# How to Clone a Hard Drive Discussion



## johnb35

This has nothing to do with your guide but you said you had a hdd failiure and you cloned it correct?  Depending on what you mean my failure, I sure wouldn't be cloning it.  You would be transferring any issues from the old drive to the new drive possibly.


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## spynoodle

johnb35 said:


> This has nothing to do with your guide but you said you had a hdd failiure and you cloned it correct?  Depending on what you mean my failure, I sure wouldn't be cloning it.  You would be transferring any issues from the old drive to the new drive possibly.


It wasn't quite a full-blown failure, but just a bad sector and some blue screens and system issues to go along with it. I'll edit that out.


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## spynoodle

kesto2011 said:


> Hello!!!!
> 
> Thanks for posting ....its really helpful!!!!


No prob! Glad you liked it!


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## kobaj

It is a nice guide but I would edit a few things.

First I would put in a section on testing your hard drive. No point on cloning it if the drive's errors are with the bits and not the physical device. As johnb35 said, that would just transfer all the issues to the new drive. Unless of course the person just wanted a duplicate of all his data. Then a test is pretty much unnecessary.

Basically, Every Manufacturer has their own HDD tests that you can burn to CDs. Boot up into the test, run extended, and if /that/ fails with something like sector read error, THEN clone. If it tests fine, the data is bunk, and a clone is unnecessary and the drive is fine. However, it should be noted, most manufacturers also include sector repair software tools with their tests.

THEN run a clone with Clonezilla. 

However, the SATA to PATA thing is rubbish, I've cloned probably a good 100 drives in the last month or so for work, and I know a lot of them were SATA to PATA. You just have to run the right tools/clone software ;D.


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## spynoodle

kobaj said:


> It is a nice guide but I would edit a few things.
> 
> First I would put in a section on testing your hard drive. No point on cloning it if the drive's errors are with the bits and not the physical device. As johnb35 said, that would just transfer all the issues to the new drive. Unless of course the person just wanted a duplicate of all his data. Then a test is pretty much unnecessary.
> 
> Basically, Every Manufacturer has their own HDD tests that you can burn to CDs. Boot up into the test, run extended, and if /that/ fails with something like sector read error, THEN clone. If it tests fine, the data is bunk, and a clone is unnecessary and the drive is fine. However, it should be noted, most manufacturers also include sector repair software tools with their tests.
> 
> THEN run a clone with Clonezilla.
> 
> However, the SATA to PATA thing is rubbish, I've cloned probably a good 100 drives in the last month or so for work, and I know a lot of them were SATA to PATA. You just have to run the right tools/clone software ;D.


Thanks for the advice! I do have a small section in the FAQ about running chkdsk in Windows, but I'll add another Q about testing the drive.  I'll also edit out the SATA to PATA part a bit.


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## bojones

*replacing HD*

I have an seven year old compaq presario S6010V.  My 40 gb HD is failing and I want to replace it. 

I need help with what type of HD to buy and where to buy one. 
I plan to restore the  system image from an external HD that was put there with Acronis.


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## johnb35

bojones said:


> I have an seven year old compaq presario S6010V.  My 40 gb HD is failing and I want to replace it.
> 
> I need help with what type of HD to buy and where to buy one.
> I plan to restore the  system image from an external HD that was put there with Acronis.



Take the drive out and take it to your local computer shop, best buy, fry's, tiger direct/compusa and tell them you need another drive just like it but bigger.  

Does it have the wide flat ribbon cable attached to it or the thin cable?

Let me know what the end of the drive looks like.

picture 1 






picture 2


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## mrgcat

a good hard drive cloning tool is hd clone. I have used the free version, very well and it works very well.

Hope i helped


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## spynoodle

mrgcat said:


> a good hard drive cloning tool is hd clone. I have used the free version, very well and it works very well.
> 
> Hope i helped


Thanks for the suggestion! It seems like the free version of that program, though, doesn't support certain features, such as the cloning of SCSI drives. This might prove to be a problem for some users. Thanks for the option, though!


