• Free Hard Drive Cloning Software Windows 10
• Bootable Hard Drive Cloning Software
• Free Disk Cloning Software
• Microsoft Hard Drive Cloning Software
• Best Free Hard Drive Cloning Software For Mac
• Best Free Ssd Cloning Software

Hard Drive Cloning Software – What is it and why you need it
A clone is a duplicate copy. The sheep have been cloned and maybe one-day people will be cloned. But disk cloning (performed by hard drive cloning software) is an essential tool for managing and protecting its data. Let’s take a closer look at what a hard drive cloning software can do. Let’s start with the basics.

As disk cloning is important, the following list will be helpful for those who are seeking out the best free drive cloning software to complete the job with ease. Paragon Drive Copy. As a disk duplicator, Paragon Drive Copy comes handy for all those who are seeking a free disk cloning software to clone their hard drive in simple steps.

Basically, disk cloning is the process of perfectly copying all the information from one hard drive from one computer to another drive. The content of the first disk is often written in an image file as an intermediate. The second disc is then created with the contents of the image.

What is a disk cloning software?

Disk cloning software copies the operating system, hard disks, software, and patches from a computer. It avoids the tedious technical process of reinstalling and manually re-configuring the system so that you can do one or more of the following tasks:

• Restart and restore a computer to an earlier version.
• Configure multiple computers with duplicate configurations.
• Upgrade hard drives for higher capacity or replace a damaged hard drive.
• Full system recovery in case of software problems or computer failure.

Disk backup and cloning software

Well, of course, we want to protect our data. This is what backup software is supposed to do? Not quite.

Full disk image backup software and file and folder backup software are different from disk cloning software, although the reasons for using them may overlap. Here are some good practices for using each:

Use backup software whenever you want :

1. Backup individual files or folders on the cloud for offsite protection and remote access.
2. Backup your entire computer periodically. Image backup includes all your startup information, applications, settings, and data, and can store everything on a local hard drive or in the cloud. When your data and applications are changed, the backup software saves these “incremental” changes. Incremental backups take much less time than a new full backup (or disk image) of the source disk. And, it allows you to recover everything that has happened since the first configuration of the hard drive.

Use the cloning software when you want to:

1. Duplicate the configurations of multiple computers so that each machine is configured identically.

Set up a computer as desired, clone the hard drive, and then install the clone on each computer.

If you need to upgrade the hardware on your computer, simply inserting a cloned drive into the hardware may not work. You should then use some OS configuration features to ensure that the latest hardware is supported or use a backup and recovery tool such as Acronis True Image 2019 associated with Acronis Universal Restore to take support restoring a disk to a different computer from the original computer.

The benefits of cloning software

Compared to backup software, the biggest benefit of cloning software for most PC users is to have a complete picture of your computer at a given time. For example, you may want to have the “perfect setup” for your family or office, with all the apps and settings you can use at any time. Data files (such as Microsoft Word documents, photos, and videos) can be on a separate hard disk or volume. In this way, all computers are synchronized. They are equipped with the same programs and users will have the same experience regardless of the machine they use. But each computer can contain different data. There can be different Word and Excel documents on each computer. But the versions of Word and Excel and the user interface – the way you access these programs – will be the same on every computer.

Main features of the cloning software

The best cloning software is:

• Simple – It uses data migration to transfer data. It usually allows you to backup and restores your system as simple as possible. Make sure that the drive cloning software is user-friendly and intuitive.
• Effective – It can restore multiple computers simultaneously instead of spending hours configuring each computer individually.
• Flexible – It offers options to define when what and where to save your data.
• Secure – It protects and secures your data using the most rigorous security measures available.

When do you need to clone one hard drive on another?

Free Hard Drive Cloning Software Windows 10

When we buy a new hard drive that has a faster speed and a much larger capacity than the current system drive, it is definitely necessary to copy the entire current hard drive to the new hard drive, including the data. , the operating system and applications. So, we need a free hard disk cloning software to clone our hard drive on another. Among the cloning software, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is definitely a good choice, this reliable and powerful software can help you copy the contents of one hard drive to another without losing data, and ensure that the system can start normally.

Preparations to clone the hard drive

Follow the steps below to duplicate your hard drive:

1. Connect the new hard drive to your computer.
2. Turn on the computer, and then open Disk Management. You must initialize the target disk to match the partition type of the source disk (the hard disk you want to clone).
3. Download and install the full version of this free software.

Free hard drive cloning software

In many cases, you need to clone a disk to another disk or SSD. For example, when you intend to change your hard drive with an SSD for better performance, upgrade a hard drive for more storage, or if a hard drive failure is imminent.

