Cannot clone failing hard drive

Ok. Thanks for the replies
I do have 3 HDs avail
Dell motherboard only has 2 SATA slots
When you have more time, please provide steps I need to take
Thank you again!

Attach bad and 3rd HDD, image old to 3rd
Remove bad HDD and plug good HDD
Restore image (3rd) to good
Remove 3rd or adjust BIOS if necessary

Thanks Gokay
Will follow your instructions
Just to confirm, using Acronis, this is simply making a standard (nonbootable) backup and then recovering it to the 2nd (new) HD

Yes, images are always non-bootable, it is just a minor annoyance and some time lost.

Gokay- When I remove failing HD (c: drive), I cannot run Acronis to restore image to new drive

Sorry I had to leave you hanging but life got in the way

What I would suggest is creating the acronis cd (I rarely image within windows). Boot from cd and create image of failing drive to 3rd HDD (You may already have this accomplished). Replace failing HDD with new HDD. Boot to cd and restore image from 3rd drive to new HDD. If all goes well you should be able to boot windows on your new HDD.

That makes sense
Will give it a try

One more question cyber
As mentioned, I only have 2 motherboard sata slots
Can I still do what you describe?

Husaberger said:

One more question cyber
As mentioned, I only have 2 motherboard sata slots
Can I still do what you describe?

Sure. Failing HDD is probably already on sata 0 so plug 3rd HDD into sata1. Create image of failing drive to 3rd drive. Replace failing drive with new HDD on sata 0. Boot to cd and restore image from sata1 to sata0.

Note that during restore you'll have the option to copy drive signature. Do so, as some programs use it for licensing activation.

Also note that if you are using the free WD version of Acronis you will need to have a WD drive always hooked up for it to function.

Should have also mentioned that you can usually create your image to, and restore from, a usb drive but I rarely do so as it is too slow for me.