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## bojones

Thanks johnb35.
Will get back to you as soon as I get a chance to look at the cable.


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## bojones

I would say my HDD loks like your picture #2.

Sorry about the delay in getting back to you..


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## thoudini

Hi thwew thanks for the guide. 
Once I cloned my old hard drive onto my new one using 'Clonezilla', all my files went on the new hard drive successfully *but *, once I plugged it in; I realised the hard drive wasn't bootable as there was no operating system on it. The computer told me to insert the Windows 7 Home Premium CD. 

Is there any way I could repeat the cloning process with a program that allows the new hard drive to be bootable too? Because I think I'm going to have to resort to pirating a Windows 7 ISO and then using my product key for it (which isn't illegal, as I have my licensed product key, right?).


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## spynoodle

thoudini said:


> Hi thwew thanks for the guide.
> Once I cloned my old hard drive onto my new one using 'Clonezilla', all my files went on the new hard drive successfully *but *, once I plugged it in; I realised the hard drive wasn't bootable as there was no operating system on it. The computer told me to insert the Windows 7 Home Premium CD.
> 
> Is there any way I could repeat the cloning process with a program that allows the new hard drive to be bootable too? Because I think I'm going to have to resort to pirating a Windows 7 ISO and then using my product key for it (which isn't illegal, as I have my licensed product key, right?).


Hmm, that's strange. Are you doing a full drive clone, rather than partition-to-partition? Also, are you using the cloned drive on the same computer as the original? If so, then you might want to try re-cloning. If it still doesn't work, then try running an error scan on the original drive, as explained in the bottom of the guide.


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## Twinbird24

Great guide, Thanks!


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## datarecoverydude

Nortan Ghost is a nice easy way to clone a drives data from a boot CD. If your drives on the way out or slowing down you dont want to spend ages imaging unused space.


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## soybean

Why did the guide not mention other cloning software such as ****** Todo Backup Free or Macrium Reflect or a paid version of Acronis TrueImage.  Also, some of the hard drive makers provide a free version of Acronis TrueImage designed to clone where the drives involved are their brand.

Umm, why is the brand name for ****** Todo Backup Free censored out?  LOL


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## spynoodle

datarecoverydude said:


> Nortan Ghost is a nice easy way to clone a drives data from a boot CD. If your drives on the way out or slowing down you dont want to spend ages imaging unused space.


I just don't really use paid software when it's not necessary. Since Clonezilla is free and platform-intepedent, it's become my personal preference.


soybean said:


> Why did the guide not mention other cloning software such as ****** Todo Backup Free or Macrium Reflect or a paid version of Acronis TrueImage.  Also, some of the hard drive makers provide a free version of Acronis TrueImage designed to clone where the drives involved are their brand.
> 
> Umm, why is the brand name for ****** Todo Backup Free censored out?  LOL


Well, I personally like the fact that Clonezilla is open-source. Also, as I said above, it's platform-independent. This lets me use it on any OS.


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## djarvis1one

"-An IDE/SATA cable, depending on your type of drive. Make sure that you can plug two drives into your cord. It is also possible to clone an IDE drive to a SATA drive, or vice versa."

What exactly did you mean by this statement? Is there a SATA cable that can support two drives at once or do you mean a ribbon cable for an IDE drive?


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## Dngrsone

SATA are designed to be one device, one channel.  I believe the poster was referring to IDE ribbon cables, where you can have two drives connected.

I will second the HDClone recommendation; I have used it several times to 'upgrade' laptop hard drives.  With the "Basic" package (about $25 US when I bought it), you can clone IDE to SATA or move individual partitions.


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## spynoodle

djarvis1one said:


> "-An IDE/SATA cable, depending on your type of drive. Make sure that you can plug two drives into your cord. It is also possible to clone an IDE drive to a SATA drive, or vice versa."
> 
> What exactly did you mean by this statement? Is there a SATA cable that can support two drives at once or do you mean a ribbon cable for an IDE drive?


