Backup Software

• It is possible to employ system backup software to create a full backup of a hard drive, but this would require a storage medium large enough to hold all of this data. With today's double-sided DVDs being able to accept roughly 8 gigabytes, backing up a large hard drive that had 80 gigabytes of data would require 10 recordable DVD blanks. At the same time, this would also require the user to sit with the system the entire time, opening the DVD writer and flipping the media when necessary or exchanging it for another one once both sides were written. Another possibility would be to use a large enough external hard drive, which would eliminate babysitting the DVD writer but would still require a full backup to an intermediate media followed by a full restore to the second hard drive.
  
  

Commercial Imaging Software

• A somewhat more elegant solution for this task is what is known as imaging software. Two of the better known products are Norton's Ghost and Acronis True Image. While both of these products can be used as a backup/restoration application, they also allow the user to create an image of their hard drive, which can then be placed onto a new hard drive. This is particularly useful in cases of a hard drive upgrade or replacement.
  
  

Open Source Alternatives

• Another alternative, one provided for free by the Open Source community, is called Clonezilla. This software cloning tool has all the features that would be required by anyone attempting to copy an entire hard drive.
  
  To use Clonezilla, download what is known as a ISO file (see Resources for link), burn a Clonezilla CD using the CD burning software now provided on almost all computers, insert the Clonezilla CD into any system that has both the hard drive you wish to copy from and the drive you wish to copy to, and boot that system set to use the CD-ROM drive as its boot drive. From there, follow the simple on-screen instructions provided by the Clonezilla software.