Things You'll Need

Instructions

1

Set up 2 hard drives, the one you intend to ghost and the new one onto which the cloned files will be placed.
2

Check to ensure that the destination hard drive can accommodate all of the software you wish to ghost and that the two hard drives are compatible.
3

Select the proper software to use when you ghost your computer. Some, such as Symantec Ghost and Acronis True Image, are commercially available, while others like Carbon Copy Cloner and DriveImage may be downloaded for free (see Resources below).
4

Install the ghosting software onto the hard drive you intend to ghost. Specifics will vary depending on the software you are using. Check to ensure that it is running properly before you ghost the computer.
5

Boot up the ghosting software and select the drive with the partition or files you wish to ghost. The exact steps will depend on the particular type of software, but it will usually ask you to select a certain series of files or a certain partition from a list. Click on the ones you wish to ghost.
6

Select a destination hard drive. Again, specifics will vary, but you will want to select the new hard drive where you want the files to end up, not the old drive which currently contains the files.
7

Choose the size of the partition or files, whether you wish to compress it or them and what name you wish to use. These details help the computer determine the parameters for your ghosting, and again, will depend on the software you are using.
8

Confirm that you have selected all of the files you wish to ghost, and then click "Proceed." Depending on the software, it may give you a slightly different prompter, such as "Start Partition Dump?" or "Begin Cloning?" In each case, you should click yes.
9

Wait for the software to ghost your files. It should provide a final prompter when the operation is completed.