Good to know about, Theo! I myself use Breevy (an app available in Windows [at least]), along with my Corsair iCue software, & I've never thought about using the F13-F24 keys for any of my available 18 macro keys. & I TOTALLY understand/get your reference when talking about having to make sure that a key-combo/key-bind ISN'T already in use with a particular application. Great work on this video!
AOMI doesn't clone a drive in Windows Server unless you pay for it, and that cost $1,000 for a permanent server license. That's even more than I paid for the OS itself. So, AOMI is a good example of what this guy is talking about. I don't mind paying, but to gouge that deep is wrong.
There are lots of clone software that you can get when you purchase a drive from specific OEMS. The OEMS make the software available on their websites.
Thanks Brian because I have been thinking of cloning my 500GB NMVe drive to a 1TB one via a USB external drive enclosure. Now I am guessing that the new drive will have to be pre-formatted and I am wondering what file system I should format the new drive to FAT or NTFS?? Having said that this is a great tutorial as I have never ever had any luck with Macrium anyway and am currently using AOMEI software for backup and other stuff but again am not sure of how effective that is either.
FWIW, Everything (from voidtools) works far better on NTFS than FAT. I've never had any trouble using Macrium (5 and 6, both booted from a mini-CD) for imaging (and restoring). [I thnk you need 6 or 7 for recent versions of Windows 10.]
I found the Samsung tool that they recommend with their NVME drives worked well and was easy to use. I used it to clone an old solid state drive to my new m.2 drive.
I used Disk Genius to clone (use System Migration not copy files) from the SSD drive from my PC to a bigger one. No issues at all, though I did have to change the boot order in BIOS to boot from the new drive after installing it. I also used it to to the same, but from a platter to an SSD for a friends PC - no issues at all (apart from the idiotic Microsoft Bitlocker on his PC).
I have managed to do this by first crating a ghost image of the source partition and then restoring it to the target partition. In any case I do this using a Bootable Symantec Ghost image. I may have to just resize it using the Winn 10 built in function.
Still using macrium 8 PE free version. Couldn't find alternative that can backup and restore Linux and windows multiboot without any issues. Tried rescuezilla which worked fine on newer PC but on older PC it got stuck half way, black screen and someone's refuses to boot. Will look to upgrade to new paid macrium if current one stops working altogether
I have modded consoles and would like to ensure the sd cards with the cfw installed can be backed up as a complete clone so if my original becomes corrupted i can pop in another. Will this work for that? Mostly concerned about my ps vita and wii u
Of your three shown, did you find one to be preferred over the others? I am still using Macrium FREE that still works as I refuse the program "updates", which I am sure will deactivate the ability to use it free going forward.
It will still work. It won't receive any security updates. The mostly likely problem will be new versions of Windows (for those still using Windows) It may not work as Windows updates to higher versions.
Rescuezilla uses Clonezilla but includes some extra tools along with it that I find useful such as gparted and chntpw. This for me makes it a more useful tool in more situations.
I love it and I've done it this way in the past. Still, Rescuezilla has some useful options available packaged in a nice way but will still drop to 'dd' in some cases to get the job done quickly. And it includes gparted.
I use only Rescuezilla because it 100% platform independent, nothing ever gets installed, and it is opensource so you know there is no telemetry at all. None of the other suggestions in this video can claim that.
I've used RescueZilla to move a system from a 1TB drive to a 128GB parition on an SSD. Obviously the 1TB drive wasn't full but you could still do this if lots of the data you have would live happily on another drive, e.g. your video collection. I wouldn't use anything else because I understand and trust the tools that RescueZilla uses to get the job done. Who knows what those other things do.
You'll need several DVDs though: a single-layer one is about 4.7G. (I clone to an external HD, and only my C: partition and any hidden ones. For my D:, where I keep most of my data, I use more conventional copying software [I use FreeFileSync, but there are many such].)
Hirens was awesome, when I used it in the early to mid-201x using Norton Ghost on Vista, and Win7 machines. Hirens 15 will boot my server, but it can't read my NTFS partitions.
How come nobody ever mentions the option to clone to a smaller drive? A few times I did it for people who for exemple wanted to clone a 500Gb mechanical drive to a 250 Gb SSD. Most softwares won't allow it (I use Acronis but it's not free)
It's not mentioned because it is not always a one click and done operation. I've done it with RescueZilla but you need to resize and maybe move the source partitions first to fit everything within the space available on the target disk. This takes some understanding of disk partitioning and disk management tools. But once this is done it's plain sailing.
