- How Do I Clone My Computer Online
- How Do I Clone My Computer Using
- Clone Computer To Computer
- Clone Computer Definition
- How Do I Clone My Computer
10) You can opt to restart or shut down the Computer when the operation is completed. If you clone a disk with an operating system please shut down your PC, detach the old disk and insert the new one. Please do not boot your system with two identical disks, one of your systems will become unbootable. Duplicate the configurations of multiple computers so that each machine is identically set up. Set up one computer the way you want, clone the hard drive, and then install the clone on each subsequent computer. If you need to upgrade your computer hardware, simply popping in a cloned disk in the hardware may not work.
- Use a software to clone/image/migrate (common terms for the same process) your Windows to the new SSD. I use AOEMI, but Macrium Reflect is very popular, and often recommended. Free Partition Manager - AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Macrium Software Macrium Reflect Free.
- Is this article outdated. Casper 10 cloning, even the old version 8, can clone windows 10 by using volume shadow copy, so you can truly create a clone while in windows AND while STILL continuing to work. OK, the new work you're doing during the clone won't be cloned, but everything done at the time of the clone will be done.
There are times when nothing is more useful than a dumb copy of your drive. An exact copy of your data, safely stored, offers several benefits, including quick migration to a new hard drive or SSD.
If you are new to the concept of cloning, or creating duplicate images of your drives, then read on and see why this should be part of your backup strategy. We'll first take a brief look at what cloning is, its advantages, and then move straight onto how to easily clone your drives in Windows 10.
There are several ways to accomplish this, so let's jump right in.
- How to Clone Drives
Difference between Cloning and Imaging
Let's get our parlance sorted first. Most people think that cloning is same as imaging a drive. And while essentially, both processes are same, there are minor difference between them, as you will find out below.
Cloning is, obviously, creating an exact copy of a drive.
Think of this as a brute-force approach to backups, instead of the more nuanced notion of selectively backing up certain files and folders. You end up with an exact bit-to-bit copy of your chosen drive, including partitions and the files and data necessary to boot up a system from it.
Imaging, on the other hand, is the process of copying an entire drive or partition to an image file stored elsewhere. Once you write a drive image to another drive, you have accomplished the same cloned state, just with an added step.
In other words, the only major difference between cloning and imaging is the destination.
Cloning as a Backup Strategy
These days, most backup strategies usually ignore boot drives. That is because the general OS files are restored with a quick reinstall, while user folders store the configuration and important files.
Unix-based operating systems nailed this aspect of separating user files from the OS a long time ago, storing all the system files and data in a dedicated home folder. This approach allows users to nuke the operating system from orbit, reinstall and find their user and configuration back there.
Windows followed suit, with Windows 2000 introducing something similar. The more recent versions of the Microsoft operating systems further improved things along the way by separating OS and user files. Yet annoyingly, this feature in Windows is a mishmash of things.
Truth be told, imaging is no longer well regarded as a way of backing up data these days — particularly if you can't use an incremental system to update your images and clones along the way.
That said, there are still arguments for running clone operations on your PC.
The Benefits of Cloning
Now that we know that both hard disk and partitions can either be backed up (as an image), or duplicated (as a clone), you may be wondering what computing benefits does this provide. Can it improve your productivity? Or increase reliability of your data storage?
Making an exact replica of your current computer system on a different disk or drive offers several benefits that make the process worth the effort and time it takes to complete.
- Complete machine backup: Having a disk clone is the best way of creating a full backup of your computer. A cloned copy of Windows is excellent for that added peace of mind if something goes wrong.
- Hard drive upgrades: Cloning your hard drive makes hard drive or SSD upgrades easier and way faster, as you will not have to install the system or applications again on your new drive. You can simply use the backup to restore your Windows environment there.
- Full data recovery: You can also make your cloned disk bootable. This will allow you to easily restore your OS and apps when your machine ends up crashing by booting into your cloned image.
- Data transfer: Another welcome benefit of cloning is that it offers a quick and streamlined way of transferring data between machines. You just deploy your cloned environment on a new PC and get up and running in just a few clicks.
No wonder then, that despite the age of cloud, system cloning still remains a powerful prospect. Individually backing up files is always worth it, but nothing can beat a full system clone.
How to Clone drives in Windows 10?
So, let's get down to business. How can you clone your drives in Windows 10? Microsoft has never included a tool in the operating system that can be used to make ditto copies of your drives — you need special software or hardware duplicators to achieve this.
How Do I Clone My Computer Online
That said, there is a utility in the OS that can be used to copy the contents of your hard drive to another, specified location. Windows System Image helps you create a system image to the location of your choice, but many consider the feature too basic and unappealing.
The world of software offers you a host of other options to choose from, including a standout open source solution. Many of these programs offer their own unique set of features, and paid ones are even designed for use in enterprise scenarios.
