Depends. There is a good program out there called DriveImageXML which you can download at http://www.runtime.org

If you are going to image/ghost the hard drive, you will need an external drive that you can plug into the laptop if you are going to do it on that pc. You can also take the drive out and put it in another computer and image it there.

DriveImageXML is a very simple program to use. If you need any help/explanations about it, just let me know.