Basically a SATA-to-USB (or IDE-to-USB) adapter, it turns an internal drive that isn't currently inside of anything into an external one. (Yes, I knew such things existed; I just didn't know I needed one.)

With the old drive hooked up via USB, I could do what I should have done in the first place: clone directly. Except True Image wouldn't let me. Instead of cloning the drive, the program considered the task and gave up. Why? Like a child explaining incomplete homework, its excuses weren't quite believable.

Next step: Swap the drives again, affording me round two with those teeny, tiny screws. With the old drive back in the bay, I plugged the new drive into the Drive Mate and tried cloning again. True Image remained firm in its belief that the job couldn't be done.

So I booted with the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows (see Six Downloadable Boot Discs That Could Save Your PC) and tried cloning with one of the disc's more useful tools, DriveImage XML.

The good news: Instead of an error message, DriveImage XML started copying and told me how long it would take.

The bad news: six hours. That would be well passed my bedtime.

I checked my PC first thing Wednesday morning. DriveImage XML told me the cloning was a success, but there was only one way to be sure.

And so, once again, I swapped drives, and once again tempted fate with those microscopic screws. But this time, I was working without caffeine. I pulled out a screw and watched in horror as it dropped, missed the table, bounced off the floor, and disappeared into the fourth dimension.

My wife and I spent ten minutes in a desperate screw hunt. We even moved the printer table, where we found a battery, old photos, odd toys, and enough dust to choke a Roomba. But no screw.

Eventually we found it. Ever notice that whatever you're searching for is always in the last place you look?

The new drive in place, I booted the laptop and got what I expected: an error message. But at least it was a Windows Vista error message! And it told me I needed to use a Windows Vista disc to fix the problem. Not so good a sign. Vista came, discless, with my PC.

Luckly, I have the Vista Recovery Disc (also discussed in the Six Downloadable Boot Discs article), which can do everything a Vista installation disc can except install Vista. Once it was up, I clicked the Repair your computer button.

Then came the real shock: Microsoft's Repair tool actually repaired the problem--quickly and with no fuss, then rebooted into Windows Vista. Everything was exactly like it was before the ordeal, except I had a whole lot more drive space .

The last thing I expected was success.