Programs like Paragon Drive Copy and Acronis Disk Director pack in everything you would expect in modern software, including wizards to guide you, and cloning to a smaller capacity disk by excluding files if you don't have enough space. They even support cloning to virtual machines.
For the sake of completeness, we'll cover system imaging. But we're going to steer you away from it, and also showcase two other quality products to accomplish the task.
Using in-built Solution
Let's kick things off by looking at the built-in Windows solution. The tool goes by the name of Windows System Image, and it is a no-frills, no-thrills approach to cloning. But even this simple and basic utility has an interesting bit of a history behind it.
Microsoft tried to push people away from system images when it introduced Windows 8, for good reason some may say. Backup and Restore, a popular Windows 7 feature was unceremoniously killed off in the modern version of the operating system. It had originally made its debut in Windows Vista, but was no longer available to users when they upgraded to Windows 8.
Goes without saying, a lot of commotion ensued.
After much moaning, Microsoft restored the system in Windows 8.1. And in Windows 10, it currently remains tucked away in the Control Panel. You can find it in the System and Security section, listed as Backup and Restore (Windows 7).
The tool certainly has seen better days, must be said.
In its favor, this is still a straightforward utility that does what it says on the tin. It runs in the background using shadow copy, and does its job. But its limitations are many — including a lethal one where you can run into issues when restoring images made under different versions of Windows. Surprising as this sounds, it is very much true.
You also get minimal options with Windows System Image.
For example, the tool only images the entire system drive, and you can't restore individual files. It only allows one image, and doesn't support incremental backups. Backups are only made up to the root of a selected backup drive. And they take a long time to run, an awful long time.
To its credit, creating a disk image with Microsoft System Image is pretty easy. You need a separate internal drive, a spare external drive, a network location, or a big stack of DVDs to get started.
Have these handy? Good, you're almost there.
Open the tool, and let it scan for what it considers viable backup targets — an external hard drive or a network share is the best for this. If it finds things in place, it will provide you with an estimate of the space requirement. You can start the backup and it will image your drive in the background.
Using Clonezilla
If the Microsoft tool is limited and slow, then you have an open source option that is expansive and exhaustive. A long-standing industry tool that has been in development since 2007, and one that goes by the name of Clonezilla.
Yes, it's from back when everything was named zilla, like FileZilla, ChatZilla, and of course, Mozilla.
And although this tool is jam packed with features and options, we're a little hesitant to recommend it. Because, even though Clonezilla is a lot more flexible than Windows Imaging, and allows you absolute control over what is imaged and how it is stored, it is far less convenient.
You have to boot into a live disc, for starters. And since Clonezilla has its root in Linux, it is a more complex to use with its text-based interfaces and indecipherable drive names. Things are not helped by the fact that this program is not the prettiest thing to look at — there is no GUI.
The flipside is that it is super flexible, and free to use anywhere and on anything.
Clonezilla offers enterprise-class disk imaging and restore features, with support for more than 20 filesystems over 6 operating system types. You also get options like sector-to-sector copy for operating systems that it doesn't support. Also included is a client-server mode, as well as full encryption of its images.
Sounds intimidating? It is!
Ultimately, while this is not exactly a tool for beginners, you can find your way around it if you are experienced with cloning and imaging. Once run through its menu systems, you will learn what is important and what you can safely ignore.
To get started, you will need to grab the ISO image from the Clonezilla website. Use this to create a live disc OS by writing to either a CD, DVD or a USB flash drive, and then booting your system off that.
To avoid potential UEFI boot issues on newer systems, you might want to grab the Ubuntu based build called Alternative Stable. It weighs in at around 220 MB.
A big advantage of Clonezilla is that the images you create are always compatible. This makes restoration terribly effortless, and you can get easily get a fresh ISO to boot from. The cloned images can also be stored anywhere, even in the cloud.
Using Macrium Reflect
If the default Windows tool and the Clonezilla solution are not your cup of tea, then you probably want something that is middle of the road. A program that offers you a powerful enough feature set, but with a user interface that makes a lot more sense to the average user.
Two of the finest programs for this are offered by both EaseUS and Macrium.
These are solid free imaging tools, also doubling up as excellent commercial solutions. If you are after a free option, then Macrium Reflect Free is probably your best bet here. It has the ability to back up your full boot drive — including boot data, Windows, along with recovery partitions — in a simple fashion.
To top it off, the tool also supports differential backups, which means that once the main imaging is finished, further backups will take much less time. This is very important if you are cloning your drives for backup purposes.
And unlike Clonezilla that has to be run off a bootable device, Macrium Reflect Free lets you create a recovery disk. This comes in very handy if your system fails to boot. In other words, you get differential backups, shadow copy and a rescue environment, all in one fine software.
