Although not often, but sometimes many users are faced with a situation where an aging hard drive crashes, or installed programs simply do not have enough space on their existing hard drive. In this case, most users prefer to buy a new HDD or a faster SSD. But then you need to reinstall the operating system or some important programs on a new disk, and this can take a lot of time. Therefore, in order not to waste time and not engage in such actions, the easiest way out is to clone the hard drive in order to use the old system and installed applications. You can do this in several ways, each of which will be considered as detailed as possible.
Hard Disk Cloning: Initial Information
First of all, it is worth paying attention to the fact that the standard process of copying absolutely all the folders and files involved in Windows will not lead to anything, and if you try to boot from a new medium, there will be no result. This is due only to the fact that on the new device there are no boot sectors and records that are responsible for starting the system.
To get a fully functional OS, the hard drive will have to be cloned. From a hard disk to another disk (HDD or SSD), data must be transferred specifically for this purpose by developed methods. There are some nuances here.
Used tools
To carry out operations to create a copy of the hard disk, several options are used to transfer the system to another location. For this, native Windows tools or special programs are suitable that simplify the whole process somewhat.
The methodology mainly uses the creation of backup copies and images with the subsequent restoration of the system from them on a new medium. In this case, you can make a copy of only the system, and you can transfer installed programs. In addition, the issue of preliminary storage of cloned data (in the old disk partition or direct transfer to a new hard drive) is also important. Sometimes it may be useful to create a copy of the "Desktop", but more on that later.
How to clone a hard drive with Windows 7: preliminary steps
To begin, we will analyze the issues of using the system’s own funds. Before using the built-in tools of the system directly to create a copy of the hard drive, you should follow a few preliminary steps. The question of how to clone a hard drive with Windows 7 or any other system is not so difficult to understand, if you take into account some nuances.
The first step will be to invoke the command line and run it with administrator privileges (the Run menu, which is called by Win + R). In the console, you need to register the line% windir% \ System32 \ Sysprep \ Sysprep.exe, after which the system preparation window will open. Here, in the cleaning actions, the transition to the OOBE welcome window is selected, a checkmark is set next to the preparation for use line, and the completion menu is used in the next menu. This step allows you to remove all controllers, system registry events and prepare the system for cloning.
Saving a copy on an old hard drive
The second stage is related to the issue of using a copy of a workable system by storing it on an old hard drive. Most often, this approach is used when replacing some equipment, for example, a motherboard on which it is supposed to use an existing hard drive, or in the case when the old hard drive is installed on another computer.
Next, the question of how to clone a Windows 8, 7 or 10 hard drive (no difference) involves starting the computer in normal mode, after which the installer will update the registry settings, install the necessary equipment and configuration parameters in order to prepare the computer for the first start.
After that, the standard setting of regional standards and language will follow, and then you will be prompted to enter the account login and password. The most crucial moment is coming. You do not need to enter your data, because they are already used by the system. Instead, create a temporary account with a password and confirmation (then you can delete it). Then the license agreement and the selection of recommended parameters follow, the location, date and time, network settings, etc. are checked. Upon completion of the process, we reboot the system, log in with your account and delete the temporary one.
Transferring the system to a new drive
Now let's see how to clone Windows 7 to another hard drive (this technique also applies to systems of a rank higher). This option is suitable when you want to transfer the system to a new hard drive or other computer without using an old hard drive.
First, all the steps described above are performed, after which a backup is made in the corresponding section of the “Control Panel”. As a place to save it, we select another hard drive connected directly to the motherboard by a corresponding cable or at least instead of an optical drive. Next, click the backup button, and after it is prompted to create a recovery disc on a DVD-drive, we agree (this is not necessary, but recommended).
At the end of the process, turn off the computer, remove the old hard drive and boot the system from the installation or created recovery disk. After the first settings, we select first the system recovery, and then the recovery from the previously created image, after which we confirm all further actions. Upon completion, the system will replace all data with information from the image and reboot automatically.
How to clone a hard drive (Windows 10)?
