You can have information that is important in a computer, however there is a probability that through a failure losses of these essential data will be generated, that is why this article will explain everything related to clone a hard drive.
By cloning a hard drive to a higher capacity device you have the possibility to increase the performance of your computer
Clone a hard drive
In a computer there is a hard disk where all the essential data that is in an operating system are stored, but it is advisable to have a backup of it considering a failure that is generated in this peripheral. For this reason, a procedure must be executed to clone a hard disk and thus the protection of the data and the system can be guaranteed without producing any changes.
Many scenarios can arise that warrant applying this process, giving the advantage of saving time and information that is possessed in the equipment. Any operating system can be backed up by this method, an example is clone a hard drive to an SSD in which it is held in a portable way.
In the same way, it can be run on another hard disk that has greater storage capacity, the advantage is that it does not require a formatting of the disk so it is not necessary tonfigure the operating system as if it were a new one. It should be taken into account that specialized programs must be used to proceed with the copying of the various data.
Depending on how you want to proceed with the cloning of the hard disk, several methods can be applied, either on a new hard disk or on an SSD memory, which can be done by hardware or by a program that generally has an interface design. based on Windows operating system
This procedure is in charge of copying each one of the files in the operating system, applying the cloning of the bits of information, including the spaces that are empty. In this way, data loss is avoided and the original hard drive is completely copied to a new and updated device.
It allows to increase the performance of the equipment since the cloning must be carried out in a new hard disk with greater capacity, facilitating the interaction of the data and increasing the execution speed of the applications as well as the software that constitutes it. Upgrade the HDD to an SSD so the system can optimize the tasks that are applied on the computer.
The time it can take to clone a hard disk is variable, that is, there is no fixed answer since it depends on various ways that can increase or decrease the speed at which this storage is processed. It depends on the amount of data to be copied, since with a high amount of information the time of this procedure will be longer.
Another of these variables is to which device the operating system information will be copied, since it is different if the process is to an SSD or a hard disk, since this affects the speed of the process. The operating system that is being applied to the computer is also affected as some may be heavier than others depending on their compatibility with the computer.
You can have a program that slows down cloning, an example of this is an antivirus that takes resources from the operating system, thus increasing the time of the process. Likewise, the use of some hardware may decrease the performance of the computer so it may take longer to copy the data.
If you want to perform this cloning process but also want to install a Windows system, then it is recommended to go to the article on Install Windows 7
Using an SSD
As explained above, you can clone a hard drive to an SSD but this procedure requires some conditions to execute it correctly. It is necessary that the hard disk that is being used has stored the information that is to be preserved so that the copy is applied selectively, however this process allows the copy to be identical to the original.
The SSD that will be used to save the files must be completely empty, it is also important that its capacity level is greater than the level of the original hard disk. In this way, it can be ensured that an error will not be generated due to the amount of information that is stored and guarantees an increase in the performance of the equipment.
Likewise, a USB pendrive with a storage capacity of 2 GB or a capacity must be available, this being a mandatory condition so that the pendrive cannot be less than 2 GB. It is important that it is formatted to ensure that it does not contain any type of file, it must also be in an NTFS format or in a FAT format.
Then you must proceed to connect the hard drive and the SSD to the computer, this can be done through SATA which is an internal installation or you can also use a USB adapter. Then you just have to run the program to clone a hard drive and voila, in this way you can have the identical copy of the system data on an SSD.
Applying a bootable USB stick
Another method that can be used to clone a hard drive is by using a USB flash drive in which you must install whatever is required to run a program to copy specific files. In this device it is recommended to have a software that is used at the start of the equipment through the pendrive.
It is recommended that the Tuxboot software be downloaded to the USB device, which is characterized by being free, this being an advantage for the user, then the Clonezilla program will be downloaded so that the pendrive is a bootable peripheral, so it should only be run to allow you to use the downloaded program.