Here, we will present two completely different disk cloning software, AOMEI Backupper, and AOMEI Assistant Partition, they are all free and well received by the majority of users! And they support almost all operating systems, including Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP.

With both free cloning software you are able to:

• clone a hard drive on another hard drive.
• clone a hard disk on an SSD such as Kingston SSD, Samsung SSD, SSD M.2, etc.
• clone an SSD to another SSD or hard drive.
• clone an MBR disk to a GPT disk. (Your computer must support the UEFI boot mode.)

In addition, if you want to clone a disk on a smaller SSD, the size of the SSD must be larger than the used space of the original disk.

Best 5 Hard Drive Cloning Software

1. Macrium Reflect Free

The free version of this application remains one of the most robust and secure options when cloning discs. In fact, we used it to clone the Windows 7 partition, and it’s been a couple of years, without any inconvenience.

2. GParted

GParted Converting the GParted application to a Live USB has been one of the brightest decisions we have seen since, in addition to being easy to use, it guarantees broad compatibility. In the specific case of GParted, cloning discs are actually “copy and paste partitions”. First you create a table on the new disk, then you choose to “copy” the partition you want to duplicate, and finally you “stick” it in the unallocated space. That is all.

3. EaseUS Partition Master

EaseUS Partition Master If the idea of a Linux distro turned into a disk-partitioning-cloning editor is too intimidating, then all paths take us back to an alternative under Windows, and with that, we want to name EaseUS Partition Master. As with GParted, the cloning process happens more by copying and pasting partitions, but when working from inside Windows, everything should be much more intuitive for the user.

4. AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard A direct alternative to the Macrium offer comes through the people of AOMEI with its Partition Assistant Standard. The company also offers its AOMEI Backupper, but it does not matter which one you choose, both allow a clone of disks simple, and without obstacles. Among its functions, we find support for cloning Ext2 / 3/4 partitions (yes, from Windows), and encrypted partitions under BitLocker.

5. Clonezilla

Clonezilla So we come to the “hard guy” of the group, the one that many users see as the true heir of the Norton Ghost. Clonezilla is available in two versions, a “live” that is recommended in individual cases, and the SE edition that can clone more than 40 discs simultaneously, assuming that the computers are correctly configured in a network to start via PXE. The most flexible of all, but demand respect.

Disk cloning software is an important need when it comes to data disaster prevention. Disk cloning is a method to create one on one copy of all your hard drive content, including files required to boot to the OS from the drive. In simple words, you can say, it is a duplicate copy of your hard drive.

You can’t prevent hard drive failure or other mechanical failure but sure can avoid losing your precious data by creating a clone of your disk. Well, it also comes handy when you want to upgrade your HDD to an SSD, as it becomes easier to get your data on the new drive.

There are a lot of disk cloning software & disk imaging software available to fulfill the task, but choosing the best for you could be troublesome. To help you with that, we have listed some of the best disk cloning software available for Windows 10, 8 and 7.

Our Top 3 Choices

Best Disk Cloning And Disk Imaging Software For Windows PC

1. EaseUS Todo Backup Home: Reliable Hard Drive Cloning Tool

EaseUS Todo Backup is a disk cloning tool which is known to be trustworthy when it comes to creating a backup and restoring data on a Windows PC. It comes with three backup options, such as full, differential, and incremental backup.

Features Of EaseUS Todo Backup:

• Enables you to run an automated backup on your files and directories, compress file images to save disk space.
• Allows you to create a bootable backup so that you can restore your system whenever it crashes.
• Store backups to a hard drive, tape, an external device, CD/DVD, FTP server, NAS, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive.
• Comes with Smart Backup feature, which allows you to perform backup every half an hour, if any changes are made to data.

2. Paragon Drive Copy: One Stop Solution for Disk Cloning

Another great hard drive cloning software, Paragon Drive Copy, can seamlessly migrate your data from a given source to the target. This disk imaging tool allows you to clone your operating system to a USB drive and use anywhere you like.

Features Of Paragon Drive Copy Professional:

• Easily migrates your OS to a new PC for a seamless transition.
• Allows you to create backups, migrate data, and manage partitions.
• Let’s you copy or retrieve data to a hard drive even with different sector size.
• Can split or merge partitions and distribute free hard disk space again.

3. Acronis True Image: Best Mirroring Software For Windows 10

Looking for the best disk cloning software which can provide safety, privacy and security of your data? Well, your search ends here! Acronis True Image is a robust tool which can handle mirroring and disk cloning with ease.

