Ok I've just got a larger HDD as a secondary drive & what I'm currently using as my secondary drive (a 250 gb drive) I'm going to put my operating systems [vista & xp] on. My OSs are currently on an 80 gb drive. My questions: is there a free, reliable/safe, and preferably easy to use program that I can use to move the OSs from their partition on the current drive (the 80 gb) to a new one on the 250? I know that I can use Partition Magic to move them but I don't feel like paying 70 USD. Would there be any advantage to using partition magic over another program? By the way, does anyone know what Partition Magic's Boot Magic is?

Who is the manufacturer of the hard drive.

Most manufacturers have clone options in their install software.

As to partition software GParted is free Open Source / Linux that works as well as any Partition Magic.

GParted

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Anyway if you use GParted: Save this download:

SourceForge.net: GParted: Downloading ...

This is an ISO file. You will need an ISO burning program to burn it. It cannot be burnt as data as it is an image.

If you use Nero there is an option called "Create Disk Image".

If you do not have Nero you can use this free program:

ISO Recorder v 2

This will add the burning option to your right click options or shell.

With Nero just point it to the downloaded ISO. With the other recorder just right click the ISO and choose Burn Disk Image.

A new blank CD is required.

After the burn this CD will be a boot disk and will boot GParted.

Verify that your CD drive is set to boot prior to the hard drive and boot the CD.

There are some basic tutorials on the functions and use of GParted here:

GParted -- Documentation

The issue with GParted cloning is both disks need to be the same size.

In other words you'd have to partition the new drive to the same size as the old drive then clone.

might try this Free Hard Disk Backup and Restore, Hard Disk Image and Cloning Utilities (thefreecountry.com)

i know about cloning ISOs but thanks. so on the 250 I'll have to create a partition that is 80 gb? I'm wanting to have XP/Vista on larger partitions than they currently are since i'll have the room.

Using GParted yes the clone needs to match in size.

Having your OS on a smaller partition is usually not an issue as you can install your software to a different partition.

Yet again what hard drive are you using?

Most manufacturers supply setup software that allows cloning on any new drive.

It is a western digital. It was an OEM purchase from new egg so it didn't come with a disk. I found a downloads page for the drive but it didn't say anything about cloning software.

WD Support > Downloads > SATA Hard Drives > WD Caviar SE / SE16 (SATA I)

7.You will see the following options:

◦VIEW INSTALLATION TUTORIAL - Instructions on how to connect your new hard drive to the computer.
◦SETUP YOUR HARD DRIVE - Setup a hard drive already connected to your computer.
◦DRIVE-TO-DRIVE COPY - Copy all the files or a specific folder from one drive to another.
◦HARD DRIVE INFORMATION - Jumper Settings and other technical information about your hard drive.

Thanks for this. The only thing I've tried is a trial of partition manager which didn't work b/c it is a dynamic drive. That was last wednesday. I didn't even try that too much because that was the first time I was able to use my new drive because of my job. Most of that day went towards moving my files and a few other things. I haven't had a chance to do anything since because of work and my next day off is monday. Does it matter that the destination drive is a Seagate?

You should use the software for the new drive not the old.

If the new drive is Seagate/Maxtor you need Sea Tools/MaxBlast:

Seagate Technology - MaxBlast 5

MaxBlast has a very obvious "Clone" option. I have used it many times.

Thanks. It just hit me when downloading the WD software that I am moving to a seagate & I wasn't sure if that would matter. Maybe I should have mentioned that before. I'll play around with it monday. Does this include the option to resize the partition? Now both are only 30 gb but since I have the extra room now I want to make them larger. I know that Vista has a limited partition manager that can resize to a certain extent and under certain conditions. If it can't then I'll probably have to reinstall the OSs.