[creatureofdarkness]

A professional computer tech. recently told me the hard drive on my 6 year old Dell Inspiron 5160 (running XP Home SP3 with all updates)is failing. He had repaired it after I had gotten the blue screen of death screen and was unable to restart Windows.
I have ordered a new hard drive that I can install myself. My question: is it better to start from scratch and reload the OS and all programs - which I can do easily enough, and don't mind the time it will require, I have all the disks that came with the machine - or simply to clone my old drive onto the new one? I have some concern about getting programs like Norton 360 onto the new drive because I downloaded them to my computer and don't have a CD, so the clone approach should avoid this problem, but the tech who fixed my computer advises against cloning as he says it can bring problems and errors from my old drive into my new one. To clone or not to clone? that is the question! Thanks!

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You may not be able to clone it.
Or even if you can, there's no guarantee the operating system is going to work.

[Neil Jones]

You may not be able to clone it.
Or even if you can, there's no guarantee the operating system is going to work.

[creatureofdarkness]

Thanks for the reply. The computer is up and running OK now, the tech was able to get Windows going again, though he anticipates it will eventually fail definitively. With it running and Windows operating OK for now, do you think I may not be able to clone it or have the OS work?

[Neil Jones]

If you're running on the old hard drive, it will die eventually.
You can try cloning it now but as I say, there's no guarantee it will clone. If that's the case all you can do is stick a new copy of Windows on the new drive.

[creatureofdarkness]

Thanks again. I have my answer... I'll reload rather than try to clone. I don't want to risk having to buy a new copy of Windows.