a successful system copy Copy your MBR from the old disk to the new disk, but only the first 446 bytes because otherwise you will overwrite the destination partition table! Try to keep as close to the original partition layout as possible. This is more important for DOS/Windows systems, in which the OS and applications will use drive letters (C: D: etc.) to find files they need. For UNIX systems, this is not a major issue since you can easily modify /etc/fstab after the copy to update the mount points. Boot sectors can sometimes be directly copied, but other times will have to be created fresh. For DOS/Windows, the drive C: boot sector can be directly copied to your new disk. For NT systems, the boot sector will launch a program (NTLDR) that is then capable of booting the main NT volume. Note that the NT 'boot.ini' file will have to be updated if your partition layout changes. For Linux systems, it is best to boot from a CD-ROM after transferring your file systems order. You can then re-run 'lilo' to recreate the boot sector. What exactly you have to do depends on whether you're dual booting, which loader will be booted via the MBR, etc. Always test to make sure your file systems have been copied over correctly. Use 'cfdisk' to double check your partition table. Run CHKDSK.EXE or fsck, reiserfsck etc. as the case may be to check your copied file system. In case of problems, double check