When upgrading the hard drive in your PC, the user has to completely reinstall the system and all software installed on the old hard drive. This procedure is very labor-intensive and lengthy and can easily take up an entire evening, or even more than one. But if the previous OS was fully functional and did not cause any complaints, it is much more convenient to clone the system partition of the old hard drive and deploy it on the new one. This operation will not take much time and will be performed with virtually no user intervention, and upon completion, he will receive a completely identical copy of his old system, but on a new hard drive.

A fairly large amount of specialized software is intended for these purposes, but we will look at how to clone a system partition using the example of the EASEUS Partition Manager 3.0 Home Edition utility, which is free for home use.

We connect a new hard drive, turn on the computer and launch EASEUS Partition Manager. Here we select the system partition and in the left panel Partition Operations click on Partition Copy.

In the appeared Assistant select the new hard drive and click Next.

At the next stage, we indicate the size of the new system partition and make sure that in the column Create As option selected Primary, then click Finish.

In the main window, click the button Apply. The program will prompt you to reboot to complete the scheduled operation.

After the restart, the EASEUS Partition Manager bootloader starts and copies the partition. When finished, the computer reboots and starts from the old system disk.

Again, launch EASEUS Partition Manager and create the necessary logical partitions on the free space of the new hard drive (select Unallocated and select the item Partition Operations → Create Partition, then press Apply).

We copy all the necessary information from the old hard drive to the new one.

In EASEUS Partition Manager, select a new system partition, select the menu item Partitions → Advanced → Set Active and press Apply.

We turn off the computer, disconnect the old hard drive and turn it on again - the system will boot from the new hard drive.

The main problem when changing a hard drive is the need to install and configure the operating system and programs from scratch. It takes a lot of time and effort.

The solution to the problem is automatic disk cloning (HDD, SSD) using special software.

Cloning is the process of sector-by-sector transfer of the operating system, software and personal files of the user from one disk to another. Unlike backing up or creating a disk image (ISO), cloning creates a 100% copy of the original media: the main partitions, structure and software are preserved.

The new cloned disk turns out almost identical to the old one. This means you don't have to re-configure your work environment, activate the system, or restore software licenses. The difference between it and the original media is that the operating system is removed from the binding to the computer hardware, but it also becomes impossible to roll back the system to its original settings while saving user data and reinstall it in update mode.

Preparing for cloning

Before you start cloning, make sure that nothing will interfere with the process:

• If you are using a laptop, charge the battery;
• Troubleshoot problems that cause your computer to reboot or shut down (if any).

It is also advisable to make backup copies of important data.

Connect the receiver disk via any available interface. The process will go faster if both media are connected to SATA 6 Gb or faster connectors, but if this is not possible, use, for example, USB (USB-SATA adapters are sold in computer stores).

Hard drive cloning time depends on the following factors:

• Program capabilities.
• Disk capacity. The larger it is, the longer the utility takes to transfer files, partitions and structure.
• Speed ​​and type of source and destination drive: When working with SSD (solid state media), the process is faster than with HDD (magnetic hard drives).

Cloning utilities

We present to your attention the best, in our opinion, utilities for cloning hard drives.

Renee Becca

Macrium Reflect

The main advantage of Macrium Reflect is its simple and user-friendly interface. The program is also free for home use.

While the utility is running, disable heavy applications, as the program is demanding on computer resources.

To make a clone of a storage medium, you need:

Handy Backup

Handy Backup is an easy-to-use program for creating physical and logical copies of disks. The utility creates an exact copy of the HDD while completely preserving its structure.

Cloning is performed automatically: you do not need to manually clean up garbage, transfer files, or fix registry errors.

To use this software permanently, you need to purchase a license. A 30-day trial is available for free. It is sufficient to perform basic functions. The interface has been translated into Russian.

How to use Handy Backup:

HDClone

HDClone is another universal hard drive cloning tool that allows you to work with drives with a capacity of 137 GB or more.

