[LeRoux Strydom]

I am replacing my Win2K computer's main hard drive with a bigger drive, but have no desire to reinstall the OS. I have googled for cloning software (preferably free), but am faced with a bewildering array of options. Which software is best (did I mention free?) for cloning the existing hard drive safely?

Is it possible to create additional partitions after cloning, or should I do this before the process?

My IDE slots are full already, but I can temporarily remove one optical drive to fit the new drive for cloning purposes. Do I have to put the old & new drives on the same IDE (slave & master) or can I use IDE0 and IDE1 for this purpose?

TIA.