Summary :

DiscWizard Version 24.0.1.24310. The software lets you quickly install your new disc drive with wizards that guide you through the processes of creating and formatting partitions on your disc drive, transferring data, and backing up your data. Acronis Disk Director is a software solution that not only offers disk cloning duties, but also a comprehensive suite of disk management software, including creating, formatting and labeling. What Is Disk Cloning Software? Disk cloning software replicates a computer's operating system, drives, software, and patches. It eliminates the time-consuming technical process of manually reinstalling and reconfiguring a system so you can perform one or more of the following: Reboot and restore a computer to an earlier version.

MiniTool Partition Wizard is the best hard drive cloning software which can be used to clone hard drive easily and safely. Download the freeware now!

Why Clone Hard Drive?

Disk cloning is very useful in hard drive management. Simply put, disk cloning copies the complete contents of a hard drive, including the files, the partition tables and the MBR to another location.

It is worth mentioning that when you clone a hard drive, both the source disk and the target disk can be used directly, which is regarded as a simple, direct duplicate (however, cloning is different from copy & paste, check Clone VS. Copy & Paste for the detail).

In the following situations, you may consider hard drive cloning:

• To upgrade to larger hard drivewhen the current hard drive is too small and cannot meet your data storage requirements any longer. For example, you meet the 'low disk space' issue but all partitions are almost full.
• To upgrade hard drive to more advanced SSDto enjoy smooth computer performance. This is extremely useful for those who want to upgrade system disk, as SSD offers faster read-write speed.
• You have a batch of computers (with the same configuration) to be installed.To avoid installing all computers one by one, you can install only one at first and then turn to hard drive cloning software to save effort and time.
• To make an exact hard drive backup.Through disk cloning, you get a copy of disk backup and avoid the trouble of data restoration when the backup copy is needed.

So the conclusion here is that if you are upgrading your hard drive to a larger one, or replacing it due to a physical failure, cloning hard drive is the easiest method to complete that task. Besides, doing hard drive cloning reduces the risk of any accidental data loss.

Recommended Hard Drive Cloning Utility

Since hard drive cloning is significant, you must be wondering: which is the best cloning software? In my opinion, MiniTool Partition Wizard is the top recommendation. I will give you my explanation.

Developed by MiniTool Solution Ltd., MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition is regarded as the best disk cloning software for Windows users, including those who are running 32/64 bits Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows7.

As free hard drive cloning software, MiniTool Partition Wizard offers two ways to clone hard drives for hard drive upgrade or data backup, including 'Copy Disk' and 'Migrate OS to SSD/HD' (if you only want to clone the system).

All you have to do is put the new drive in the computer as a slave or secondary drive and use this disk cloning software to clone the old drive to the new one. Once the process is complete, switch the new drive to the primary and then you are good to go (for hard drive upgrade).

Just press the button to have free hard drive cloning software downloaded!

Knowing what MiniTool Partition Wizard is, let's have a look on how to clone a hard drive by using MiniTool Partition Wizard. Here we just take clone hard drive Windows 10 for example, and MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition should be the right choice.

1. To use 'Copy Disk Wizard', both the source disk and target disk must be basic disks.
2. The target disk will be cleaned during the cloning process. Please make sure it can be cleaned; otherwise transfer data out at first.

Step 1. Run MiniTool Partition Wizard to the main interface, then you can see all your hard drives connected to this PC are shown in the middle panel and some operable features are listed in the left panel. Now, select Copy Disk feature to clone hard drive.

Step 2. Here you need to select the target disk (must be basic disk) and click Next to continue. Make sure you know which drive you are cloning to so you do not overwrite the wrong drive.

Step 3. Here come the copy options. If you are copying from a GPT disk, you are able to see 2 options. (4 options when you are cloning an MBR disk, see details here.)

• Fit partitions to entire disk: all partitions will be cloned to the target disk and take up its full capacity according to the partition size proportion.
• Copy partitions without resize: all partitions will be cloned to the target disk according to the original partition size. This option is available when the target disk is large enough to hold all partitions on the source disk.

After you have made the copy options, you can customize each partition size according to your own preference. Then click Next to go on.

Step 4. Then you can see a note which reads 'To boot from the new disk, please configure computer BIOS settings. Make sure the new disk is configured as the default boot disk.' Please keep this in mind if you are cloning the system disk before you click Finish.

Cloning Software For Mac

Step 5. Finally, you need to press the Apply button located on the toolbar to start hard drive cloning.

For a more intuitive guidance, please watch this video:

RECOMMEND:

Want to know more information about how to successfully boot computer from the new hard drive? Now, you can find answers from our previous post: 2 Ways to Boot from New Hard Drive after Copying Disk or Migrating OS.

