Disk Cloning

I have failing 250GB 3.5" WD SATA HDD and have a replacement 320GB 3.5" WD SATA HDD that just arrived.

In the past when replacing hard drives I've created images of each partition and used them to create new partitions on the replacement hard drive. However each time I've done that I've either had problems booting to the correct partition, or else had to make the main hard drive active and bypass the recovery partition completely.

I imagine the best way to do this would be to clone the whole disk rather than creating images of each partition - is that right? Also given that the old hard drive is failing and some sectors can't be read, what would be the best (preferably free) software to use that won't give-up the moment if finds a failing sector?

 

While I can't guarantee that your data will be COMPLETELY intact (due to bad sectors, etc.) this program will copy all readable data without the classic disk error issues:

http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=29

Hope this helps!

 

I ended up using:
http://www.roadkil.net/program.php/P22/Raw Copy
From the same site. Both seem to be great programs, thanks for the link!

 

Glad you were able to find a suitable solution, hope everything copies ok!