<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV><DIV>On 31 Aug, 2007, at 13:41, <A href="mailto:thekirkline1941@verizon.net">thekirkline1941@verizon.net</A> wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Palatino" size="4" style="font: 14.0px Palatino"><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>My LaCie external hard drive, which has all my data backed up, is currently disconnected. I am assuming that, when I reconnect it, it will be recognized and I can just copy all the data to the new hard drives.</FONT></P> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV>Yes, it will be recognized when you connect it and all the data on it will be readable. Of course, this depends on you having a valid operating system on one of your drives for it to see the external drive when the machine is started up.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>No, you cannot simply copy all the data on it to the new drives. OS-X does not allow a simple "drag and drop" copy method with the system folder. There are invisible files that will not be copied using drag and drop.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>You should use a third-party utility program like SuperDuper or TechToolPro or DriveGenius to copy the entire contents of one OS-X drive to another. OR, another way to copy the contents and have the new copy as a bootable drive is to use Apple's own program, DiskUtility, and use the Restore function by selecting your original drive as the source and the new drive as the destination for the restoration.</DIV></BODY></HTML>