Disk Cloning software for windows creates a copy of your storage drive bit by bit to a new drive. This allows you to continue using it without having to reinstall Windows. Let’s find out how disk cloning Software can help you. We also recommend the best disk cloning software on the market.
Many options exist for protecting your data online and offline with PC backup software. Clone software can be used to make an exact copy from your storage drive.
Why not clone your storage device?
Cloning a storage drive can be used for two main purposes: to backup your data exactly or to migrate to a different storage drive. You can always boot from another drive and continue your work if anything happens to the data on the first drive.
A storage drive can create an exact copy of your drive, which you can then use to migrate to another drive. Clone software can make it easy to transfer everything from your HDD to SSD if you have a slow HDD.
Pros
- Cloning allows you to quickly and easily move to your backup storage.
- By cloning multiple storage media, you can install the same operating systems with customized data and configurations on multiple computers.
- Multiple computers’ data can be managed easily and quickly restored if there is any corruption.
- To use the backup, the disk cloning software doesn’t need to be installed on another storage drive.
Cons
- Cloning is more space-intensive than other backup options because it copies the storage drive exactly.
- Backup data must be on another storage device. You can’t do backups from the same drive.
- To update any changes, full cloning is required in most cases. It’s not possible to do differential or incremental backup.
You now know why you should use Disk Cloning Software. Let’s look at the following Windows disk cloning Software.
Uranium Backup
Uranium backup is a safe, complete, simple-to-use, yet powerful and versatile backup program for personal and business data.
You can get it both for free or for a fee.
This free version can be used to backup files and folders and it also supports scheduled copies using the native “backup scheduler”.
Professionals and businesses can access advanced features in the paid version, including backups of disk images ( drive Image), databases and virtual machines. Uranium Backup can create copies of any destination such as hard drives and tapes, FTP servers and the Cloud.
Both the paid and free versions offer very high levels of protection. These include disaster recovery tools. The prices are competitive, as each plan includes a lifetime license and support for up to two years.
Acronis Disk Director
Acronis disk director is a complete disk management tool that offers both drive management and cloning. It is a Windows-only tool for cloning files, supporting Ext32, FAT16 and Ext3 file systems.
Cloning allows you to control what data you want to clone, and can even manage partitions directly from the interface. You can create partitions, merge them, and label them all without any additional software.
You can use it to recover volumes deleted accidentally or corrupted. You can also create a single volume using multiple drives, convert a disk from dynamic to basic, create bootable media and optimize drive space.
Acronis Disk Manager is $49.99 for one license. This is a lot more than other paid tools. It would not be necessary to have the disk management features.
Acronis’ Disk Director Demo is available for those who are interested. Although it is fully functional, it does not support disk volumes larger than 10GB.
Clonezilla
Although I won’t say that it’s the best, it is the most complete cloning program you can find for free.
Clonezilla is an open source cloning program that comes in two versions Clonezilla Live and Clonezilla Se. Clonezilla SE allows enterprises to copy up to 40 computers at once. Clonezilla Live is available for home users.
It supports virtually all file systems. This software can clone Windows and Linux as well as Mac OS X and Chrome OS. You can also clone any type of partition with the software, including MBR and GPT partitions using legacy BIOS (or UEFI). If necessary, AES256 encryption can be used to protect the data.
Although the interface is not intuitive, cloning a single drive can be done quickly. For novice users, cloning multiple computers or using multicast may be a little difficult.
Paragon Drive Copy
Paragon Drive copy allows you to create a partition clone or a complete drive clone. This tool is a small feature of the main Paragon Hard Disk Manager. It is also available separately at half the cost, so you don’t need to purchase the entire software if you just require cloning functionality.
Drive Copy allows you to choose which data you want to clone, and which data to delete. It can be used on MBT or GPT partitions. Additionally, it has basic partitioning capabilities that allow you to merge or split partitions.
EaseUS Todo Backup
EaseUS Backup is a great choice if you need both a backup and cloning tool.
Although there is a free version, it can only create backup images and cannot clone storage drives. The paid version allows you to clone an entire disk, as well as the OS and a partition. You can move the OS to a new storage device and then boot from there. This is a great option if you have to move your OS from HDD or SSD.
To create a bootable USB flash drive, you can also clone the current OS. This allows you to access your system from any location. It offers a wide range of backup options, including cloning. For data protection, you can make file backups or entire system images backups. You can also encrypt your data. Backups can be saved offline or online in the same storage device, external drive FTP server, cloud storage, or NAS.
A functional 30-day trial version of the software is also available for download. It offers all the premium features, but has a slower backup/restore speed.
Read More: How to Change Default Printer in Windows 10
Macrium Reflect
If you’re new to cloning, and don’t want to spend your money, I recommend Macrium Reflect.
Although it may not be as powerful or as Clonezilla’s, Macrium Reflect Free version is extremely comprehensive and user-friendly. You can use the free version for personal or commercial use to create backup images and full disk clones. You can also use different schedule templates to schedule backups.
The free version is fine for backups and whole-disk cloning. However, the paid version will offer more features. You will be able to use their Rapid Delta Clone technology, which is the key feature.
This allows you to use the differential backup technique on a cloned drive, something that is not possible with other software. Macrium Reflect will update the cloned storage drives, not create a new one. This feature will only work if both storage drives have an NTFS filesystem.
The premium version allows you to encrypt backup data, and protects against ransomware.
AOMEI Backupper
AOMEI Backupper offers a reliable, free version that allows you to perform backups and cloning. In the free version, you have two options for cloning: a partition clone and a full disk copy. Upgrade to the pro version to create an operating system clone.
You also get almost all of the backup and restore functions in the free version. You can create system backup, partition backup, file backup, incremental/differential backup, sector-by-sector backup, and much more.
The majority of the features in the pro version don’t impact cloning functionality. Therefore, the free version is good if you don’t need to clone your operating system. The pro version allows you to split/merge backups and mirror sync data. It also lets you create event-triggered backups. Filter file types. Encrypt backup images.
I liked the fact that AOMEI Backupper offers customer support (working days only), even for the free version. This is something very rare for other software.
Iperius Backup
Iperius backup paid edition does an excellent job of cloning. It allows you to create custom clones on storage drives and virtual machines. There are several options available to create a complete disk clone or partition clone. You also have the option of starting a virtual machine system.
This is a great way to keep your system running in a virtual environment and to reduce risk.
The software allows you to create backup images, keep them updated with incremental and differential backups, and clone. Backups can be saved online or offline. You can also compress the backup and encrypt it if necessary.
Ending thoughts
If you don’t have the knowledge to clone disks, you should give AOMEI Backupper or Macrium Reflect a shot. Both offer reliable, free versions that are easy to use. Clonezilla and Acronis Disk Manager are the best options if you need comprehensive disk cloning software.