how best to recover from sick drive problem

I wish to make an image of my current system and files, and re-
establish it on a new drive.
Seatools and CrystalDisk say the drive is not repairable. Excessive
Non-reallocatable sectors and running too hot .
The PC is runs but very sluggish and I fear it will suddenly crash and
take my stuff with it.

I wish to make an image of my current system and files, and re-
establish it on a new drive.
The question is if I create an image of my C drive using perhaps
WDAcronis on an external USB drive, then put another drive into my
Dell, can I reload the image on the new drive successfully? to resolve
the issues?
Or is there a better way?
Please peak slowly and use simple language,
I have never actually installed an OS or imaged B4 but it is time I
learn how.

On Sat, 18 Feb 2012 06:51:52 -0800 (PST), timOleary
wrote:

I wish to make an image of my current system and files, and re-
establish it on a new drive.
Seatools and CrystalDisk say the drive is not repairable. Excessive
Non-reallocatable sectors and running too hot .
The PC is runs but very sluggish and I fear it will suddenly crash and
take my stuff with it.

It may already be too late and your best option might be to install a
fresh OS on a new drive and try to copy your data files over, if
possible. Even if you could image the drive at this point, would you
trust it?

Let the drive cool down completely, then try it. Does it work much
better until it starts to get hot? If so, you can probably recover
your data files by removing the drive from the PC (without
disconnecting it) and placing a fan on it. In one case, I didn't have
a fan available so I draped the removed drive in Saran Wrap and placed
two large glasses of ice water (90% ice, 10% water) on top of the
drive. Prior to that, the drive was completely unresponsive once it
got hot, but by keeping it cool it worked perfectly while I
transferred the user data.

On Feb 18, 1:15*pm, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sat, 18 Feb 2012 06:51:52 -0800 (PST), timOleary

wrote:
I wish to make an image of my current system and files, and re-
establish it on a new drive.
Seatools and CrystalDisk say the drive is not repairable. Excessive
Non-reallocatable sectors and running too hot .
The PC is runs but very sluggish and I fear it will suddenly crash and
take my stuff with it.

It may already be too late and your best option might be to install a
fresh OS on a new drive and try to copy your data files over, if
possible. Even if you could image the drive at this point, would you
trust it?

Let the drive cool down completely, then try it. Does it work much
better until it starts to get hot? If so, you can probably recover
your data files by removing the drive from the PC (without
disconnecting it) and placing a fan on it. In one case, I didn't have
a fan available so I draped the removed drive in Saran Wrap and placed
two large glasses of ice water (90% ice, 10% water) on top of the
drive. Prior to that, the drive was completely unresponsive once it
got hot, but by keeping it cool it worked perfectly while I
transferred the user data.

Hi:
The drive works the same all the time! The primary symptom being
slow.
Thankfully it doesn't do like yours did. I wanted to not have to start
over. I back up data but having to reinstall all the crap I've
downloaded since I got this box will be a drag.
Thanks for your thoughts

On Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:30:47 -0800 (PST), timOleary
wrote:

On Feb 18, 1:15*pm, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sat, 18 Feb 2012 06:51:52 -0800 (PST), timOleary

wrote:
I wish to make an image of my current system and files, and re-
establish it on a new drive.
Seatools and CrystalDisk say the drive is not repairable. Excessive
Non-reallocatable sectors and running too hot .
The PC is runs but very sluggish and I fear it will suddenly crash and
take my stuff with it.

It may already be too late and your best option might be to install a
fresh OS on a new drive and try to copy your data files over, if
possible. Even if you could image the drive at this point, would you
trust it?

Let the drive cool down completely, then try it. Does it work much
better until it starts to get hot? If so, you can probably recover
your data files by removing the drive from the PC (without
disconnecting it) and placing a fan on it. In one case, I didn't have
a fan available so I draped the removed drive in Saran Wrap and placed
two large glasses of ice water (90% ice, 10% water) on top of the
drive. Prior to that, the drive was completely unresponsive once it
got hot, but by keeping it cool it worked perfectly while I
transferred the user data.

Hi:
The drive works the same all the time! The primary symptom being
slow.
Thankfully it doesn't do like yours did. I wanted to not have to start
over. I back up data but having to reinstall all the crap I've
downloaded since I got this box will be a drag.
Thanks for your thoughts

To answer your original question, if you trust the condition of the
data on your current drive you can clone it to a second drive. Then
disconnect the old drive, connect the new one, and boot. You may have
to adjust the boot order, but perhaps not.

You don't need to make an intermediate image. A direct clone to a new
drive in this case is faster and easier.