Replace a New Harddrive?

[lpenner]

Hello-

My new T420 was delivered with a harddrive that appears to be defective.

I spoke with Lenovo support. They sent me a new bare drive.

I need help. How do I clone the existing drive to the new one? Or should I have just sent the whole laptop to Atlanta?

[ZaZ]

If it's broke, how you going to clone it? Typically, hard drives are considered user replaceable and you don't have to send it in, though I believe you can if you want.

[lpenner]

Its still functioning. It has a strange surging sound part of the time, like its starting to spin up, then down, then up, then down.

The Lenovo tech thought it best to replace the drive.

[ZaZ]

Depending on what kind of drive it is like Seagate or Western Digitial, some manufacturers offer cloning software on their sites. Rescue and Recovery is another option. Do you just want to install the OS? You can do that with the recovery discs if you made them. Lenovo may send you a set with the drive if you ask.

[lpenner]

Hello-

Thank you for the reply. I will want to clone/move everything. OS, programs, data.
Will Rescue and recovery do that satisfactorily?

I have a very technical friend. Am I better off to just pay him to do this task?

[ZaZ]

I don't know your friend, but I'd be most concerned about making sure I had a back up of any data I can't afford to lose. Worry about the other stuff later.

[lpenner]

My friend is a skilled and trained tech. He's going to bring a cable and image the new drive and then install it.
I'll do a full backup prior as well.

Thanks