... why not?

Format your new drive, plug both in, download TeraCopy, use it to move all your files. After it's done, modify the drive letter so it has the one your old drive had. And you're done.

http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php

I haven't used Partition Wizard, but I have done something similar with GParted. It should work.

Because of differing geometries, teracopy or any other utility that works at the file level is more likely to result in the files arriving completely intact.

The other downside is that a drive in that state is already past the point of being relied upon for backing up. You're looking at salvage, spending a lot of time backing up what could be empty sectors is unlikely to be a wise move.

But wouldn't I be able to recover those empty sectors later?

Honestly, probably not, If the drive is making funny sounds, you're going to have to get as much of the data as possible the first go, there's no assurance that you're going to be able to recover sectors later on, it might even be asking too much just to get the files.

Not to scare you unnecessarily, but in a situation like this you're unlikely to have time to get every sector backed up.

Might not be worth the expenditure for you but this is what I use to move data from one hard drive to another. You would need to pull the disk and have a second computer to do the move. Basically just allows you to copy the data from one to the other. I do it several folders at a time rather than all at once. Sorta cheap but works well for me . . . =)

Amazon

Thermaltake

Edit: Scratch the second computer since it's not the OS drive you should be able to do it all on your existing box.

Let's forgo the word "Backup" for "Evacuate", since I won't be using the drive I'm copying data from. I'm a stickler for semantics, especially since I have to deal with ambulance chasers whenever I'm not dealing with the ambulance passengers. Second, the drive was working just fine up until a recommended firmware update (recommended by a Seagate tech support rep, so it's on them to foot the bill for the replacement), after which my BIOS reported that the drive was SMART OK but BAD. I exaggerated the "death chatter" bit, but I suspect that's the reason since it's running a little "louder" than normal. The actual "red flag" was a Reallocated Sectors Count failure.

Anyway, I'm want to try to lift all "loose" data (Videos, photos, music, etc) to an external drive, and then try to shift all program data to the new internal drive.

If you copy the partition it will paste to a same-size partition on the destination, and then you can resize it. I copied from one (virtual) disk to another, larger one this way. It also basically ignores the empty sectors.

Mount and use Teracopy, see if you get everything (or most stuff). Anything you don't get you can try the freezer trick (make sure it's in a double layer of ziplocks with little air, you don't want ice in the internals), typically you'll only have a 15 minute time to read if it's bad, so you want most important crap off first if it's possible.

Also heat is a problem for crashing drives, so run the cables external and put a fan on it, keep it raised on something that won't reflect generated heat back on it (a couple of shot glasses will do).

You really can't stress it enough how backing up all your files can be beneficial for your nerves. I can't even think what kind of treatment I'd have to go through if I suddenly lost all my files. Probably a double heart transplant, because the second one would die from the aftershocks.

That depends a great deal on what particular utility you use. Some will some won't. And at any rate, you don't necessarily want to skip empty sectors as if the drive is failing you can't really count on the information to be accurate.

I wish I only had the space to backup everything I want to....as it is I can barely keep single copies of everything....maybe someday i'll get a bigger internal HDD cage for my tower so I can install a third HDD properly.

Interesting, I'm planning on doing a similar procedure (but with my system drive) in the near future. I was planning on getting a linux boot disk fired up, and just doing a "dd" from the old to the new. Is there a reason why this isn't suggested?

The drive was working just fine (albeit with slightly reduced performance) up until the firmware update, when it was discovered there was a major problem in the first place, so it's probably not in such critical condition that I literally keep it on ice while I transfer files, but critical enough that I keep it disconnected until I'm ready to actually do any transferring, which will be the middle of next week sometime.

Also, how do I "mount" TeraCopy? I've only found an installation executable. I've also run it once to see what I'm in for, and I can't understand any of it.