Usage is about as easy as it gets.
An initial 5 MB installer download is followed by the main download of about 100 MB, and you are then up and running. The UI is instantly familiar, and it's hard to go wrong once you have a basic idea of what you want to do with Macrium Reflect Free.
The only variable that you need to take care of is the fact that Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, and XP all need different versions to work. This can make things a little complicated when you are restoring older versions. But other than that, there is much to like here in this program.
Migrating to SSD
Regular cloning is one thing, but there are a couple of considerations to take into account when mirroring your drive to a solid-state drive. Drive migration is basically just cloning, or in other words, drive-to-drive imaging.
And while copying your documents and other files is easy enough, moving around your system files can be off-putting. This is where a drive cloning software comes into play.
Many vendors bundle cloning software alongside their SSDs, while others have cooked up dedicated programs to help you clone and migrate your system. The Samsung Magician tool being an example here that simplifies the process.
There are a few points worth mentioning here.
For starters, the new drive has to be as large as the original drive, at least in terms of space. Use the Windows Disk Management console to manage your partitions if you have to, or delete files if you need to make room. Power down your system, and attach the new drive to which you want to migrate, and follow the instructions on your cloning software.
It's never a bad idea to remove any unnecessary drives to avoid wiping them by mistake.
Conclusion
Duplicating you drives is an endeavor that always pays off in the end. While the set up may initially be intimidating, the process may take time to complete, nothing beats the peace of mind you get when you have copied Windows, all your apps, and all your important files to a safe location.
And that's without even talking about using cloning to migrate to a new hard drive or SSD that you just popped in your system.
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Can I clone my boot drive?
'My Lenovo computer with Windows 10 is preinstalled on HDD. My computer run slower and slower recently, so I bought a new SSD. I want to clone Windows 10 boot drive to SSD and make it bootable. I don't want to reinstall Windows 10 from scratch because the cloned Windows 10 won't boot. Is there any freeware can do this? Any suggestion will be appreciated.'
The answer is yes, you can make bootable clone of Windows 10 and boot from the cloned drive. The premise is that you need to do enough preparations before cloning Windows 10, including getting the basic of Windows 10 bootable clone, finding a professional disk cloning softare and making other preparations like UEFI/BIOS boot mode.
Then, let's have a close look at what you need to know and how to create a bootable clone of your Windows 10 drive?
Benefits of Windows 10 bootable clone
The bootable clone is an exact copy of all files (both visible and invisible) of a drive on your computer, including operating system, system reserved partition/EFI system partition, installed programs and other files.
Well then, you might be wondering, why make bootable clone in Windows 10 and what does bootable clone can do for you? Here are some clear ideas about it.
First, you can clone hard drive to larger drive to get rid of low disk space warning on the existing hard drive, install more applications, store more files, and boot your computer faster.
Second, you can clone bootable drive in Windows 10 to smaller SSD to get peak performance. Compared with HDDs, SSDs are much cooler, lighter, quieter, more durable, and consume less power. More so, it does not contain any removable part.
Third, you can avoid reinstalling the operating system and applications, and do not need to bear the heavy data loss caused by reinstalling, unexpected system failure, hard drive failure, virus infected, and more.
Fourth, you can use the disk or system copy as a backup. Disaster can happen at any time, even without prompting, so you need to take some precautionary measures in advance. Cloning Windows 10 bootable disk is a great choice.
Best free bootable cloning software for Windows 10
As mentioned above, you can benefit a lot from the bootable clone Windows 10, such as, upgrade hard disk for more space, replace laptop HDD with SSD for higher performance etc. Meanwhile, you may encounter some situations, resulting in disk clone failure. This just means that you need the best free disk cloning software for Windows 10 bootable clone.
It's disappointed that Windows 10 does not have a cloning software, thus you need to turn to third-party disk clonig software. Here are some criteria that the best free disk cloning software should have, you can use them as a reference.
Simple and easy-to-use: The cloning software should have a user-friendly design and clear interface, so all users can use it smoothly in a very short time.
Trust and reliable: The cloning software should have at least millions of users and be used worldwide.
Benefit users: The cloning software should support 4K alignment technology to improve reading and writing speed of SSDs, have the ability to clone all sectors on a disk whether used or not, be able to successfully clone large drive to smaller drive and clone disk with larger disk, and ensure secure boot.
Here, I recommend you free bootable disk clone software AOMEI Backupper Standard, which fully meet these criteria above. In addition, this software still provides higher versions with problem-solving features, Edit Partitions, for example. It can help users adjust the partition size of destination disk during the cloning process, thus eliminating cloned hard drive shows wrong size error.
Step by step guide: clone boot drive of Windows 10 to SSD
As you can see from above, disk clone sofftware AOMEI Backupper can help you resolve majority of problems. So, all you need to prepare is to download AOMEI Backupper Standard and create a system image first. Then, get a blank drive either HDD or SSD and make sure it can be detected by Windows.
