Hard Drive Cloning - is it worth doing?

[PeterCPC]

My Desktop hard drive has 215GB used space and I was wondering if it would be worth cloning it to an external hard drive. Has anyone done this and what software would you recommend (free). I have already copied all documents, photos, programs etc to another external hard drive. Any advice welcome.

Peter

[Dr_Ju_ju]

It's probably not worth cloning the drive with its os & apps etc. (just ensure you know what they are), just the data should be sufficient...  But I'd also recommend taking backup copies of any specific hardware drivers, that you've installed, so you don't have to go searching about for them later.

I backup\store all my data & apps install sets, on NAS devices on my network. I tend to use Buffalo, but other makes are available, & if your so inclined you could build a NAS server (doesn't high power) using the FreeNAS software.

 

[Guest]

I did clone mine, and no problems at all.. even with a FREE SOFTWARE " can't remember which one, but there are many out there", did clone my old hard drive 500GB to a new one 1TB " SSD DRIVE " and everything works without any problem"

I had on my old drive all my ASTRO-SOFWTARE's, the clone process took 40 minutes and my SSD works so much faster than my old hard-disk !

Cheers

Martin

 

[PeterCPC]

17 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

It's probably not worth cloning the drive with its os & apps etc. (just ensure you know what they are), just the data should be sufficient...  But I'd also recommend taking backup copies of any specific hardware drivers, that you've installed, so you don't have to go searching about for them later.

I backup\store all my data & apps install sets, on NAS devices on my network. I tend to use Buffalo, but other makes are available, & if your so inclined you could build a NAS server (doesn't high power) using the FreeNAS software.

 

I keep an up to date report by Belarc advisor so I have a list of keys etc. Thanks.

Peter

[vlaiv]

I often clone HDDs when replacing HDD or upgrading whole system, if I want to preserve installed OS with programs.

This however works only with recent OS versions (XP was notorious for failing at this sort of thing, Windows7 copes quite well) if computer components are different. It works well for just changing HDD with any OS.

This is (free, but there is "pro", paid for version) software that I use:

https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

It can even manage different HDD sizes - and still preserve partition layout (although if you are cloning to smaller HDD - make sure that there is enough free space on larger HDD - total data must fit on smaller unit).

 

[stash_old]

3 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

XP was notorious for failing at this sort of thing

Sorry ?  - I have been cloning hard drives since WFWG / Unix/George I (look it up) drives and never had any problems. So long as the hard drives being used are supported by the os ,the hard drive doesn't have flaws and you do it outside OS control. After all Raid systems do this all the time and that has been round since 1970's. The problem you encounted with "XP" may have been down to partition sizing/limits/shapes or changing the O/S. The latter being a problem with the o/s "upgrade" software not cloning.

I would say although it can take longer and is not for the faint hearted "cloning" drives or even just partitions means you don't have to think about drivers,software installation(can you remember everything I cant!) etc and is the quickest way to recreate an exact copy of what you had (at the time of the last clone!). Dont forget most OS's use cloning of some sorts to create your OS system drive in the first place .

Cloning is no use when "upgrading" the o/s except as a backup plan to a failed upgrade - better with a clean install IMHO but Microsoft's (and others) have got better at upgrading o/s without cloning.

If you have specific data that changes a lot then I suggest doing both cloning and std data backups at appropriate frequencies - just do the std data backups to suit how often you create/change data.

Plus remember dont rely on just a single copy - as it is too late when you come to recreate something only to find your backup/cloning is U/S.

As for free - well do a Google search there are loads but if you want a Swiss Army knife then look up Hiren's CD which has it all - think its still free. Just be careful ,as always,were you download it from. But others have mentioned good usable sources. 

[vlaiv]

10 minutes ago, stash_old said:

Sorry ?  - I have been cloning hard drives since WFWG / Unix/George I (look it up) drives and never had any problems. So long as the hard drives being used are supported by the os ,the hard drive doesn't have flaws and you do it outside OS control. After all Raid systems do this all the time and that has been round since 1970's. The problem you encounted with "XP" may have been down to partition sizing/limits/shapes or changing the O/S. The latter being a problem with the o/s "upgrade" software not cloning.

I would say although it can take longer and is not for the faint hearted "cloning" drives or even just partitions means you don't have to think about drivers,software installation(can you remember everything I cant!) etc and is the quickest way to recreate an exact copy of what you had (at the time of the last clone!). Dont forget most OS's use cloning of some sorts to create your OS system drive in the first place .

Cloning is no use when "upgrading" the o/s except as a backup plan to a failed upgrade - better with a clean install IMHO but Microsoft's (and others) have got better at upgrading o/s without cloning.

If you have specific data that changes a lot then I suggest doing both cloning and std data backups at appropriate frequencies - just do the std data backups to suit how often you create/change data.

Plus remember dont rely on just a single copy - as it is too late when you come to recreate something only to find your backup/cloning is U/S.

As for free - well do a Google search there are loads but if you want a Swiss Army knife then look up Hiren's CD which has it all - think its still free. Just be careful ,as always,were you download it from. But others have mentioned good usable sources. 

I was just referring to the XP inability to cope with hardware change (not necessarily related to HDD cloning). If you use the same disk and upgrade motherboard or something - it is very likely that XP will greet you with BSOD at boot. Windows7 is much better in this regard - it will boot most of the time without any issues except the need to install proper drivers.

I listed that thing with XP because times when I used HDD cloning among others were when someone asked me to "transfer" their OS (software, settings and all) to new computer. With Windows7 it's really easy to do that - you just clone current system HDD to new one and install it into new machine and boot - no problem.

[stash_old]

1 minute ago, vlaiv said:

not necessarily related to HDD cloning

Exactly  and agree that "changing" hardware was poor pre Windows 7  but as you correctly point out (as did I) that's a O/S problem and not a cloning  problem ?

[han59]

If it is a desktop is it not easier to put a second hard disk inside for more disk space and copy/backup important files?  Making backup internally via SATA goes faster then using USB.

 

[spillage]

This one seems to work well for back up and cloning. Easeus.

[The Admiral]

26 minutes ago, spillage said:

This one seems to work well for back up and cloning. Easeus.

I'm planning on using that one too, to transfer my OS from a small SSD to a larger one. This looks a useful guide.

Ian