harveywan :
The problem was that becasue I could not activate the new downloaded EASUS software (for which I have activation codes etc) on my laptop with the damaged HDD and could not complete the migration on that machine. (it would not accept my activation code)
So I am trying to do the same operation using 2 external USB SATA enclosures on my third party desktop which has the activated software running.
The only problem I am encountering is that the Software only seem to wish to migrate the OS from the third party machine and not the HDD which is in the USB exterior box
The idea came from the list of all HDDs and SSD that the software lists as options etc in the migration or cloning process
Thanks once again USARet
Try different software, then.
Macrium Reflect will do a migration from and between 2 externally connected drives.
However...if the source drive is not 100% functional, you may be just moving the problems to a new drive.