Brain fart or maybe losing it

I did this a once before a few years ago using Acronis True Image, but damned if I can sort it out now.
I have an old IBM ThinkPad 390 2626-20U with a (can you believe it 3.25GB HDD) I would like to ghost that drive with Acronis 2010 (downloaded trial for 30 days) This new version is way different than what I used years ago. I have an old 30GB which is in a external HD case. I removed the 3.25GB from the old laptop and put it in an external case and wanted to clone a copy of that 3.25GB drive to my Acer laptop that I use then take that cloned image from my Acer HD to the larger 30GB HD via USB...maybe I am just making this harder than it needs to be
Suggestions???? How to get the data from the 3.25GB to the larger 30GB....does acronis have to be loaded on to the old laptop or can I do it with my newer laptop...only 325MBs of free space left on the 3.25GB....whew..starting to get dizzy

I tried EASUS and thought I had it licked, however, it ran into a few "write problems bad sectors" so I checkdisked the source and destination drives to try and fix any problems..
the drive is so small, and lacked space, that I was unable to use EASUS at first because the Win2000 OS didnt have the SP4....I finally deleted/uninstalled enough unneeded stuff to beable to install the SP4 and use the "ghosting software".
I let it run through (took a long while) and swapped out HDDs after the cloning was finished...the laptop booted to the first screen about " hit F1 to enter BIOS" but would go no further....I cant enter the BIOS because it apparently is password protected. (dont have the password and never did) either the person before me put on on 10 years ago... I dont know but it always booted to the OS (Win2000) but I was never able to get into the BIOS....so now, I cant even do a clean install on a bigger used HD without changing the boot sequence....I think I opened a can of worms here..
any suggestions of how I might be able to get it to boot from the CD (change boot sequence) without going into the BIOS...
Thats where I am at present...Hate to have to try and tear it right down to try and find the cmos and remove it or touch with a screwdriver and to find that didnt work..
Certainly dont want to send it to IBM for a bios recovery either...dont want to spend any money if I dont have to..not worth it...

Gene

Received the parts laptop I found on ebay....its a 14" to my 12.1 inch...its supposedly a working laptop minus the OS....I got into the BIOS of the new one, changed the boot order to CDROM first, inserted a Win2000 disk and with his HDD (32GB) I got this DOS screen after the IBM splash screen
THINKVANTAGE SECURE DATA DISPOSAL UTILITY 3
DATE AND TIME OF EXECUTION 03/13/10 00:54:29
COMMAND EXECUTED A:\SCRUB\SCRUB.EXE /d:ALL/1:4
RETURN CODE..........0

I really know nothing about DOS commands, but it looks like some command he used to wipe the HDD....Just wondering why it never booted to the win2000 disk in the CDROM.

So, I changed HDDs to an old 40GB I had laying around which was good, inserted that, put the Win2000 disk in the CD tray and rebooted...It booted to the IBM splash screen giving the option to press F1 for BIOS setup....then after a bit, went to a flashing cursor

Not sure what you mean or what I should check....tried a Win98 Setup disk after changing the boot sequence to the floppy....did an FDISK and setup the one partition because it said the HDD was larger than 512MBs etc....now after the laptop boots to the IBM splash screen, instead of the flashing cursor, it now says
Missing Operating System.....the boot sequence is still set to CDROM...after the splash screen comes up containing the option to Press F1 for BIOS etc, you can feel the CDROM start to spin for about 2 secs then it stops....than goes to the screen with missing operating system

changed optical drives from my old one and same results...and I know mine was working just the other day

anything else I should maybe check in the BIOS that they may have changed that would help it boot to the CDROM other than the boot sequence....what I dont understand, is why it is showing a dos screen saying "missing operating system" if it supposed to be looking at the CDROM and not the HDD

OK here is where I am now...I used a Win98 setup disk and went thru all appropriate steps in (without CD support). now, I have restarted laptop with 98 Setup disk in and selected (with CD support)I have the Win2000 disk in the CD drive I have gone to the E directory (which is the CD ROM drive) and gone to Dir which gives me a list of files including the SETUP EXE file....my problem is, that I can figure out how to get the flashing cursor away from the "E:\>" and to move it to the Setup location or how to execute the setup file..
Thanks for sticking with me on this one...lol...the OS I am trying to load is Win2000

Update:
After much cursing (maybe not so much), HDD swapping, a little of this and some of that, I have now finally got Win98SE installed...will worry about upgrading to Win2000 a little down the road....at least I have an OS on a larger HD on a laptop with fixed hinges...

Not really, but what I have now, is the Win98SE obviously lacking the necessary vid and CD drivers.....bootable CDs like the OS cds seem to work ie see what files are on the CD, but my disk I made with driver updates I cant read so I also have a small screen with a huge black border and cannot change the Desktop>Properties>setting from the lowest setting which is the 800x600 or something...no other options...its got a USB port but unable to use my TravelMate because I cant load the drivers....Have to ponder my situation a little more today...got too late and too tired last nite and wasnt thinkin straight...lol

Update...finally got video sorted out with 98SE and screen to normal size....Played around with my Win2000Pro disc and it still was not able to copy some files.....so I thought maybe it might be scratched or something....didnt look bad...anyway I made a fresh copy of the original install Win2000Pro CD and I guess that was the problem...loaded like a good thing...USB port came alive and the Data Traveller works like its supposed to....downloaded and installed SP4 for Win2000Pro...now, its pretty much where I want it to be....Then, I will make a cloned copy of that HD with another of my old 32-40GB HDDs..Thanks for hanging in there with the support

Gene