Hi,
I've installed a new Seagate 500gig HD on my computer with Vista installed on C (25gig) and data on D.The HD is making noises and whistles now and then,I'm afraid it's gonna stop and I'd like to copy the C partition with the OS to another disk on the pc , currently F drive and make that disk bootable so that I wouldn't have to reinstall Vista and all the programs and then replace the primary Disk.
Is all that possible?
Thanks in advance to any help

I feel this would have been better posted in the Vista forum. However:-

If any hard disk shows signs of forthcoming failure, you should replace soonest.

Download and use the hdd test program(s) from the HDD makers website. This should give an idea of the hdd status.

I note you have not mentioned copying your data currently on partition D:

How much of a headache would it be, if the hdd failed now, such that nothing can be accessed?

I would install a new disc as the primary master, and install the o/s on it.

*Then* install the original hdd as a slave and copy over everything required to the new disc. Remove the old hdd and keep 'just in case'.

Answering your question, a utility such as Norton Ghost claims to be able to do this, however as it is not original microsoft there could deficiencies. Sadly I have found Norton support somewhat lacking.

Good Luck - Keep us posted.