Z60M Hard Drive Cloning/Backing?imaging/Ugh!

[PutnamJct]

I have a Z60 with a hard drive that is probably on the way out. I've bounced around these forums and the Acronis forums and have spent hours reading how I should do this. I have 2 identical Z60's. (One has severe case damage but works fine. I have been cannibalizing it for parts to keep the one I use daily is service).
I want to take the hard drive out of Z60M # 1 and put in Z60M # 2. They are identical size/type/etc. I'm thinking I should be able to backup (or clone?) Z60 # 1 over the network onto my desktop (with plenty of space) and then move the info onto Z60M # 2 (over the network again.)
I want to copy everything (OS, programs, files, settings, etc). Does that mean I should be cloning instead of copying? Is it do-able over a network instead of having to go buy a USB enclosure?
I have Acronis True Image 9 that I use for regular backups, it has a cloning feature too, but the instructions are very light on how to do it without USB.

Thanks Much!

John

[rkawakami]

The easiest way to do what you want is to "clone" the drive directly onto another laptop drive. This will essentially make a duplicate copy of your existing disk; i.e., it will have all of your data and it will be immediately bootable. The method I normally use is to mount the new laptop disk in an Ultrabay HD adapter and clone using Norton Ghost. A second method that also works for me is to "image" my drive onto one (or more) DVD+RW disks, swap the hard drives and then use Ghost to read the image disks and write them onto the new drive. Note that I also have a floppy drive connected to the system from which to boot the Ghost diskette.

If you are stuck with using a desktop PC as an interim step and the software you are using supports a network connection, then I guess you can "image" your original drive onto your desktop. As long as you can then boot your Z60m with Acronis and have it connect to your desktop (there won't be any OS on your "new" laptop drive), then you should be able to restore the image onto the drive in the Z60m. Sorry, but I don't have any direct experience with Acronis to know if this is possible or the steps needed.

[PutnamJct]

Thank You for the response! Ended up upgrading the hard drive, didn't realize how far prices had come down. Went with the 320GB Western Digital Scorpion from Newegg. Bought it and one of the USB enclosures. Acronis did the whole whole operation in under an hour, I was surprised how simple it was.
Thanks Again for the help!