Mason, should you want to clone sometime in the future, Acronis True Image works well for me. I think it is easier to understand than Norton Ghost.
My clone procedure is to have an identical clone drive in the PC as the one I'm cloning, normally disconnected. Before cloning I connect the disk power and communications cables. After cloning I disconnect the cables.
In the procedure below, the first column is actions you or the PC performs. The second column is the heading of a program window showing an action to be performed by you or a resulting screen. Each new window follows the actions you take.
SELECT OR ACTION......................Program Window Title/Screen
Start Acronis TrueImage
Select Disk Utilities .....................Pick a Category (Acronis True Image Home)
Select Clone Disk .......................Hard Disk Utilities
Next.........................................Disk Clone Wizard
Select Automatic .......................Disk Clone Wizard
Highlight Source Disk/Next ...........Source Hard Disk (Shows all your drives)
Highlight Destination Disk/Next ......Destination Hard Disk (Shows all your drives)
Select Delete destinations on .......Nonempty Destination Hard Disk
Destination Hard Disk/Next
Review Screen/Next ...................Hard Disk Drives Structure (Source and Destination)
Review Screen/Proceed ...............Disk Clone Wizard (PC operations to be performed while cloning)
Select Reboot ...........................Warning
(System reboots) .......................Displays clone progress white letters on black screen
Press any key ............................Message of completion and instruction to press any key to shut down pc
After PC shutsdown:
Manual reboot ............................Finished Message then Windows screen
Because I wanted to be able to review the procedure to use prior to a clone, I captured screens showing what is displayed. I needed to do this since I don't remember stuff very well anymore. If you want to see any of them, let me know.
My clone procedure is to have an identical clone drive in the PC as the one I'm cloning, normally disconnected. Before cloning I connect the disk power and communications cables. After cloning I disconnect the cables.
In the procedure below, the first column is actions you or the PC performs. The second column is the heading of a program window showing an action to be performed by you or a resulting screen. Each new window follows the actions you take.
SELECT OR ACTION......................Program Window Title/Screen
Start Acronis TrueImage
Select Disk Utilities .....................Pick a Category (Acronis True Image Home)
Select Clone Disk .......................Hard Disk Utilities
Next.........................................Disk Clone Wizard
Select Automatic .......................Disk Clone Wizard
Highlight Source Disk/Next ...........Source Hard Disk (Shows all your drives)
Highlight Destination Disk/Next ......Destination Hard Disk (Shows all your drives)
Select Delete destinations on .......Nonempty Destination Hard Disk
Destination Hard Disk/Next
Review Screen/Next ...................Hard Disk Drives Structure (Source and Destination)
Review Screen/Proceed ...............Disk Clone Wizard (PC operations to be performed while cloning)
Select Reboot ...........................Warning
(System reboots) .......................Displays clone progress white letters on black screen
Press any key ............................Message of completion and instruction to press any key to shut down pc
After PC shutsdown:
Manual reboot ............................Finished Message then Windows screen
Because I wanted to be able to review the procedure to use prior to a clone, I captured screens showing what is displayed. I needed to do this since I don't remember stuff very well anymore. If you want to see any of them, let me know.