@@dingokidneys Did it quite a few times with Lazesoft, no resizing, no moving partition. As long as there is not more data than the new drive can take, just point and shoot.
@@Britec09 Just because the free version isn't getting any more security updates doesn't mean you can't still use it. You can still easily find mirrors of the installer, and until Macrium Free stops running on newer versions of Windows, it's still a viable option.
I don't need third party software to clone a drive. I used this method a couple of weeks ago when doing it from a 2TB to a 4TB. I only used windows to clone drives.
I used AOMEI Backupper to change recovery partition size to over 1G it worked on a new build to get to Win 11 and a Dell workstation that would not go to next Win 10 update this spring worked very well.Brian has a video on his channel of how to fix error.
@@hughluttrell6350 If we don't perform this upgrade manually will Microsoft eventually release a patch that will allow this to work, also: can you instruct me on why bitlocker is preventing the windows recovery environment from being enabled, I only noticed this after the issues with windows updates but it only happens on a bitlocker system
I remember that. My laptop at work had that problem, and all the Microsoft support page instructions did was cause me to disable my backup partition. The laptop gets backed up and externally imaged fairly regularly. So, I didn't worry about it too much. The Windows client backup in Control Panel seems to actually work properly.
Thank you for Sharing! 💯✴ Nothing is free in this life. If it’s not costing money, it’s costing something else. If you got it for free! someone paid for it. Nothing is free. Everything has to be paid for. Usually your private credential to third-party seller.
Third time trying to reply. This time, I'm not going to try to include the link. Just Google Microsoft SysInternals Disk2VHD. This should work for you.
I thought clonzilla would've made this list. Too bad the dd command or Gnome disks isn't available on windows. However, dd clones entire disks or partitions, including free space which I don't like.
Rescuezilla uses Clonezilla and gives it a GUI frontend. Rescuezilla also incorporates a bunch of other useful tools such as gparted and chntpw. It also uses 'dd' when the situation and the user call for it but it is more flexible than dd, i.e it will copy only the used data if the disk image can be restored from that.
That's highly unlikely to work if your drive dies and you put the "new" drive you copied everything to in its place, which is what most people here are guarding against; that hasn't really worked since about Windows 9x or earlier. (Try it and see.) If you're only thinking about data backup, then a cloning/imaging tool isn't the right thing to use - it'll do the job, but other things (like FreeFileSync) are much quicker (after the first time, anyway).
hey man can u help my game fps drop when my laptop wake up from sleep mode and i dont know how to fix it and i have to restart my laptop to fix it and its getting annoying plz reply :(
Great video. Is there any news with KB444 update I have multiple systems and non of them can update to that security patch (second comment to get noticed easier) thanks.
These look great but … have the authors/publishers been vetted? These apps are in a great position to send an entire disk to a malicious actor or maybe even the entire darknet.
Rescuezilla is free and open source as is Clonezilla on which it is based. They can be relied on to do nothing but what you ask of them. As for the others, you'd soon notice if they were sending gigabytes of data off somewhere, possibly by your router melting down. Full disk images are not very interesting to malicious actors as they contain so much uninteresting data - i.e. your whole OS and installed software. It's not a zero possibility that they could do something nefarious but there are better more efficient tools that can be delivered by more effective means.
You can also use EASEUS DISK COPY bit.ly/45PQI0g to easily clone disk
Good to know about, Theo! I myself use Breevy (an app available in Windows [at least]), along with my Corsair iCue software, & I've never thought about using the F13-F24 keys for any of my available 18 macro keys. & I TOTALLY understand/get your reference when talking about having to make sure that a key-combo/key-bind ISN'T already in use with a particular application.
Great work on this video!
Hasleo looks supper easy to use, never heard of some of these. Good to see more options
Very good software
Saw this video the same day I got my external ssd reader! Very convenient!
Good to hear!
Thanks for Keeping us Up To Date!
You bet!
You always make very useful and good videos. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Brian, this is the best YT channel for all things windose. great work
Thanks 👍
I have used AOMEI Backupper for years. Never a problem.
I use this too, straightforward and reliable.
AOMI doesn't clone a drive in Windows Server unless you pay for it, and that cost $1,000 for a permanent server license. That's even more than I paid for the OS itself. So, AOMI is a good example of what this guy is talking about. I don't mind paying, but to gouge that deep is wrong.
