Cloning laptop hard drive?

I want to upgrade the hard drive in my Thinkpad T41. Right now, there's only a 40 GB HDD. I like the customization that the former owner did and the fact that everything is already installed. I usually use Linux so I prefer to avoid the time taken to install XP. However, if it is easier than cloning, I guess I would have to re-install. I have one disk (I gotta locate it). Is that all I would need? The previous owner created it and I got it with the laptop.

I read about Acronis True Image and thought I might get that and do it that way but is there anything similar in Linux that would work just as well or good enough?

My last question is: how would one do this?!? How can I clone the drive? I'd have two drives and since it's a laptop, not a desktop, I can only have one drive in there! Understand the dilemma?

I guess I need to google...

Thanks in advance for any advice and/or answers.

P.S. the hard drive I am thinking of getting for the upgrade is the Samsung 160GB IDE laptop hard drive 5400 rpm 8MB HM160HC. It's been discussed in some threads in this forum and I believe it is highly regarded. I think it would be enough storage space.

 

you can use wine to run the acronis or you could use norton ghost

i personally got a use adapter so i can plug my laptop hard drive to any usb port and i clone the HD

internal to usb hard drive it worked perfect

 

What about Linux software? Nothing that works as well?

Also, I am not sure I understand what you said.

Are you saying you first clone the drive to a drive connected via USB? Then when it is moved/cloned, you take out the original drive and then install the new one? Then you clone it to the new drive? That involves three drives? I'm confused.

 

I had to do this the other day. Check out Clonezilla.

There are plenty of others:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_disk_cloning_software#Free_software

Good luck!

Edit:

LOL... this is incorrect. You cannot run either app on WINE.

 

o im sorry linux is not my specialty

if you get a usb adapter for a 2.5 inch ide hard drive then plug it in , you can make a live cd for HDclone and then copy the harddrive in there now to the usb drive. After you clone it plug the one on the usb adapter in there and your done

 

Sorry I shouldn't have LOL'ed... I just can't help it when I see WINE taken totally out of context... the other day I saw a post recommending using SetFSB on WINE, and sadly it wasn't the first.

/off topic

But yeah the best way to do it is like you said and use an external USB (or eSATA, if you're lucky enough to have a port) enclosure for the target and swap after the clone.

 

lol now i know setfsb wouldn't work

i love the usb option but i have 2 HD bays now so im happy

 

Not to get too OT but if you ever need to know if it just works on WINE, there's a database here:
http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?bIsQueue=false&bIsRejected=false&sClass=application&sTitle=Browse+Applications&sReturnTo=&iId=0&sOrderBy=appName&bAscending=true&iItemsPerPage=200

In general, most things that are low level like disk partitioning utilities and things that talk directly to hardware (except for certain exceptions -- serial, USB, etc.) will probably malfunction or not run at all on WINE.

 

thanks alot + rep