Transferring hard drives in laptop and partitions

[munch2477]

I have a dell inspiron 6000. I just recently performed a pc restore using dell's built in symatic (sp?) so I am basically back to square one. From what I understand it was basically a hidden partion of the orginal settings on the computer. I plan on installing some of my other programs and getting the drivers all up to date.

I guess there are multiple questions here:

(1) if i bought a new hard drive, and i used one of those transfer devices, would i be able to keep the symantic program? As in would i be able to back up to a certain point?

(2) if i installed this new hard drive and I had everything I wanted installed with all the drivers up to date, would I be able to create my own symatic partition so I could use that point as my new "square one"?

 

[Archean]

They way system manufacturers like dell hp etc. sell their systems these days; you can only create one 'recovery partition' dvd as backup and thats it. No way of transferring that partition to other HDD at least to my knowledge. I would recommend you to keep the recovery partition; however, if you really want to get rid of it atleast make a copy on dvd.

Lastly, if you really wanted to have more storage option; instead of replacing internal drive; you could just buy one reasonably big external HDD.

 

[munch2477]

I have an external hdd but I am more concerned with the speed of the hdd. I also kind of like the mobility of my laptop and i would rather not have to carry around an extra unit and cable.

Is there any type of program anyone can recommend where I can create a recovery partition from where I am at now?