How to replace my "C" drive without a boot disk?

Question

I have a 2nd hard drive but when I used "PC Backup" then replaced the old "C" with a brand new one my computer would't boot from the backup drive.

The second hard drive wasn't the one I used to replace the C drive. That was a new unit.

Answer 1

You backed up files to your new harddrive, that would help restore it, to the state it was at backup. You did not copy your harddrive verbatim,(for lack of a better word, for the moment). So all you have is a new HD with backup files on it. Still have to use your old one to boot the computer. You need a 'mirror', like Norton Ghost,(ummm, no), or Acronis, to truly capture all info off of your old HD, to transfer to the new one.