I see what you mean. I meant it just for IDE cables, but I guess I should of worded it better. 


Dngrsone said:


> I will second the HDClone recommendation; I have used it several times to 'upgrade' laptop hard drives.  With the "Basic" package (about $25 US when I bought it), you can clone IDE to SATA or move individual partitions.


It sounds like this HDClone program is really nice, although I still couldn't see paying for a program that you could get an alternative to for free.


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## Dngrsone

spynoodle said:


> It sounds like this HDClone program is really nice, although I still couldn't see paying for a program that you could get an alternative to for free.



Speed is an important consideration.  I used the free version of HDClone several times, but it took half a day to clone a drive.  $25 was well worth the price for an interface I was already used to and the ability to clone the same drive in less than two hours.


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## spynoodle

Dngrsone said:


> Speed is an important consideration.  I used the free version of HDClone several times, but it took half a day to clone a drive.  $25 was well worth the price for an interface I was already used to and the ability to clone the same drive in less than two hours.


Yeah, but Clonezilla always clones at the maximum transfer rate between your drives. I don't really see a reason to have to pay for HDClone.


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## Dngrsone

spynoodle said:


> Yeah, but Clonezilla always clones at the maximum transfer rate between your drives. I don't really see a reason to have to pay for HDClone.



You don't have to.


Fact is, I was unaware of clonezilla at the time I needed the tool.  I found HDCLone, and that's what I use.

Maybe next time I will try clonezilla.  Maybe not-- I need to get my $25 worth, no?


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## spynoodle

Dngrsone said:


> You don't have to.
> 
> 
> Fact is, I was unaware of clonezilla at the time I needed the tool.  I found HDCLone, and that's what I use.
> 
> Maybe next time I will try clonezilla.  Maybe not-- I need to get my $25 worth, no?


True. If you already payed for it, then heck, why not?


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## Thanatos

I'll definitely be using this in the future to move all my files over from my outdated IDE drive to a SATA drive. Thank you!!!


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## spynoodle

Thanatos said:


> I'll definitely be using this in the future to move all my files over from my outdated IDE drive to a SATA drive. Thank you!!!


Nice to hear, thanks.


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## piem

to clone hdd, i am using "hieren's CD", i have done this way many times and always success...


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## demonikal

Can you clone a hard disk drive to a USB drive?

The reason I ask is that I'm going to give my laptop away and get a newer one. Since Dell includes Windows 8 on their drives these days, I thought I'd clone the drive to another drive to use in the future if need be (the person I'm giving this to is going to put a different operating system on, so I'll deactivate Win 8 before giving it to them). 

I have the USB to SATA drive cord and the power cord, but I just thought that it might be possible with Macrium Reflect to clone a HDD to a USB drive, as long as the USB drive is big enough.


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## johnb35

Nope, that won't work.  You still can't use windows that was installed on a different machine in a new one.  Different hardware and plus the activation key won't work.


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## demonikal

Okay, I didn't know. I also didn't know it was basically a crime. I thought as long as you didn't try to use one Windows product for multiple machines at the same time, it was no big deal. Although I've never done it, I simply thought it wasn't illegal.


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## johnb35

On an OEM machine, you will always have issues like this.  If you try to boot a hard drive that was originally in an HP laptop that is now in an Asus laptop, the system will recognize its in a different machine and will blue screen or boot loop because of hardware differences.  Also even in the odd chance that it does boot to windows then it checks the activation key and knows that its running on different hardware now and not using an HP motherboard so it won't even reactivate. 

I never said it was illegal, though it is to run an OS without a valid activation key. You have never been able to do this and have the system work properly.  Windows would need to be reinstalled fresh on new hardware/system.


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## JaredDM

While the guide isn't bad all in all, for drives with bad sectors you should really consider using ddrescue in linux.  It's much better than clonezilla at reading around bad sectors without killing the drive completely.


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