In this article, we are going to show you how to clone a hard drive. In this way, if you are going to change the disk where you have the operating system installed on your computer, you will not have to reinstall everything from the beginning; You can clone everything so that when you start the computer, it is just as you had it with the previous disk.
Most of the tools will ask you to have your disk down to configure cloning. That is why we will use an application called Partition Assistant because it allows you to configure the cloning of the hard drive directly from Windows. Then it takes care of restarting the computer and automatically executing everything necessary at startup to proceed with copying data.
The process to Clone a Hard Drive
- Before starting with the cloning, you will have to download Partition Assistant; This is done by pressing the green Download Freeware button, which will take you to a download page where you can download the file from the servers of the official website.
- Once you open the application, you will see that it has two columns; one full of options and information about your hard drives. In the right column, click on “Disk Copy” to start the process of cloning one of your computer’s hard drives.
- You will immediately see a pop-up menu with two options. Here it will be enough to make a quick copy since there is no need to copy the unused sectors of your old hard drive. Therefore, click on the “Quick disk copy” option to leave it selected, and then click on the “Next” button to proceed.
- In the next step, you have to choose the hard drive you want to copy, normally called “C” when you are using Windows. Go selecting your discs until one of the two shows you at the top of the window that it is “C,” then press the “Next” button.
- Next, you must choose the hard drive in which you want to make a copy of the previous one, the one you want to use instead of the one you will clone. You will see that there is a Model section with the disk manufacturer in the list of connected disks that should help you identify the new one you are going to use. Once selected, click “Next.”
- Then, it would help if you pressed “Yes” in a window in which you are informed that the data on the disk where you are going to make the copy will be erased; you will go to a window where you can make the changes you want so that it is not an exact copy. If you’re going to clone the disk as you have it in the main one, press “Copy,” without resizing partitions, and click the “Next” button to continue.
Last Steps for the Cloning Process
- At this point, you will reach a final window in which you will be told that everything is ready for you to apply the changes; and you will be informed in a note that some copies may not work, and the new disc may not start properly. All you have to do in this window is press the “Finish” button.
- You will return to the main window of the application, and you will only have to apply the changes you have configured. For that, once the previous process is finished, press the “Apply” button that you have on the top left, and your computer will surely restart to start from the copy program. Please do not touch anything while the cloning is in progress, as when it is done, it will reboot itself.
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