Disk Cloning Software

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weelzSA

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So I need to replace the SSD in wifes laptop to a bigger storage. I have the SSD but now looking for the best / most tried and tested cloning software so I can make an exact copy of the current SSD and then just replace it in her laptop and boot as normal with no need to re-install anything.

I have come across these options:

Clonezilla
EaseUS ToDo Backup
Macrium Reflect

Hoping to find a free version that can clone the SSD with all windows files and data on the drive.

Let me know if there is anything better or what you recommend.
 
sand_man said:
Is Acronis free? Maybe there's a trial version you can use?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately there is only a demo available but that is limited to 100mb of data.

From what I can tell from online articles is that Macrium Reflect seems to be the best option but will wait to see if anyone else has other suggestions before starting.
 
If it's a once off, one could always install a cracked version of Acronis and uninstall after cloning the drive. That's it you don't have any moral reservations about doing such.
 
sand_man said:
If it's a once off, one could always install a cracked version of Acronis and uninstall after cloning the drive. That's it you don't have any moral reservations about doing such.
Click to expand...

If it was just to test I would have done so but it is my wifes business laptop so can't take any chances of getting a virus or something going wrong.

Going with Macrium.

Will run the clone during the night and hope there are no errors.
 
Linux & dd is free and does a straight block copy. With an Ubuntu live-cd this should be pretty easy. You start the live-cd and open a terminal

fdisk -l # List all the disks on the system
# replace {old_disk} with the old disk & {new_disk} with the new disk designation
dd if=/dev/{old_disk} of=/dev/{new_disk} bs=64k #Block copy everything from if to of
 
Partition Wizard.
Have done cloning on a few drives in the past with it. Free as well IIRC.
 
Gnome said:
Linux & dd is free and does a straight block copy. With an Ubuntu live-cd this should be pretty easy. You start the live-cd and open a terminal

fdisk -l # List all the disks on the system
# replace {old_disk} with the old disk & {new_disk} with the new disk designation
dd if=/dev/{old_disk} of=/dev/{new_disk} bs=64k #Block copy everything from if to of
Click to expand...

As much as I love dd I would not recommend it to people because many an idiot have swapped the src & des drives around...
 
ponder said:
As much as I love dd I would not recommend it to people because many an idiot have swapped the src & des drives around...
Click to expand...
Haha fair enough I guess.

I just hate that people have created over priced software to do what essentially a tool from the 80s did better.
 
Aomei Backupper

Use the free version, it does a 1:1 clone.

it clones all partitions, very unknown program.
 
Macrium, very straightforward to use. There are also online instructions if you really need some hand holding. While it's possible to do a hot clone of the disk, I would suggest that you rather use another computer to do the cloning.
 
I've used macrium reflect with good success.

You can get a free WD-sponsored version of Acronis which also works quite nicely, if your destination drive is WD. No other restrictions.
 
I did this about a week ago without using third party software, just the Windows stuff. Since I am an "other OS" type the Windows people will probably have the best advise, but here are the notes I took while doing it:

Connect a USB hard drive which has sufficient space to accommodate an image of the system disk.

To create a system image: Control Panel > System and Security > Back up and Restore (Windows 7) > Create a system image (in the LH pane). This says Windows 7 but it works on Windows 10. Follow the prompts to create a system image on the external drive.

To make a bootable USB drive, go to the site <https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10>.

Under the topic of creating installation media, click on "Download tool now".

Once the software has downloaded, run it.

Select "Create installation media for another PC" option and click on Next.

Use the recommended options for the language, architecture and edition.

Select USB flash drive as the media, and then select the drive itself.

Once the media creation tool is finished the drive will be usable.

In order to restore the system image to a new drive, boot from the USB with the external drive containing the sytem image also plugged in.

On the boot screen select Next > Repair your computer > troubleshoot > System Image Recovery.

Select the saved image and follow the prompts from there.
 
OK so update - managed to clone the disk and install and boot.

Only issue is the drive is showing as 250GB instead of 500GB (went from 250gb SSD to 500gb). In disk utility I see the other 250gb is un-allocated still and allows me to create a new simple volume for it but then it asks to apply a drive letter too. Is there a way I can just extended instead so the drive will show as one drive with full capacity instead of two drives?
 
weelzSA said:
OK so update - managed to clone the disk and install and boot.

Only issue is the drive is showing as 250GB instead of 500GB (went from 250gb SSD to 500gb). In disk utility I see the other 250gb is un-allocated still and allows me to create a new simple volume for it but then it asks to apply a drive letter too. Is there a way I can just extended instead so the drive will show as one drive with full capacity instead of two drives?
Click to expand...

In Windows Disk Management you can right click the volume you want to extend (eg C Drive) and choose extend. You can then allocate the available space to that partition and extend it.
 
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