You must select the parameters that come from the factory or by default, then the USB Drive option is chosen to determine and establish the drive letter that the pendrive connected to the computer is going to present, with only this it is possible to have Clonezilla on the device USB for full operation.
Thus, you have the pendrive prepared as a boot device, you only have to start or turn on the equipment with the peripheral connected so that it does not start with the hard disk but with the device and you can proceed to store all the information you want or that requires copying from the operating system.
If you want to know all the commands that can be applied in a Windows operating system, then it is recommended to read the article on Network commands
Copy to a new hard drive
This process is very similar to that of the SSD, because it is another storage device, which must have a greater amount of capacity than the old hard disk and in turn must be more updated so that it is compatible with new versions of programs. To clone a hard drive to a new hard drive requires a USB flash drive with the Clonezilla program.
You must have the pendrive connected to the computer, so you proceed to restart the computer and then you must press the F10 key or it may be the F12 key, that depends on the motherboard and the configuration of the equipment. Then it should be indicated that the system should boot from the USB device that the Clonezilla software has.
You have to wait a few seconds for it to fully load, then a menu will be displayed in which you must choose the first option that is called Clonezilla Live. Then you must wait for the operating system to load again, now a window is displayed to choose the language in which the system will run.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq5shgQ02as
You must select the language in which you want the operating system to start, and proceed by clicking on the option that says "OK", then you can configure commands that are executed with the keyboard. Windows continues to open in which no modification should be made and to end this procedure, press the "Enter" key on the keyboard.
Then the Clonezilla program must be executed, a window is displayed asking what to ask, for this step you must choose the second option which says "Clone from one device to another device". In this part, a menu will be displayed where it is requested to specify whether to use the expert mode or to enter the options by default.
Either method works, it is recommended that if you already have experience in performing this type of cloning, you use the expert mode to take advantage of the tools that this program offers to users. The source disk is selected and then the new hard disk on which the cloning is going to be performed is chosen.
Afterwards, the program displays a verification window in which it is certified on which device the corresponding data will be stored, so in this step it analyzes all the files that are going to be transferred to the new hard disk, thus being this process a little longer but safer.
At the end of the check, a partition table will be opened, it is recommended that you select the box that indicates that the partition table will be preserved in such a way as to ensure that data corruption will not be generated. A window is displayed with a summary of the activity that the program is going to execute and the "Enter" key must be pressed.
Then it opens another window where it asks if the boot loader that comes from the original hard drive is going to be cloned, in this case the "Enter" key must be selected again. To end this procedure, you must turn off the equipment and proceed to uninstall the original hard drive to connect the new hard drive to the computer in the same port which is the SATA.
Most used programs
These copies of data can be applied to new hard drives regardless of the operating system you have, an example is clone a hard drive with Windows 10, in which only the same procedure should be applied to achieve transferred the files without any type of error or corruption in the data.
There are many programs that can be used for this process, so it is convenient to have a reference to each of them to know their main characteristics. That is why the following is going to show some of the most used softwares to clone a hard drive without any problem:
Clonezilla
It is characterized by being a free and open source cloning program, which is why it is considered one of the most popular on the market. It is based on partclone and offers a wide range of additional tools, including partimage, also ntfsclone, among others.
It has other programs that facilitate its use so that the user has a support at the time of saving the data from the hard disk and in turn can restore them. It is made up of powerful commands and protocols so it has the ability to act on various types of file systems.
rescuezilla
It consists of a program to make backup copies, it is characterized by having a simple interface so its use is not complicated. It does not require the user to have experience in these types of software, it is portable, this being one of its main advantages, and it also has different tools to facilitate its main functions.
Acronis Disk Director
It is a paid software and it is highly recommended to execute backup copies, it is responsible for optimizing the use of the hard disk, thus also increasing the protection of the data that is possessed in the operating system. You can configure cloning of a hard drive so that an identical, real-time copy can be made.