Need to backup main hdd

[abu_has_the_power]

I need to backup my main hdd. it's been getting Disk Overloaded messages in uTorrent when i'm moving or extracting from this drive to another. sigh.

what do i need to make a perfect 100% copy from my main harddrive to another hdd (might not be same size or model) so that once i plug the new hdd in, it'll run immediately?

[DorisInsinuate]

I used HDClone (free) to do that.

http://www.miray.de/products/sat.hdclone.html

[tesco]

Norton Ghost works good

[zapjb]

My sig. Don't be fooled. AME kicks Gh***s ***.

[abu_has_the_power]

acronis has a win xp interface. does that mean it can do a full hdd clone while xp is running?

which of these can backup to a hdd in a usb enclosure?
i know norton ghost does. wat bout ame?

[RealitY]

I use Ghost although found the newer 9.0 to be crap so went back to Ghost 2003 although it cant backup to a usb like 9.0 can. However it can backup to a partition on the primary drive and then be copied or moved. May have to check out that free app link above. Always nice to find good freeware applications...

[abu_has_the_power]

does ame backup to usb? i'd really like that. be much more convenient for me.

why is the new ghost crap?

[abu_has_the_power]

should i use the backup (compressed) or copy disk function in ghost 9? how much does backup compress? if i restore the backup image onto a new hdd, will everything work immediately?

[zapjb]

What I do with AME: I have rack drawers on my tower. This way I don't have to open up the tower. I always test the HDD thats to be stored away. I think in 2yrs I've opened the tower 3-5x. Once to add RAM. Once to check IDE cables. And a couple times to check for dust. What more can it do? Don't know.

[abu_has_the_power]

what do u use to test hdd integrity?

i'm not even 100% it's a prob with my hdd. i get hdd overload message in uTorrent when i'm downloading and extracting from a large rar or zip. when this happens, my internet connection freezes, my downloads completely stop, and the hdd activity light on my case is on full. i can hear the drive spinning too. guess this means it's my hdd's problem huh?

and my computer has been kinda slow lately.

i kept my hdd on for over a week straight downloading ps2 images. could that be the cause of this? i have 2 western digital 200GB AT 7200rpm's. 1 is used for storage, and rarely modified