Acronis True Image

A special feature of Acronis True Image is that the copies created in it can be stored not only on your computer, but also in the Acronis Cloud cloud storage. When storing data in the cloud, a copy of the disk can be accessed from any device connected to the Internet. To protect data, the program uses AES-256 encryption.

To use all the features of the utility, you need to buy a subscription. The cost of the standard version is 1,700 rubles. There is a trial version for 30 days.

If you need to change disk settings, you can do this later using Acronis Disk Director 12.

6.2 Cloning a basic disk

This operation is available for basic MBR disks.

During a cloning operation, all data from the source disk is transferred to the target disk. Tom

The source disk can be cloned to the target disk one-to-one or resized

automatically based on the size of the target disk.

Cloning may be required in the following cases.

If you need to replace the old hard drive with a new one without installing it again on the new one

operating systems and applications on disk.

If you need to move all volumes and their contents from an existing disk to another,

larger disk.

If you need to create an exact copy of one disk on another disk.

Attention! When using an Acronis backup program such as Acronis True Image

Home, you should not clone a drive that contains the Startup Repair Tool (ASRM)

this product. Otherwise, the machine may not boot from the target disk.

How to clone a basic disk

1. Do one of the following:

Right-click on the underlying disk that you want to clone (i.e.

disk- source), then select the command Clone Basic Disk.

Choose an action Clone Basic Disk on the panel Actions. Program

will display a list of partitioned disks and prompt you to select the source disk,

all data from which will be transferred to another disk.

2. In the window Selecting the target disk for the cloning operation select the base disk,

which will targeted for the cloning operation. The program allows you to choose

Only drives that are large enough to accommodate all the data from

lossless source disc. If there is any data on the target disk,

warning that this data will be lost after cloning.

3. In the window Choosing a Cloning Method select the cloning method.

One to one- information is transferred from the source disk to the target disk without changes,

"One to one." Thus, if the target disk size is greater than or equal to the size

source disk, you can transfer all data exactly as it was

are stored on the source disk. When cloning to a larger target disk

the remaining space becomes unallocated.

Use proportional resizing of volumes(for supported

more or less than the original. The program will automatically increase or decrease

(if possible) size the volumes according to the target disk size. So

This way, there will be no unallocated space on the target disk.

A note on smaller target drives: The program determines whether the

The size of the destination disk to accommodate all the data from the source disk without loss. If so

moving with proportional resizing of partitions of the source disk is possible,

then the program will continue to work. If due to limited size it is impossible

safely transfer all data from the source drive to the target drive even if

Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2014

Hard drive cloning is a procedure for completely copying and transferring files contained on the HDD. This operation is mainly resorted to when replacing the source of information storage with a more capacious one.

Data cloning allows you to get a new hard drive that is completely identical to the previous one. The procedure can be carried out manually, but depending on the size of the storage medium, it may take several days. To speed up the process, you can use specialized programs that allow you to create an exact copy of your hard drive.

Programs for cloning a hard drive can be universal, which work with all types of media, or specialized (created to work with drives from a specific manufacturer). Among them are the following utilities for automatically copying information:

EASEUS Disk Copy

EASEUS is offered free of charge. The program clones the hdd by sector and works with any file system. EASEUS developers pay attention to the following advantages that their product has:

• the ability to clone the entire disk or its individual parts, including deleted, hidden and protected files;
• launch is carried out from a boot disk or flash drive;
• works with all operating systems;
• supports dynamic disks, Firewire, SAS, USB, SCSI and SATA l-ll;
• copies up to 1 TB of information;
• simple interface.

Among the main disadvantages of EASEUS are:

• not Russified, and therefore some users may have problems working with the program;
• When working with Windows, many adware programs are installed.

The latter is offset by the fact that there is no charge for using EASEUS Disk Copy.

