I have a partition on a hard disk that I'd like to copy to another hard disk. 
This partition is computer A's main hard drive (the one from which
Windows boots up) and I need the exact same settings on computer B.
The two hard disks have different sizes as well as the partitions but
both parttions contain plenty of room.
It would not be a problem putting the hard drives of computers A and B
in a third computer to let it do the copying.
It is essential though that not only the files stored on the hard
drive are copied but the boot sector as well: I need to clone it.

Can you give me a link to a program (preferably freeware or shareware
that fulfills the above mentioned tasks and es not too expensive (up
to about $50, if really necessary a little more)

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Clarification of Question by toeb-ga on 22 May 2006 11:07 PDT

Thanks, frde, for your comments. I've tried what I wanted to do with
PowerQuest but so far it hasn't worked. I couldn't even get the first
computer to boot with the hard drive.

Do you maybe want to contact me at Answers-Username (without the -ga) AT GMX.net

livioflores, I'm aware of the problem that this does not always work
with two computeres with different hardware but normally it should be
enough to run the WindowsXP repair installation after you did, what I
want to do. At least that's what I got out of a computer magazine's
article. Using just the "Files ans Settings Transfer Wizard" doesn't
help me b/c it just transfers the settings but not all the programs I
installed and need to use on various computers.

I've found these in my snippings file
- there are many more out there
- it would be interesting to get a longer list

Ranish Partition Manager  Free (I believe)
http://www.ranish.com/     

Exact Image  $39.95
http://www.paragon-gmbh.com/home.htm

Image for Windows $26.98
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/imagew.html

You might be well advised to burn the image to DVD and transfer it that way
- you'll get a backup and save fiddling with hardware

I use Partition Magic, but am narked that Symantec bought them

As I understand, the cloning partitions to run another computer works
if both computers are mostly similar, that is is the CPU and mobo are
the same model in both computers.
So I think that the better option for you, if both computers are
different, is to use the "Files and Settings Transfer Wizard" that
comes with Windows XP:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/crawford_november12.mspx


Hope this helps.