In fact, MiniTool also puts forward another tool that helps disk cloning which is called MiniTool ShadowMaker. Although it is mainly designed for Windows backup, it also comes with useful Clone Disk feature. To get the details of how to use this disk cloning software, you are suggested to read Clone OS from HDD to SSD.

Tips for Cloning Your Hard Drive

Now you know how to clone hard drive by using MiniTool Partition Wizard Fee Edition. Here I would like to put forward some tips to help you deal with cloning issue better.

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• Don't just copy & paste files to another location on your hard disk if you are leading the operating system. Use professional disk cloning software like MiniTool Partition Wizard to help you.
• Use another hard drive, especially an external hard drive for your backup copies, because there is less chance of losing/damaging computer and external hard drive at the same time.
• At least one cloning copy should be kept well. Don't erase the current backup unless you are going to create a new one.
• If you use your computer frequently, back up your data often. Having a recent backup is always good for data recovery. Apart from hard drive cloning software, professional disk imaging software is also recommended to save effort.

Further Reading: Cloning VS. Imaging

When dealing with backup issue, cloning or imaging is always the question asked by many users. Many people choose to make a disk image, while many prefer hard drive cloning. Before I state my opinion, I would like to start with cloning VS. imaging.

One may ask, 'what the heck is the difference between cloning and imaging?'

Imaging is frequently used for preventative backup, which means you never know when you need the backup image for data restoration. Today most disk imaging software offer schedule backup feature, and you can set to back up daily, weekly, or monthly. Besides, incremental backup and differential backup are provided, making it possible to save hard disk space.

If something bad happens, you can have the original image for restoration purposes without having to reinstall Windows and other applications.

Disk cloning is more significant for hard drive replacement or hard drive upgrading, which means probably you will use the destination disk right away. When you clone a hard drive, actually you are cloning the entire contents of the drive instead of creating an image file.

The only issue you need to concern is that you need to have another physical hard drive that is large enough to contain all data in the original drive. During the cloning process, all contents on the target disk will be cleaned so be sure that you are operating the right disk.

The conclusion here is: although cloning and imaging both back up and restore data, whether to choose cloning or imaging all depends on what you want to accomplish. In a word, for frequent backup issue, imaging software is better; for hard drive upgrading issue, free hard drive cloning software should be given the priority.

Summary

Here comes to the end of this post. In this post, I mainly tell why you need to clone hard drive, which tool is the best disk cloning software, how to use it to clone hard drive, the differences between cloning and imaging, and several tips on hard drive cloning. Hope all these information is helpful in dealing with your hard drive cloning issues.

Now it's your turn to have a try. Just download this free yet professional hard drive cloning software - MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition and start cloning hard drive. I believe you can do everything smoothly as long as you follow the wizard correctly. For any suggestions or questions towards using MiniTool Partition Wizard, please contact [email protected] or leave us comments below. Much appreciated!

Hard drive cloning is a process of creating 1 to 1 copy of the content of hard drive or solid-state drive. The contents are saved as a disk image file and can be transferred to storage devices like DVD, hard drive, or USB drive. In case, if your original hard drive fails, you can quickly swap it with the clone. This helps you to avoid reinstalling system software.

Following is a handpicked list of Top Hard Drive Cloning Tools, with its popular features and website links. The list contains both open source(free) and commercial(paid) software.

1) Acronis

Acronis replicates a computer's operating system, software, patches, and drives. It allows you to duplicate the configurations of multiple PC so that each system is identically set up.

Features:

• It provides a complete image of your PC at a single point in time.
• This software defines when, what, and where to backup your important data.
• Acronis secures your important using the stringent security.
• It offers the easiest way to backup your data and clone disk.

2) EaseUS Todo Backup

EaseUS Todo Backup software product allows you to clone a smaller hard disk drive to a larger hard disk drive. It also allows you to clone HDD to SSD for increasing performance.

Features:

• It allows you to clone MBR (Master Boot Record) disk to GPT (GUID Partition Table) disk or GPT disk to MBR disk from your small size disk to large size disk.
• Clone one partition or multiple partitions instead of the whole disk to avoid the loss of your data.
• This software product helps you to recover deleted data or backup your system.
• You can restore files, system, partition, or disk.

3) AOMEI Backupper

AOMEI Backupper app enables you to transfer your operating system to another drive without installing it again. This software helps you to upgrade your hard from old disk to a new one.

Features:

• You can clone one disk to another without a disturbing operating system.
• Clone data sector by sector.
• It supports GPT (GUID Partition Table) and MBR (Master Boot Record) partition styles.
• Clone HDD (Hard Disk Drive) to HDD, HDD to SSD (Solid-State Drive), or SSD to SSD for disk upgrades and data migration.
• Services are available for Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows, etc.
• It allows you to access your important files on your tablet, mobile phone, or laptop with your cloud network account.

4) MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard helps you to manage disks partitions and check the file system. This tool measures the read and writes speed under disk access scenarios like random or sequential.

Features:

• This software helps you to check which file is taking too much disk space.
• It allows you to move or resize the partition.
• You can migrate the operating system to SSD.
• It enables you to convert NTFS (New Technology File System) to FAT File Allocation Table).
• MiniTool Partition Wizard allows you to recover partition and data.

Download Link:https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

5) Active@ Disk Image

Active@ Disk Image is a handy hard disk image software that helps you to t creates a similar copy of, SSD, USB, HDD, Blu-ray, etc. and stores it into a folder. This software can be used for PC upgrades, disk duplication or backups, purposes.

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Features:

• It supports Windows XP, 7, 8, 10 Vista, Server 2003, and 2012.
• You can mount any image as a virtual drive.
• This tool provides image compression.
• A copy of disk partition or hard drives contains only occupied sectors.
• It offers to image and restore fixed hard disks, and solid-state drives, and removable disks.
• You can verify the image after creating it.

Download Link:https://www.disk-image.com/index.html

6) Macrium Reflect 7

Macrium Reflect 7 provides a backup, disk imaging and cloning solution for commercial as well as personal use. It offers direct disk cloning and a secure way to store your commercial and personal data. You can backup data to local, USB, and networked drives.

Features:

• It increases the disk space of your computer by rapid delta cloning.
• Create images of a live/running Windows OS.
• You can boost your backup in Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines.
• This software encrypts your backups.
• Schedule your backup with flexible templates.
• It provides rapid data cloning and restores for fast DR.

Download Link:https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

7) Paragon Drive Copy

Paragon Drive Copy Professional allows you to migrate disk to a larger drive. It also allows you to manage hard disk partitions effectively.

Features:

• Users can keep your disk properly organized.
• This tool enables users to clone their OS to a USB flash drive and use it.
• Copy or restore files to a hard disk with various sector sizes.
• It allows the user to perform partitioning operations to keep disks properly organized.
• This tool has a built-in wizard that restores various types of images.

8) O&O

O&O DiskImage allows you to restore the system and to duplicate or clone hard drive or PC. It supports Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and Windows.

Features:

• It is easy to restore files, folders, drives, and disk.
• This software allows you to boost the system with driver integration.
• It has enhanced functions to control via Command Lines.
• You can directly create virtual hard disks.
• This tool provides monitoring and warning of security risks.
• You can adjust the selected DPI setting of a connected monitor.

9) Clonezilla

Clonezilla is a disk imaging or cloning program. It helps you to clone GNU/Linux, Intel-based Mac OS, MS windows, and FreeBSD.

Features:

• You can restore one image to multiple local devices.
• It allows you to restore multiple local devices.
• This tool supports multicasting.
• It provides AES-256 encryption to safeguard data access, storage, and transfer.
• This tool offers BMR and GPT partition formats of a hard disk.
• You can customize your imaging and cloning.

Download Link:https://clonezilla.org/

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10) R-Drive Image

R-Drive is a software which provides disk image files creation for duplication and backup process. It contains the exact copy of a hard drive, logical disk, and partition.

Features:

• You can store drive image files in removable media such as Iomega Zip, Jazz disks, CD-R(W)/DVD, etc.
• It creates images without restarting your windows system.
• The tool can restore images onto their new disks, original disks, hard drive's free space, or partitions.
• Clone disk by copying data from source disk to the target one.
• It can connect its image files as read-only virtual drives.
• This tool has a multi-language user interface.

Free Mac Cloning Software

Download Link:https://www.drive-image.com/

11) Driveimage XML

Driveimage XML is another effective software for imaging and backing up the partition and logical drives. It enables you to store images in XML files and process them with 3^rd party software.

Features:

• You can copy directly from one hard disk to another one.
• This tool lets you browse images, view, and extract files.
• You can run DriveImage from runtime WinPE boot CD-ROM or live CD.
• This tool provides scheduling automatic backups.
• It helps you to restore images to the same or a different drive.

Download Link:https://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

FAQ

💻 What is Hard Drive Cloning?

Hard drive cloning is a process of creating 1 to 1 copy of the content of hard drive or solid-state drive for backup purposes

🖥️ How long does Hard Drive Cloning take?

Free Hard Drive Cloning Software

Cloning speed is a function of 2 parameters

Disk Cloning Software For Mac

1. Amount to data to be transferred
2. SSD or Hard Drive Data transfer speed

Best Cloning Software Windows 7

Do note that a Hard Disk Manufacture like Western Digital may claim a transfer rate of 200MBps, but in the real-world, you may achieve only half of that speed.