Resolved Need to replace C/boot drive w/o reinstalling OS?

My C drive, in an older PC is "old" and I fear may crash and burn soon. I would like to replace it with a new drive but do not want to spend days reloading the OS, tons of software, driver updates, OS updates, etc....

Can I install and format a new drive in the PC then copy the entire C drive to it, then boot from the new drive by adjusting the BIOS?

My original OS is probably OEM, if I understand the rules correctly, this may be a violation of MS terms & conditions?

Thanks....

 

engrstan,

Pete recently guided me through diagnosing a hard drive that turned out to be bad. When we finally decided it was bad, I was able to install the new hard drive and restore the entire hard drive contents in about 1 hour with all programs and settings intact because I had the entire hard drive imaged (or is it cloned)?

I use an external, 1TB Maxtor hard drive that came with the software to image my computer's hard drive as well as do periodic backups of all the data files. I assume the software would be very similar to Acronis that Pete mentioned. I usually create a new HD image once a week and back up the data files every day. After I installed the new hard drive, I simply inserted the Maxtor Recovery Disk and followed the instructions to restore from the external drive.

All in all, the external hard drive was $125 well spent - which saved me a lot of time and frayed nerves.

 

Great responses Pete and Virginia!

I have heard folks talk about "imaging and mirroring" drives but never got the context. I will look into it further.

Thanks!
-Stan