new HD in a notebook install question

I have an 80 gig 5200 RPM drive in my notebook and I am going to be replacing it with a 60 gig 7200pm.

My questions is how do i make the transition smoothly?

I plan on using norton ghost to create an image of the drive and store it to DVD. (however I have yet to download the program and have never used it)

So what do i do after i install the blank drive?

Use my system restore discs that came with the computer to install windows?

Then install norton ghost, then use ghost to have back up my drive to the way it use to be?

These boards are getting weaker.

I let it slide your comment about the boards, whatever that means.

But, in this case I'd think the Ghost aproach, or any other similar image-creator app
should work fine. I've installed WinXP from a ghost file that was setup with whole
different hardware and it did work, all I had to do is install the right drivers and
keep rebooting Windoze.

:)

Yes, Norton Ghost works great. Use that.
Or Acronis.


backing up takes a while to do. It will seem like the burner is having problems reading the disc or something (while backing up) but really it's just writing really slowly to prevent mistakes.
restoring the backup is very fast. i have about 2 full cds of the norton image files and they restore in about 5 minutes.
then it just runs a scan disk and starts windows as usual. :)
couldn't be simpler. :)