay slim sata adapter. Pop new drive in there. Use something to copy EVERY file on drive A to Drive B(more safe is to use a partition tool - I'd use DD in linux(ubuntu's live cd), then reboot, then ntfsresize my partition to be the maximum size of the new drive...) then swap B into A's place, and reboot.

 

Would have been very easy to clone the drive and include both partitions during the selection process. Although some higher end software will void the licence file when cloned.

Follow the same steps for attaching the new drive. Partition and format. Then start some cloning software such as ghost, make your selections including both partitions, then sit back and wait.