Paragon Drive Backup Personal

What sets Paragon Drive Backup Personal apart is its ease of use. The program runs under Windows or from a boot disk. All actions performed during the process of creating a disk copy are constantly accompanied by pop-up tips. The main advantages of the program are as follows:

• several operating modes;
• supports all file systems and hard drives;
• provides the ability to copy individual files and entire sections;
• provides fast copying speed;
• Russified interface.

The program is available for a fee. You will have to pay $39.95 for the right to use it.

Macrium Reflect

Macrium Reflect not only clones data, but also creates images of individual partitions or disks, which, after restoring the system, can be embedded directly in Windows Explorer. Features of the program are as follows:

• copies the entire hard drive or individual files;
• does not require a system reboot after creating images;
• checks the identity of the received images;
• works at high speed;
• provides a high level of security for stored information through the use of multi-level encryption.

Among the disadvantages are:

• interface in English;
• Advertising products are installed along with the program.

Macrium Reflect is a completely free product.

FarStone RestolerIT Pro

The program is mainly used to recover user data lost in cases of system failure, computer failure and other situations. Essentially, Farstone RestolerIT Pro does not clone information, but creates backups, in this case a hard drive backup. The advantages of the product include:

• ability to configure the frequency of data saving;
• information is restored after pressing one button;
• data is restored even if the bootloader fails;
• depending on the selected mode, backs up all information or saves changed data;
• allows you to configure monitoring modes (the entire disk or its individual parts);
• saves the entire file modification history.

In addition to the fact that the program is unable to clone a disk, the developer requires a payment of $24.95 for its use.

Acronis True Image

Acronis True Image is one of the most popular products used for hard drive cloning today. The program is capable of copying information from various drives and file systems.

Acronis True Image supports most versions of Windows, including older editions. The user is asked to select several cloning modes: individual partitions, files or the entire disk. Acronis True Image has a number of significant features that determine the program’s popularity:

• loaded from a DVD or flash drive;
• is distinguished by its multifunctionality and high speed of operation;
• interface in Russian;
• ease of use due to intuitive settings;
• the product operates in manual or automatic modes;
• the user can specify what data needs to be copied;
• transfers any information, including hidden files.

Using Acronis True Image will cost 1,700 rubles.

Cloning example

As an example of how information is cloned from a hard drive, below is work with Acronis True Image. Although this product has an intuitive interface, you need to pay attention to the following terms:

1. Original hard drive. This term refers to the medium from which data is copied.
2. Target hard drive. Indicates the medium on which information is recorded.

To copy information using Acronis True Image, after launching the program and logging in to it, you need to perform a number of actions:

1. Select the “Tools” tab (located on the left side of the window). In the menu that appears, click on “Clone disk”.
2. The Disk Clone Wizard appears in the program window. Having selected automatic mode, you need to click on the “Next” button at the bottom of the screen.
3. The third step involves selecting the hard drive from which the information will be copied. It is important to note that the program names the media differently than “Explorer”.
4. In the next window, the program provides the opportunity to select the disk on which the information will be written. If any data is saved on the media, Acronis True Image will warn you about the possible loss of the latter after cloning is complete.
5. In the window that allows you to select a recovery method, it is recommended to leave the “Copy partitions without changes” checkbox.
6. If complete cloning of information is intended, then in the window that appears, you must click on the “Proceed” button. Otherwise, when you need to select specific files to copy, you should go to the "Exclude Files" menu (in the lower left corner). In it, you should select the data that is to be copied by placing the appropriate mark next to it.

After completing all actions, Acronis True Image prompts you to reboot the system. Before it is re-downloaded, the program will clone the information.

The next time you start the computer, the BIOS opens, in which you must select the priority for loading the operating system (from a hard drive or a cloned drive).

Copying information from HDD to SSD

Modern operating systems allow you to transfer information from a hard drive to faster SSDs. Before starting the process, you need to prepare the last drive, which will require you to perform a number of steps:

• Through the “Control Panel”, select the “Backup computer data” menu.
• Next, you need to click on “Create a system image”, specifying the new drive as the source for copying information.

