laptop help....hard drive swap

[Marl]

OK my harddrive in my laptop is currently about to die. I got a new HDD and am wanting to copy the full content of my old one to my new one. I do not have access to a desktop at the moment. Is there any programs out there to copy the contents of one onto a dvd and the load them into the new hdd? Also all i have discs for is winxp pro so I will be loading it onto the new drive but my old has xp home. will that make a difference? thanks for any suggestions/help.

[Drew2]

Programs won't copy unless you ghost, really, so you're better off just installing all the programs all over again.

That's always the best idea for a fresh install.

[Marl]

now I gotta pray that this hdd lives through making 9 restore dvds to get it to factory settings.........goddamn sony vaio's give ya no restore discs bah

[Drew2]

Why? If you're installing Windows XP pro, there's no reason to do the restore which has windows home.

[Marl]

to get factory settings and programs.....i.e. dvd player/burner, music/ video editing software drivers and all that jazz. If not I will have to look each one up and download seperately which will take forever.

[Parker]

It won't take as long as you think. You should have a list of utilities and drivers online from Sony.

[Marl]

ok tried to put xp on the new hard drive and it wont recognize the cd and boot off it....changed boot order etc and same thing
"operating system not found"