Features Of Acronis True Image:

• Provides access to your data and backup files anywhere via cloud backup. You can manage your data remotely.
• Comes with a backup solution with AI to protect your computer from ransomware and crypto-jacking in real-time.
• Provides dual protection as it backups your data both on cloud and locally so that you can access your data offsite as well.
• Allows you to store your data, locally on an external hard drive, NAS device, network folder, offsite in the cloud and more.

4. CloneZilla: Best Free Disk Imaging Software

Clonezilla is a disk imaging tool that works as a disk cloning tool as well. It claims to help in system deployment, system backup and recovery. Clonezilla comes in three different versions, Clonezilla live (single computer), Clonezilla SE(for servers), Clonezilla lite server (more than 40 computers).

Features Of Clonezilla:

• Supports many file systems, including ext2, ext4, ext3, reiserf4, reiserfs, jfs, xfs, nilfs2, FAT12, FAT16, NTFS, FAT32 and more.
• The tool works for Windows, macOS, Linux and more and is available for free and open-source.
• It saves and retrieves the used portion of the hard disk, thereby increasing clone efficiency.
• Allows you to save the image file on ssh server, local disk, samba server, WedDAV server, and NFS server.

Bootable Hard Drive Cloning Software

5. Macrium Reflect: Free Cloning Software For Windows 10

Macrium Reflect free disk imaging and cloning tool is great for both personal and professional use. The tool provides you with options for incremental backups to ensure your data is protected. This version of the tool is available for free and enables you to create effective backups.

Features Of Macrium Reflect Free:

• Can perform disk cloning, create, and backup disk images.
• Boots your backups in a Hyper-V VM at once
• Provides 30 days of technical support via email.
• Allows you to create images of running Windows and browse backup files in Explorer.

6. MiniTool Partition Wizard: Best Free Partition Manager

MiniTool Partition Wizard, a free disk imaging tool which comes with other features, such as data backup, data recovery, disk partitioning, Disk Benchmark and more. It allows you to check file systems, migrate your OS to SSD, and convert MBR to GPT.

Features Of MiniTool Partition Wizard Free:

• Let’s you clone or copy your hard disk in a manner that if your target drive is larger than the source, then it automatically resizes Windows partition.
• Comes with three backup schemes, incremental, full and differential.
• Allows you to restore the system to the previous state.
• Clone your original disk to any other drive such as SSD on the same computer.

Free Disk Cloning Software

7. Active @ Disk Image: Best Disk Duplicator Software

Active Disk Image is a disk imaging tool which can make an exact copy of your hard drive, be it SSD, HDD, USB, CD, Blu-ray, and more. You can use disk images for backups, disk duplication, and PC upgrades.

Features Of Active@ Disk Image:

• Allows you to schedule backup.
• Enables you to create or restore a disk image backup.
• Provides Windows servers support.
• Comes with image compression (fast, high and normal)

8. AOMEI Backupper Standard: Free & Smart Cloning Software For All

Another great way to clone a hard disk is downloading AOMEI Backupper Standard. It is a free tool which makes sure your data is safe. The disk cloning tool also comes with a disaster recovery solution for laptops and computers.

Features OF AOMEI Backupper Standard:

• Provides three different backups, differential, full and incremental, to make creating backup easy.
• Comes with real-time file and folder sync from source to destination without any hassle.
• Allows you to scan HDD to HDD, HDD to SSD, and SSD to SSD for data migration and disk upgrades.
• Supports both 32, & 64-bit Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and Windows 10.

9. Acronis Disk Director: A MultiPurpose Tool To Prevent Data Disasters

Acronis Disk Director is one of the best disk cloning software which can help you clone your hard disk, protect & manage your data, and hard disk. This cloning software can swiftly create partitions, resize, merge, move them without the fear of data loss.

Features Of Acronis Disk Director:

• Allows you to map hard disks, create partitions in no time.
• Comes with a disk editing feature, under which you can make changes to your disk drive content to recover deleted/missing information.
• Can replace an old hard disk to a new one, without reinstalling OS, apps and other settings.
• Supports Windows Server 2016, latest operating systems and 4K hard drives

10. O & O DiskImage 15: Advanced Disk Cloner

O&O Diskimage 15 is one of the great tools to choose to clone your hard disk as it can back up all your files into a single file anywhere you want, even when you are working on your computer. If you lose your data, then this disk cloning tool can help you recover your data seamlessly.

Features Of O&O DiskImage 15:

• Comes with support for SSD hard drives and the latest UEFI system.
• Allows you to create a system restore, clone or duplicate your hard drive.
• Provides a facility to restore a backup onto a computer with different hardware from the source.
• Comes with both automatic and manual backup options

11. NovaBackup PC: All-Rounder Backup Tool

NovaBackup PC is robust disk imaging software which ensures protection for your data. The tool promises multiple File and Image Backup options such as Differential, Full, and Incremental. With Boot Disk, it allows you to restore Image Backup, at the time of system failure to get back to the previous state when Image Backup was created.