The system will copy all data to the SSD in a few minutes. To avoid conflicts between pre-installed operating systems, it is recommended to remove it from your hard drive.

You can create a backup copy of information stored on your computer yourself. However, specialized programs (Acronis True Image, EASEUS Disk Copy and others) will perform this procedure faster and more efficiently, transferring even hidden files to the new drive. Cloning a hard drive allows you to eliminate in advance the possibility of losing information in the event of a computer failure, system damage, or hacker attacks.

Hard drive cloning is an operation that eliminates the hassle of installing Windows and software when transferring data to a new drive (SSD drive or regular hard drive). As part of this operation, the entire partition structure of the first hard drive, all the data on them, as well as a working activated Windows system with all settings and installed software are transferred to a second hard drive connected to the computer.

The hard drive cloning function is offered, in particular, by Acronis True Image data backup programs and Paragon Hard Disk Manager. All of them provide separate processes for transferring only Windows itself to another disk while maintaining its functionality, cloning individual non-system partitions, as well as cloning the entire disk with the ability to make changes to the partition structure of the clone hard disk.

A distinctive feature of Acronis True Image is the hard drive cloning function with the ability to exclude individual unnecessary files. We will look at this process in detail below - we will clone the hard drive using the Acronis True Image program, and during the cloning process we will exclude some data for transfer.

1. About Acronis True Image

True Image is a product from the master of the software market, Acronis, which offers, in particular, various solutions for disaster data recovery at a professional level. True Image is not only a panacea for all problems with Windows in the form of restoring it to the state from a once saved backup copy. The software package also contains a lot of other useful functions such as:

• bootable media and a utility implemented in system preboot mode for cases when Windows does not start;
• restoring Windows on a computer with other components;
• storing backups in Acronis cloud storage;
• system cleaning tool;
• Windows trial mode with the ability to cancel changes made;
• other useful utilities.

The current version of Acronis True Image 2016 can be purchased on the developer’s official website.

The program has a free 30-day trial version designed to familiarize users with most of the functionality of True Image. However, the hard drive cloning function is blocked in the trial version. For these purposes, you need a fully activated Acronis True Image 2016. This is exactly what will be used in our case.

2. Source and destination hard drive

To define hard drives, we will use the terminology of Acronis True Image itself. The hard drive from which the data and partition structure will be copied is the source hard drive. The disk that will become a clone of the original one is the target hard disk. In our case, the disk management utility, a standard Windows tool, will help you to clearly see the original picture of the disks. Quick access to it in system versions 8.1 and 10 is implemented in the context menu on the “Start” button. The universal way to launch it is to call the “Run” function (keys + R), enter the command diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.

In our case, two hard drives are connected to the computer. The original hard drive is marked by the system as Disk 0. This is a working hard drive with Windows and data on non-system partitions. The newly connected hard drive is displayed as Disk 1 in the utility; it will be the target, that is, it will become a clone of Disk 0.

Target Disk 1, as we see, has a partition structure and some stored data. When a hard drive is cloned, all information on the target drive, as well as its original partition structure, are destroyed. Therefore, if there is any important information on it, it must be transferred to the original hard drive or external storage device.

As a rule, the cloning process does not require even an approximate matching of disks in volume. The target hard drive can be of any size and any size smaller than the source one, as long as there is enough space to accommodate the data that actually takes up space on the source disk. And in the case of Acronis True Image, this is not even necessary due to the ability to exclude individual folders and files.

3. Cloning process

Once launched, True Image 2016 will prompt you to sign in to your Acronis cloud storage account. We can close the login window.

Directly in the program interface, in the side menu ribbon on the left, select the “Tools” tab section, and in it, select the “Clone disk” item.

And follow the step-by-step disk cloning wizard. We need a preset automatic cloning mode. Click “Next”.

Window for selecting the source hard drive: here we click with the mouse, respectively, on the drive from which the data will be transferred. The numbering of disks in True Image differs from the numbering of the standard Windows utility, therefore it is better to navigate the designation of disks by their size or model. Click “Next”.