@@frankwalder3608
The subject is PC Cloning Software, not Windows Servers.
I downloaded AOMEI but they're asking for $40
@@kevinquattlebaum5422 Make sure you got the free version, check on their website.
Thanks for the options, I did not know Micrium wasn't available as free for home use anymore.
End of life, got to pay now
I didn’t know that either. I’m glad I still have the USB bootable. I’m not sure what version it is…I’ve used it for several years.
Learned it a few days ago myself. Disappointed.But luckily there are alternatives, so all is good.
That's odd because I restored a drive only yesterday and did a System Backup today, just 4 hours ago, both times with the free version.
@@davidbarton5974 Had you already downloaded it at a previous date? I have an older version I updated earlier this year that worked.
I wish I knew of your channel when I was still on windows. I love tweaking stuff on computers and OSs.
You can still watch
Many thanks for the great content. Where will we be without Brian and Britec. 👌👍💪
I like Disk Genius. Years ago, I used Norton Ghost, but that's because I'm old!
Oh come on you're not old.
You are always on point. Thank you
You are so welcome
Nice. Thanks, Brian.
You're welcome!
Never heard of Hasleo. Thanks!!
Welcome
There are lots of clone software that you can get when you purchase a drive from specific OEMS. The OEMS make the software available on their websites.
I was going to say the same thing. Most have some form of clone option (some better than others), so always check the drive manufacturers site too.
@@peterschmidt9942 Indeed
Excellent thanks
You are welcome
Diskgenius is the best no issue when I upgrade my nvme.
Thanks Brian because I have been thinking of cloning my 500GB NMVe drive to a 1TB one via a USB external drive enclosure. Now I am guessing that the new drive will have to be pre-formatted and I am wondering what file system I should format the new drive to FAT or NTFS?? Having said that this is a great tutorial as I have never ever had any luck with Macrium anyway and am currently using AOMEI software for backup and other stuff but again am not sure of how effective that is either.
FWIW, Everything (from voidtools) works far better on NTFS than FAT.
I've never had any trouble using Macrium (5 and 6, both booted from a mini-CD) for imaging (and restoring). [I thnk you need 6 or 7 for recent versions of Windows 10.]
Thanks.
:)
I found the Samsung tool that they recommend with their NVME drives worked well and was easy to use. I used it to clone an old solid state drive to my new m.2 drive.
Samsung too only works with Samsung drives
@@Britec09 My old drive was not a Samsung. It worked to clone that drive to the new Samsung drive, which was all I needed.
Samsung tool used to be good but it stopped cloning boot drives.
@@ryanzmuda3167 right, did not work for me even both drives samsung
I used Disk Genius to clone (use System Migration not copy files) from the SSD drive from my PC to a bigger one. No issues at all, though I did have to change the boot order in BIOS to boot from the new drive after installing it. I also used it to to the same, but from a platter to an SSD for a friends PC - no issues at all (apart from the idiotic Microsoft Bitlocker on his PC).
I have managed to do this by first crating a ghost image of the source partition and then restoring it to the target partition. In any case I do this using a Bootable Symantec Ghost image. I may have to just resize it using the Winn 10 built in function.
can you use these to clone drives onto a NAS?
Still using macrium 8 PE free version. Couldn't find alternative that can backup and restore Linux and windows multiboot without any issues. Tried rescuezilla which worked fine on newer PC but on older PC it got stuck half way, black screen and someone's refuses to boot. Will look to upgrade to new paid macrium if current one stops working altogether
I use Acronis Pro 2021.
I have modded consoles and would like to ensure the sd cards with the cfw installed can be backed up as a complete clone so if my original becomes corrupted i can pop in another. Will this work for that? Mostly concerned about my ps vita and wii u
Solid.
Thanks
Of your three shown, did you find one to be preferred over the others? I am still using Macrium FREE that still works as I refuse the program "updates", which I am sure will deactivate the ability to use it free going forward.
It will still work. It won't receive any security updates. The mostly likely problem will be new versions of Windows (for those still using Windows) It may not work as Windows updates to higher versions.
i use Minitool Partition Wizard
i will give Disk Genius a try
Minitool is the best
I’ve had great success with an older program, but my HP systems always flag it as a virus.
