I am getting a new hard drive at work where I'm currently running Ubuntu 9.04:
ELF 32-bit LSB shared object, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.8, stripped.

What is the easiest and less "dangerous" way to transfer all the info stored into my old HD into the new one? I have a dual-boot system with a stripped down version of Windows XP which I hardly ever use, but I still need to keep to run some proprietary software . Please note that I'm still new at this, but I'm not afraid to try anything new. Thanks!

This might work - haven't followed this howto myself:
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-302717.html

Notes I wrote myself a couple of years ago when I trying to put in a new hard drive in an XP only system and make it a dual boot with Fedora follow - between what I wrote there and what you see in above howto you should be able to get going.

To convert a FAT32 to NTFS: (Not necessary if disk is already NTFS)

In Windows:

1. Start -> Run -> cmd -> enter.

2. convert <drive> /FS:NTFS

If this is the current drive it will ask to unmount. Say no and then it will say something about it being in use. Do you want to do after next boot. Answer Yes and reboot. It will convert the drive partition and then reboot.

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To clone NTFS with Gparted (Linux)

WARNING: This procedure will completely overwrite the target drive. It is important you verify which is the source and which is the target before doing the "dd" cloning step below.

Leave the original drive in the system and attach the second drive. The instructions below were based on attaching the second drive via USB in T41 Laptop.

1) Insert the GParted 0.3.4.8 Live CD in the CD drive and boot server

2) At menu that appears select .0.3.4.8 (Auto Configuration. and hit
return.

Note: This is Auto Configuration of RAM disk - it is not
changing anything on hard drive at this point.

3) You see a screen to select keymap that gives you multiple options.
At prompt "Load keymap (Enter for default):" just hit enter.

4) You'd see a screen with selections for language settings. At
prompt:
"Load keymap (Enter the number matching your language.
Enter for US):"
just hit enter.

You will then see "Copying /gparted.dat file for caching" - this
is copying to RAM disk - it will take a few minutes.

5) GParted GUI will come up. This should show you the existing drive
as /dev/hda (typically it will show partition /dev/hda1 as NTFS).
Double click on the "Terminal" box.

6) You will be at Linux command prompt (#). Type "fdisk -l". This
should show you details of both drives.

7) The drive with the NTFS partition is the one you want to copy FROM.
The other drive should have no partitions. For above setup this
was /dev/hda for existing drive and /dev/sda for the USB attached
drive.

8) SEE WARNING AT START OF DOCUMENT BEFORE DOING THIS STEP
Command to clone the disk is:
dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/sda bs=32768

This will take time (took about 2 hours for 30 GB drive copied to
a 60 GB drive).

When done you will see it show number of records in and number of
records out. These should be the same - if not the copy had an
issue.

9) Type "shutdown -h 0" to shutdown the Gparted live boot. (Remove
the CD once it is on the way down.)

10) Physically remove the old drive and install the new drive.

11) Boot the system up. Verify everything works as it did on the old
drive.

12) You can reboot using the Gparted Live CD to resize after you've
verified it is OK as is.

When you get to the GUI just highlight (select) the NTFS partition (typically hda1) then click on the Move/Resize button. You'll see a screen that will let you increment or decrement the blocks allocated to the selected partition.

I'll let you know if it works (or if I even need to do this. Supposedly the IT person here at work claims he can do it--we'll see...) Thanks!

Safe is make a backup first and test it. Then I might simply try the OEM's disk copy or G4U.

Hi there, I use clonezilla image live disk, and been doing it often, it needs just 4 clicks and you there, just down load and burn and use it, it is really handy, unlike Windows software like Acronice etc, can copy any HD to any HD, while window ones copy the C drive to other ones. Give it a try and you wont regret it. Only if your old drive is ATA and the new drive is SATA , you need a computer that its mother board has both connectors, that is, you can connect SATA and ATA to your computer.

.

Or maybe not. They sell a USB connected device that will do ATA (IDE), SATA and others. It is what I used to clone with gparted from one drive to the other. Not sure if Clonezilla Image would recognize the disk on such an USB attachment since I haven't used it but I suspect it would.