Need to image laptop's hard drive

[jmmL]

I've ordered a new laptop that should arrive tomorrow. Unfortunately, it comes with Vista Home Premium. I'd like to install Ubuntu on it, but before I do that, I need to take a complete image of that hard drive, so I can return the laptop in an "as new" state if I decide I don't like the laptop. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I don't think it'll hurt to be prepared.

Are there any free (preferably open source) tools that I can use to take an image of the hard drive? They would need to be bootable, so I don't get an image with the Microsoft EULA accepted etc.

Also, how big would the files be? Presumably there'd be some kind of compression, as there will only be about 20GB of data, with the rest of the drive free. Would the imaging software be able to image multiple partitions? I expect there will be a recovery partition, and I'd like the image to include that too.

Thanks!

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

You can find some options that might work for you here:

Drive Imaging | Linux App Finder

Yes, they do provide compression options, so file size can vary.

Yes, they will do multiple partitions, as well.

Good luck with it, and do let us know how it goes.

[jmmL]

Thanks!

I hadn't heard of that website before, I'll be sure to give it a look in the future.

I think I'll use either Ghost 4 Linux or Partimage. I might use partimage as part of the SystemRescueCd, it looks pretty useful!