cloning hard drive

need help

[SSam]

I tried to post this request for help but can't seem to find my post or answer so I need double help now..
how do you track a request for information?
anyway how do you clone a hard drive? I have two identical laptops and several extra HD's so if one goes down or grandkids mess it up I can use an identical backup.
I have Win2000 on mine with all of the service packs/updates and want to make the others the same.
can anybody tell me how to do this?
any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
SSam

[jdMorgan]

Your recent thread [webmasterworld.com] is listed in your profile -- Click the profile icon under your WebmasterWorld nickname.

Jim

[kwngian]

You may consider using an older version of Maxblast II which will do cloning of Windows 2000 hard disk quite perfectly.

The newer version of Maxblast downloadable at Maxtor website will not clone drive not belonging to Maxtor.

If you need the older version, let me know.

[asquithea]

You want a tool such as Norton Ghost, I think. Ghost will allow you to make an "image" of your hard-disk, which you could save on CD backup (it usually spans one or two disks). This image can be restored onto any hard-disk with sufficient capacity.

Ghost is also a useful backup tool, since it effectively captures a snapshot of your hard-disk -- there's no possibility of forgetting to back up something important.

I'm not sure of prices and licensing for personal use (it's more commonly used in corporations with many computers), so that's something to investigate, but you'll find it on several illicit Windows PE (Pre-Installation) bootable CDs if you want to get a better idea of how it works before you purchase it.

[sem4u]

Yes, Norton Ghost is what you want.

[vrtlw]

Third vote for Ghost, the industry standard in cloning HDD's. Many corporations use this software for implementations of desktop and server computers.