To clone Windows 10 bootable disk, you have three options, namely disk clone for entire disk, system clone for only partition with operating system and boot files, backup and restore for computer with dissimilar hardware. In the following, I'll show you how to clone a hard drive in Windows 10 for free with 'Disk Clone'and make it bootable. Just keep reading below to learn the detailed steps.
Video Tutorial: You can see the whole process intuitively.
Graphic Tutorial: You can get more comprehensive details.
Step 1.Connect the prepared HDD or SSD to your computer with SATA-to-USB adaptor.
Step 2. Install and start AOMEI Backupper. Then click Disk Clone under the Clone tab.
Notes ✎...
• If your new hard drive is not enough to save the boot drive and all the installed programs, files, folders, you can transfer Windows 10 to new hard drive with 'System Clone' (supported by AOMEI Backupper Professional)
• The free version of AOMEI Backupper only support cloning hard drive (containing the operating system) with the same partition style, clone MBR disk to MBR disk, for example. To clone MBR to GPT disk and vice versa, you will be asked to upgrade to AOMEI Backupper Professional.
Step 3. Select Windows 10 bootable disk as the source disk and click Next to move on.
How Do I Clone My Computer Using
Step 4. Select the prepared HDD or SSD as the destination disk and click Next.
Step 5. Check SSD Alignment to accelerate the reading and writing speed of an SSD disk. And then, click Start Clone.
Notes ✎...
• To adjust partition size of destination disk with 'Edit Partitions', please upgrade to higher version, such as, AOMEI Backupper Professional.
• Except for disk or system clone, you can still use backup and restore to realize this purpose, even restore to dissimilar hardware. Please note the backup only works only after restore.
• To clone Windows 10 to bootable USB, you just need to replace HDD or SSD with bootable USB.
Tip on make a clone hard drive bootable:
Now, you already have a bootable clone of Windows 10, and you still need to one more thing, it's to check if the cloned hard drive is bootable. Therefore, you can use it to replace old hard drive when something bad happens or upgrade as needed.
To boot from the cloned disk with the following steps:
1. Swap the old hard disk and cloned drive.
2. Restart your computer and press 'F2' or 'ESC' key to enter BIOS
3. set the new hard drive as default boot option, then save changes and exit this window. After that, it will boot from the cloned hard drive automatically. If not, please check possible factors, such as, disk firmware, and then try again later.
Potential problems with bootable clone Windows 10 hard drive
If you do an in-depth search about how to make bootable clone Windows 10 online, you may find there are many examples of cloned disk won't boot. So, you may have some concerns and want to know how to make SSD bootable after clone in Windows 10. Here, I'll show you the clear answer.
About the target disk
Clone Computer To Computer
• The target disk has different partition style of original hard drive. In general, many disk cloning software only allows you to clone disk with the same partition style. If not, the process will fail.
• The target disk is smaller than original disk. Honestly, most disk cloning software only clone disk to larger disk. So you need to delete the useless installed programs or large files to free up space.
• The target disk is not the default boot disk in BIOS. Usually, your computer can only boot from the default boot disk, also called first boot option. If not, please set the boot priority for target disk and press 'F10' to save the changes.
• The cloned disk only has operating system. To boot windows 10 from cloned drive, not only the operating system, but also other boot related partition or files are required. To check it, you can go to disk management and see if there are system reserved partition or EFI system partition.
About other problems
Clone Computer Definition
• Cloning hard drive in Windows 10 with other externally connected devices, such as, bootable USB or CD/DVD. So, the disk cloning software may clone the boot partition to other external device instead of your target disk.
• The computer does not support UEFI boot mode. If your computer was bought a long time ago, it may not support the newer boot mode UEFI. Meanwhile, most of the current disk are GPT, which requires UEFI boot mode. Therefore, you need to convert GPT to MBR without data loss ahead of time.
• The master boot record is damaged. If your situation is different from above, Windows 10 clone not bootable may be caused by corrupted MBR or BCD. You can boot your computer using installation disk or recovery disk, press 'Shift + F10' to open command prompt, then type the following commands and hit Enter.
bootrec.exe
bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootrec.exe /fixboot
bootrec.exe /scanos
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd
Wrapping things up
How Do I Clone My Computer
Creating bootable clone for Windows 10, you need to make enough preparations, such as, overview of bootable clone, possible problems, a trust and reliable free disk cloning software and others.
Honestly, AOMEI Backupper Standard, as the best free disk cloning software, helps users clone Windows 10 to SSD bootable without any obstacle. Meanwhile, it can bring you much convenience, such as, support intelligent cloning technology to clone large hard drive to smaller drive. Just download it and make a bootable clone of your Windows 10.
