I have the following problem at hands: 1. I have a HDD (in my Toshiba laptop) that is failing. The way it is failing that there are a number of sectors that show unusually slow access time, a number of bad sectors, and, worst of all, at least one sector which freezes the system every time any program tries to access it. This happens even with low-level programs like spinrite or seagate tools. 2. I have got a new drive, and I would like to clone my old drive to the new one. However, when I use Acronis to clone the drive, it does the same thing: it works for some time, by my estimate, about 1/3 way through, and then everything freezes and all the drive activity stops. So it also stumbles upon this bad sector. 3. My plan is now to format the new drive and then copy the entire old drive file by file, working thus around the bad sector. 4. No comes the question: -a. Are there any hidden system files that will not be copied if I just copy the system directory (my system is XP)? -b. What shall I do ensure that the MBR is the same as in the old disk? -c. I have a hidden partition (for the system recovery) in my old drive. Is there any way I can copy it to the new drive without going through the entire disk cloning (which as I said I cannot do), or shall I forget about that? Thanks a lot!
