How to Clone Hard Drive on Windows 10

Disk imaging and disk cloning are two useful tools to ensure that your entire operating system and the data is backed up on an external source. You should always keep a backup of your data on an external hard drive to recover your data in case of emergencies. You never know when you encounter a system crash or accidentally lose your data.

If you already have taken a backup or created a system image you can at least get back your data. If you know how to clone your hard drive, you can ensure that your system is bootable with the clone drive. Disk cloning creates an exact replica of your system image that helps you load the operating system files and data exactly the way it was there on your hard drive. Here’s how to clone hard drive on windows 10 with the Best Disk Cloning Software.

Difference Between Disk Image and Disk Cloning

Before we choose between Disk Image and Disk Cloning, let’s first understand the major difference between both tools.

Disk Image – Disk Image is the process of taking a backup of the entire data on an external hard drive. It creates an archive or a backup copy of the entire data on your hard drive. Disk imaging can’t be used to boot your Windows in case of a system crash. Disk Imaging creates a large compressed file of your hard drive on the backup drive. This compressed file also takes a backup of the Master Boot Record (MBR) but can’t be used to boot a system.

Disk Cloning – Disk Cloning is the process to create a replica of your hard drive that can be used as a bootable disk in case of a system crash. It creates an uncompressed backup of the entire file architecture to load your system files and settings right the way it was there earlier. You can use the backup disk as a bootable disk if you ever plan to replace or upgrade your hard drive.

Get Ready How to Clone Hard Drive on Windows 10

Before cloning your hard drive, there are a few precautionary measures that you should take to ensure that you never miss out on any critical information or data.

Take a Backup

The first step is to take a backup of your important data on an external hard drive or on cloud storage. You get 15 GB of storage space with Google Drive and 5 GB of space with Microsoft OneDrive. You can always extend this storage with a paid plan. An external hard drive can also be a ready source to back up your files and folders for additional security.

Upgrade Your Storage

You should always upgrade your storage to a higher capacity drive. If you were using an HDD, clone it up on an SSD drive. If you were using 500 Gigs of space, go for 1 TB to ensure that you always have enough room for new and upcoming files.

Have the Right Tools

Before planning to clone your hard drive, you need to ensure that the backup drive and the rights connectors are in place. You should have the right cable to connect your SSD to the computer. You may need a SATA to USB cable or a two-way USB cable to establish the right connection.

Format Your Drive

Before you clone your hard drive, ensure to format your SSD or the new drive. Formatting ensures that your drive is ready to be cloned and will create sector by sector cloning right as desired. You can use the Windows inbuilt utility (Disk Management utility) to perform this task. This utility allows you to format, shrink, extend, change drive letter or delete a partition however it doesn’t allow you to clone a hard drive to SSD.

Step 1. Connect your SSD to the computer.

Step 2. Press (Win + R) to access the Run command window.

Step 3. Type diskmgmt.msc and hit the Enter key to access the Disk Management utility.

Step 4. Right-click on the newly connected drive and click on the Format option.

Step 5. Follow on-screen instructions and finish the wizard.

How to Clone Hard Drive on Windows 10

The process of how to clone a Hard Drive is as easy as formatting the drive with the Best Disk Imaging Software. We have tried, tested, compared and reviewed top disk management tools and listed the one that is user friendly and ensures proper safety of your data.

EaseUS Todo Backup is one of the Best Disk Cloning Tools available for Windows 11 and earlier versions. You can easily manage, clone, format, backup, restore, extend, copy, delete, shrink, and do a lot more with your HDD or SSD. It has inbuilt tools to clone a Hard Drive to SSD with basic/dynamic disk and MBR/GPT disk formats.

Step 1. Download and install EaseUS Todo Backup from its official website.

Step 2. Access the tool and click on the Create Backup button at the centre. Take a backup of your important data on some other drive.

Step 3. Select the Tools button on the top and click on the Clone option to clone the entire drive. You can also clone just the System Files of the operating system.

Step 4. Select the source disk and the target disk before you click on the Next button. Initiate the process and it will copy your entire hard drive data to the new SSD. Once the process is complete, you can replace the hard drive with the SSD and boot your device with the cloned drive.

Summing Up

This article on how to clone a hard drive has the key differences between disk cloning and disk imaging. Once you take a proper backup of your data, you can initiate the cloning process. The Windows Disk Management utility doesn’t offer a robust process to clone an HDD to an SSD. You will need to use the best disk cloning tools to ensure you do not encounter any data loss. Back it up and clone your drive to keep your Windows always bootable.

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