Can you do a video on how to delete a Windows 11 recovery partition from an hard drive
What about Clonezilla? Not used it for a while but seems to be compatible with GPT partitions as well as UEFI.
Clonezilla is a spectacular failure, which not only scrambled the data on my backup, but rendered the original boot drive corrupted!
Rescuezilla uses Clonezilla but includes some extra tools along with it that I find useful such as gparted and chntpw. This for me makes it a more useful tool in more situations.
I use Macrium Reflect.
So if I'm cloning my OS drive (SSD) to a new M.2 Nvme drive, I'm assuming I have to select "bootable". Is that right?
No need...if you're cloning the entire drive then all the necessary boot partitions and files will copy to, then it will boot as normal when complete.
@@AndyM...thanks!
dd to clone a disk, gparted to adjust partitions on the clone. If linux is not installed, boot from a live linux usb stick.
I love it and I've done it this way in the past. Still, Rescuezilla has some useful options available packaged in a nice way but will still drop to 'dd' in some cases to get the job done quickly. And it includes gparted.
I use only Rescuezilla because it 100% platform independent, nothing ever gets installed, and it is opensource so you know there is no telemetry at all. None of the other suggestions in this video can claim that.
I've used RescueZilla to move a system from a 1TB drive to a 128GB parition on an SSD. Obviously the 1TB drive wasn't full but you could still do this if lots of the data you have would live happily on another drive, e.g. your video collection. I wouldn't use anything else because I understand and trust the tools that RescueZilla uses to get the job done. Who knows what those other things do.
What happened to macrium reflex ? My favourite choice
Apparently it’s still available…just not free.
@@tonyd3276 Cheers
Do you know of any software that I can use to Clone a Drive to an Image on a DVD for permanent System Backup Image?
Active@ Boot Disk from Lsoft.
They also have a package containing 12 very handy disk tools.
Active@ Data Studio
You'll need several DVDs though: a single-layer one is about 4.7G. (I clone to an external HD, and only my C: partition and any hidden ones. For my D:, where I keep most of my data, I use more conventional copying software [I use FreeFileSync, but there are many such].)
Real estate is cheap these days. You spend less on just getting SATA drives with a USB adapter.
I prefer *EaseUS Disk Copy.* It's worth the price! Disk Genius is to cumbersome!
These are FREE options
@@Britec09 Yes, I know.
Did the pay version allow you to clone a disk?
@@frankwalder3608 - That's why I chose it. Works perfectly, and doesn't need all those steps that Disk Genius as for.
I usually use them from a boot cd if I can. Still can use hires.
(I think hirens has an n in it.) Me too - I always run my imaging software (Macrium) from a bootable CD.
Hirens was awesome, when I used it in the early to mid-201x using Norton Ghost on Vista, and Win7 machines. Hirens 15 will boot my server, but it can't read my NTFS partitions.
@@frankwalder3608 did you try the latest version. What does it say on your ntfs
How come nobody ever mentions the option to clone to a smaller drive? A few times I did it for people who for exemple wanted to clone a 500Gb mechanical drive to a 250 Gb SSD. Most softwares won't allow it (I use Acronis but it's not free)
It's not mentioned because it is not always a one click and done operation. I've done it with RescueZilla but you need to resize and maybe move the source partitions first to fit everything within the space available on the target disk. This takes some understanding of disk partitioning and disk management tools. But once this is done it's plain sailing.
@@dingokidneys Did it quite a few times with Lazesoft, no resizing, no moving partition. As long as there is not more data than the new drive can take, just point and shoot.
I want to image the drive for backup and restore, not clone the drive. Are there free tools for that?
Yes Hasleo
@@Britec09 thank you
i use acronis free version disc copy software
I used macrium. But after migrating my computer keeps crashing, so i had to clean install again
macrium free is not supported anymore
@@Britec09 Not supported, or not available at all?
@@Britec09 Just because the free version isn't getting any more security updates doesn't mean you can't still use it. You can still easily find mirrors of the installer, and until Macrium Free stops running on newer versions of Windows, it's still a viable option.
I don't need third party software to clone a drive. I used this method a couple of weeks ago when doing it from a 2TB to a 4TB. I only used windows to clone drives.
What method??
Great video. Is there any news with KB444 update I have multiple systems and non of them can update to that security patch
I used AOMEI Backupper to change recovery partition size to over 1G it worked on a new build to get to Win 11 and a Dell workstation that would not go to next Win 10 update this spring worked very well.Brian has a video on his channel of how to fix error.