Features Of NovaBackup

• Comes with two backup options, file and image backup. File backup enables you to backup specific files, but image backup is to backup complete hard disk.
• Allows you to restore a single file, which was included in the backup file.
• Provides an option to schedule backup so that you don’t have to be bothered for the same.
• Supports NTFS format drives connected to the hard drive and comes with AES 256-bit, AES 192-bit, and AES 128-bit encryption.

12. Drive Image XML: A Free Private Edition For Disk Cloning

Another disk cloning tool, Drive Image XML which is available for free, allows you to create an image and backup of your PC’s partitions and drives. This cloning tool can help you create or restore images to both similar and different drives.

Features Of DriveImage XML

• Allows you toschedule backups so that your data is always secure.
• A simple and trustworthy tool to create images and backup of your hard disk.
• The tool uses Microsoft Volume Shadow Services to create safe “hot images” even while working on your computer.
• Provides you with an option to copy drive to drive directly.

13. Hard Disk Manager 16: Best Tool To Maintain Disk Health

Hard Disk Manager 16 is another disk mirroring software that comes with an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it easy to use for all. You can maintain your hard disk, keep control on storage space and performance of your computer.

Features Of Hard Disk Manager 16:

• Allows you to transfer data from one computer to another in a few seconds.
• This tool to clone your hard disk is free and comes in protected mode, which means you can preview the changes and apply them if you want.
• Use the basic partitioning feature to maintain your system’s health.
• Provides an option to restore your data in the event of any malware infection.

14. Daemon Tools Pro 8: A Powerful Disk Imaging Software

Looking for a disk mounting tool which can mount all forms of images from explorer or app? If yes, then the answer is Daemon Tools Pro. This drive cloning software is a powerful emulation tool that can get images from physical discs using advanced parameters.

Features Of Daemon Tools Pro 8:

• Comes with TrueCrypt containers to keep confidential information. Allows you to create dynamic and fixed virtual hard disks.
• Compress, convert, and protect your files by using a password.
• Has an ability to emulate all 32 DT, HD and SCSI with 4IDE devices.
• Comes with Advanced imaging tools to create new and edit old Audio CD and data images.

15. Symantec Ghost Solution Suite: An Enterprise Solution For Hard Disk Cloning

Symantec Ghost Solution Suite is a great tool to create images, deploy desktops, tablets, laptops, and servers. It is easy to migrate the latest OS, deploy software across hardware as well as OS and do custom configurations.

Features Of Symantec Ghost Solution Suite:

• With a simple interface, the tool is fast, easy to use and reliable.
• Saves settings configuration in the image, saving hours of manual configuration.
• Allows you to build an image library which can be used for servers, and workstation.
• Can clone a hard disk along with image deployment.

So, these are some of the best disk cloning software to create a disk image or a clone so that you never lose your data ever. What do you think of this post? Please let us know what you think about it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is The Difference Between Disk Imaging & Disk Cloning?

Microsoft Hard Drive Cloning Software

Disk Imaging and Disk Cloning are two different terms, however, are often used interchangeably as they are used for the same thing, i.e. Copy hard drive’s content. Disk Cloning is a process of creating one to one copy of the hard drive, including information that helps to boot the operating system. However, disk imaging creates a hard drive’s archive that can be then used to create a one-to-one copy.

What Is The Best Free Cloning Software For Windows 10?

If you are looking for the best free cloning software for Windows 10, then you can use Clonezilla, a disk cloning program which can be used for system deployment, and recovery. Another disk cloning software that comes for free is AOMEI Backupper, which can easily backup, sync, restore, clone your Windows system.

Is It Better To Clone Or Image A Hard Drive?

It is better to clone a drive as it will create a one-to-one copy of your hard drive, including files that are needed to boot to the OS from the drive. Disk imaging creates copies of everything present on the drive into a compressed file (large file).

Best Free Hard Drive Cloning Software For Mac

Does Cloning A Drive Make It Bootable?

Best Free Ssd Cloning Software

You need to get a disk cloning tool to clone the hard drive so you can backup and upgrade your disk. If you use the software to clone a live hard disk, the target disk is bootable. You can install any of the mentioned freemium software from the list to try and make a bootable disk.

How Do I Clone A Disk For Free?

You can use any of the freemium products mentioned in the list. Our personal favorite is CloneZilla, you can install the tool and clone your hard drive with ease.