Norton Ghost is a wonderful software for those who have to make identical computers i.e. with same content and software on multiple machines. ( Step by Step Make Image Backup Use Norton Ghost)
It allows you to duplicate the entire HDDs onto other HDDs. If you have multiple PCs with same Hardware devices, and wanna run same software, Ghost is the best one for you. ( Step by Step Make Image Backup Use Norton Ghost)
Reg. your question of copying HDD, I dont think It will copy system area. So that will cause your other HDD to not to boot.
The benefits of Norton Ghost is to be able to recover from a catastrophic loss of your hardware like a laptop lost or stolen or a bad hard drive. ( Step by Step Make Image Backup Use Norton Ghost)
Tutorial Step by Step How To Use Norton Ghost
Drive Image and Ghost can restore a computer by doing a Bare Metal Backup. Lost computer? replace it with the same model and restore your data and you're up and running in a couple of hours. ( Step by Step Make Image Backup Use Norton Ghost)
Norton ghost creates a bootable image of your operating system and all the files on your hard. acronis true image is another program that will back up the entire drive too. thats the both software i use.
Tutorial Step by Step Make Image Backup Use Norton Ghost