@@hughluttrell6350 If we don't perform this upgrade manually will Microsoft eventually release a patch that will allow this to work, also: can you instruct me on why bitlocker is preventing the windows recovery environment from being enabled, I only noticed this after the issues with windows updates but it only happens on a bitlocker system
@@hughluttrell6350 I replied to your comment but it deleted it. I can't believe I took the time to type out all of that just for it to get removed
I remember that. My laptop at work had that problem, and all the Microsoft support page instructions did was cause me to disable my backup partition. The laptop gets backed up and externally imaged fairly regularly. So, I didn't worry about it too much. The Windows client backup in Control Panel seems to actually work properly.
@@frankwalder3608 It's still happening now. Does this mean there is a cyberattack happening at Microsoft?
REDO..or Aomie
Thank you for Sharing! 💯✴
Nothing is free in this life.
If it’s not costing money, it’s costing something else.
If you got it for free! someone paid for it.
Nothing is free. Everything has to be paid for.
Usually your private credential to third-party seller.
I don't mind paying for software, but some of the prices I have seen are excessive.
Rescuezilla is free; both free as in freedom and free as in beer. Created and maintained by volunteers.
I love Aomie… I paid about $90 for a 5 device license. I could not be happier….
Then there was Aomei
Just in time. My drive is dying! havent watched the whole video. can i clone it to vhd?
Check some of the settings, might be able to
Third time trying to reply. This time, I'm not going to try to include the link. Just Google Microsoft SysInternals Disk2VHD. This should work for you.
I thought clonzilla would've made this list.
Too bad the dd command or Gnome disks isn't available on windows. However, dd clones entire disks or partitions, including free space which I don't like.
clonzilla is nice
Rescuezilla uses Clonezilla and gives it a GUI frontend. Rescuezilla also incorporates a bunch of other useful tools such as gparted and chntpw. It also uses 'dd' when the situation and the user call for it but it is more flexible than dd, i.e it will copy only the used data if the disk image can be restored from that.
I just do select all drag and drop to new drive.
That’s not a clone
That's highly unlikely to work if your drive dies and you put the "new" drive you copied everything to in its place, which is what most people here are guarding against; that hasn't really worked since about Windows 9x or earlier. (Try it and see.) If you're only thinking about data backup, then a cloning/imaging tool isn't the right thing to use - it'll do the job, but other things (like FreeFileSync) are much quicker (after the first time, anyway).
Why do you copy all of the drive to 114gb why not just leave it to only use the 58gb?
hey man can u help my game fps drop when my laptop wake up from sleep mode and i dont know how to fix it and i have to restart my laptop to fix it and its getting annoying plz reply :(
Great video. Is there any news with KB444 update I have multiple systems and non of them can update to that security patch (second comment to get noticed easier) thanks.
See the comments under "@Jmaxtrian-qy4qs" a few spots above this comment.
How about Clonezilla?
Clonezilla is a spectacular failure, which not only scrambled the data on my backup, but rendered the original boot drive corrupted!
@frankwalder3608 so sorry to hear. I have had really good experience with it.
Clonezilla is ok(ish) if you only use Linux. It's overrated by the open source zealots.
🙂👍
They are good tools but useless when you wanna clone system drive with recovery parition...
Yeah Macrium Reflect works for that but not Aomei Backupper.
I have a sabrent m.2 so going to be using Acronis True Image NOT USED IT YET
Thanks for this valuable and helpful comment. 🤦🏻
@@trusttech9942 Your welcome
Most of the cloning apps can't clone an active OS system/disk.
I have disk genius ... it repeatedly failed to clone the drive in my laptop.
That is VERY interesting. You should elaborate on your experience with that failure.
These look great but … have the authors/publishers been vetted? These apps are in a great position to send an entire disk to a malicious actor or maybe even the entire darknet.
Rescuezilla is free and open source as is Clonezilla on which it is based. They can be relied on to do nothing but what you ask of them. As for the others, you'd soon notice if they were sending gigabytes of data off somewhere, possibly by your router melting down. Full disk images are not very interesting to malicious actors as they contain so much uninteresting data - i.e. your whole OS and installed software. It's not a zero possibility that they could do something nefarious but there are better more efficient tools that can be delivered by more effective means.
"what chew guys got another". Lol 😂 Dumb way to introduce a new video!
Clonezilla