Window for selecting the target hard drive: here we click on the drive to which we want to transfer the partition structure, Windows and other data. Click “Next”.

Since in our case the target hard drive is not a new disk with unallocated space, but a disk with structure and stored data, Acronis True Image promptly warns us about the danger of losing information. Everything you need has been saved, so we can safely press “Ok”.

Window for selecting a recovery method: here you need to leave the preset option for copying partitions unchanged. Click “Next”.

Summary window: here you can start starting the hard drive cloning process by clicking the “Proceed” button at the bottom if there is enough space on the target disk and there is no need to exclude individual files. Or, perhaps, there is plenty of space on the target disk, but you simply don’t want to transfer unnecessary data from the source disk to it, thereby increasing the duration of this process in time. To clone a hard drive not in full, in the data summary window, click the “Exclude files” button.

In the file exclusion menu we will see a tree structure of the contents of the source hard drive. You cannot exclude files and folders from the system partition C; we will only work with non-system ones. For example, in our case, we will exclude several video files on the second partition of drive E. The process of excluding files requires the completion of data processing, this will be indicated in the information line at the bottom of the window.

We will exclude the third partition of the source drive F from the cloning process entirely. After cloning as a partition, it will not cease to exist, but will be empty. Upon completion of all operations to exclude folders and files from the hard drive cloning process, we can begin to launch it. Click “Proceed.”

After the preparatory steps, Acronis True Image will ask you to reboot the system. The program will carry out the cloning process in Windows preload mode.

In preboot mode, in the Acronis True Image window you will see a preset option to turn off the computer after the cloning operation is completed. You can leave it on to get distracted by your own business, and then, when you turn on the computer, go straight to the BIOS and set the boot priority from the target hard drive.

Cloning is complete, we can boot from the target hard drive.

4. Working with target hard drive space after cloning

Having booted from the target hard drive and got into the Windows system, the first thing we will do is look at the partition structure. Launch the standard disk management utility. Since the target disk now comes first in the computer's boot priority, Windows identifies it as Disk 0. The latter has become a clone of Disk 1, once the original, with the same partition structure and proportionally allocated space, according to the structure of the original hard drive.

When excluding files, we completely removed all data from the third partition of the original hard drive. This partition now appears on the source disk as partition I and still contains data. Its clone on the target disk - now partition F - is, as expected, empty.

You can use it either to store data or attach its space to any other partition. For these purposes, there are software disk managers Disk Director from the same company Acronis, the no less effective Paragon Hard Disk Manager, free, or their analogues. You can resort to them if you already have experience working with this kind of software. Moreover, True Image 2016 provides the ability to simultaneously redistribute the target disk space during the cloning process. To do this, at the first stage of the cloning wizard, you must select not the automatic mode, but the manual one.

Naturally, such a move will complicate the operation and increase the chances of beginners making mistakes. In our case, the operation was already burdened with the work of excluding individual files, so we will entrust some simple operations to form the partition structure of the clone hard drive to the lite version of the disk manager - the standard Windows utility.

The disk management utility has a minimum of functionality and does not provide for overwriting hard disk sectors in order to combine partitions or borrow part of their volume from some for others. However, operations to expand partitions using the free space of adjacent partitions on the right can be carried out without overwriting data.

Let's add, for example, the space of the empty third partition of the target hard drive to its neighbor - the second non-system partition. To do this, the third section F must be deleted. In the utility window, click on it, call up the context menu and select “Delete Volume”. We confirm the action.

The third partition now appears as unallocated space.

Call the context menu on the adjacent partition E and select “Extend volume...”.

We follow the volume expansion wizard and give the second partition all the available space.

Now there are only two partitions on the target hard drive - the system partition and the enlarged non-system partition.

Using the same scheme, you can do it differently, leaving a third partition for storing data. You need to transfer the necessary files from the second partition to it, and delete the second partition. Using its unallocated space, you can then expand the system partition C.

Have a great day!