For the tenth version of the system, the technique is identical. Again, you can clone Windows 10 (you need to immediately connect another hard drive to the computer) from the same backup section, but, as practice shows, after creating and saving the image to another medium and starting recovery from previously recorded or already existing optical media , the old hard drive is better off to avoid trouble. It is still unclear why, but such a problem exists.
Create a copy of the desktop
How to clone the hard drive of Windows-systems using the built-in tools, figured out. Consider creating a copy of the “Desktop” and saving it in a non-system section.
To do this, first, in a different section from the system partition, create a folder where the “Desktop” data will be stored using any file manager (and even “Explorer”). Next, go to the user directory (c: \ Users \ Username) and right-click on the "Desktop" folder to call up the menu where we use the property bar. Next, select the location tab and click the "Move" button. When choosing a place, we indicate the new folder created earlier in another section and click the "OK" button. Then we agree to the transfer. For the changes to take effect, a reboot will be required.
The most suitable utilities for cloning
To many, the question of how to clone a hard disk using its own means of the operating system may seem too abstruse. Therefore, in order not to complicate your task, it is better to use specialized utilities that are specifically designed for this. Among the most popular are the following:
- Acronis True Image.
- ESEUS Disk Copy.
- Paragon Drive Backup Personal.
- Macrium Reflect.
- Farstone RestorIT Pro.
- Seagate DiscWizard.
- AOMEI Backupper Standard.
- Samsung Data Migration et al.
Of course, cloning a hard disk partition or an entire disk using them is much easier, since each such program has its own “Wizard”, which most processes will perform automatically, without requiring special user involvement. But here it is worth considering the specifics of such utilities, since some of them are narrowly targeted and can only work with certain types of hard drives or support devices from only a limited number of manufacturers.
Acronis True Image
This program is the undisputed leader among all that is presented on the market. Acronis True Image can clone a hard drive in several directions.
It is this software product that offers some features that are not available in other applications. Using it, you can clone not only the contents of hard drives or virtual partitions, but also edit the contents of the clone, excluding writing to a copy of certain unnecessary files. In addition, the program has a fairly high speed.
The only things worth paying attention to are some terms. The target is the disk to be copied to, and the source is the disk whose clone is being created. There are two options for creating a copy to choose from - automatic and manual. The first method is faster, but with the help of manual cloning, you can set more flexible settings. Upon completion of the process, you can view all the files and folders that will be presented in a tree structure. What is not needed can be checked and simply deleted. When the restart starts, the BIOS will need to change the boot priority by choosing a new hard drive as the main device.
ESEUS Disk Copy
This is another free utility that allows you to clone the hard drive of any computer device. Its main advantage lies not only in the complete automation of copying processes, but also in the fact that it can be launched even from removable media such as USB flash drives or optical drives.
The interface is quite simple, the speed is level, although, as noted, the only and main drawback of the utility is the lack of a Russian-language interface.
Paragon Drive Backup Personal
This program is a multifunctional tool for all occasions and allows you to clone a hard drive or partition as simple as previous utilities.
A huge plus can be called the fact that it supports almost all currently known file systems and types of hard drives. However, due to the high cost ($ 39.68), we did not receive a particularly strong distribution (although many use hacked versions of the application).
Macrium Reflect
This program is distinguished by the fact that it is able to create images of what is called “on the fly”, except for rebooting the system. It also provides a system for checking created images with the possibility of multi-level data encryption.
The interface is English. And the saddest thing is that in the process of installing the application spontaneously installed many unnecessary advertising modules.
Farstone restorit pro
This program does not clone hard drives, but can be very useful when creating backups and system images. It has two modes: full and cumulative. The second mode allows you to save even modifiable data in a copy.
A few words in the end
That's it for cloning hard drives and partitions. As can be seen from everything presented above, the main emphasis was placed solely on the means of Windows operating systems, and specialized programs and methods of working with them are mentioned only superficially. This is due only to the fact that in such utilities almost all processes are fully automated, and user participation is reduced only to pressing buttons and selecting the source disk or partition, and the final place where the data will be transferred. On the other hand, even in the absence of the above programs, you can also clone using your own OS tools. Maybe this will take more time or it will seem somewhat complicated, nevertheless, just in case, you need to possess such knowledge without fail.