Win32 Disk Imager Clone SD Card: Full Guide and Its Alternative

Need to clone an SD card

SD card, the abbreviation of Secure Digital card, is a type of removable memory card used to read and write large quantities of data in a wide variety of mobile electronics, cameras, smart devices, and more. Due to their relatively small size, SD cards have been widely used in our daily life. At the same time, more and more users are paying attention to the data backup of SD cards. The main reasons are as follows.

★ Upgrade or replace SD card

Case: “I have 2GB Micro SD card in my Android and want to upgrade to 4GB. How can I achieve it without losing anything from my 2GB card? I mostly use this card to store images/music and most of the apps.”

As the case shows, the current SD card capacity does not meet the user's needs. And he doesn't want to lose data on his old SD card, the only way is to clone the data from the old SD card onto the new SD card. If you want to replace the problematic SD card with a new SD card, the same is true.

★ Make a backup of the SD card

Case: “I'm running CyanogenMod 7 from an 8GB Micro SD card. I'd like to be able to clone the card so I don't have to go through setup, settings, etc., with a new installation if this card fails. Is there any software that can help me clone this SD card?”

As the case shows, many users choose to clone their SD card mainly for data protection. The SD card itself is small and easy to carry, but it is also easy to lose. If you don’t have a backup of it, the loss of your SD card can't be imagined. Cloning a SD card is the equivalent of backing up it.

What is Win32 Disk Imager?

Win32 Disk Imager is a Windows program designed to write a raw disk image to a removable device (USB drive, SD memory card, etc) or backup a removable device to a raw image file.

You can write an ISO image to USB with Win32 Disk Imager, and boot from it. The new version of this program (version 1.0) supports Windows 10/8/7. For Windows XP/Vista, please use version 0.9. If you want to know how to use Win32 Disk Imager, read on.

How Win32 Disk Imager clones SD card?

If your SD card contains some important data or files, it is necessary to clone it elsewhere in case of unexpected problems. In this part, you can learn how to clone SD card with Win32 Disk Imager in Windows 10 step-by-step.

Preparations:
▶ Insert your SD card into the SD card reader on your PC.
▶Download, install Win32 Disk Imager in Windows 10.

1. Launch Win32 Disk Imager, choose the drive letter of your SD card (here is E:\) under “Device”.

2. Next, click the blue folder icon under “Image File” to choose a location on your PC to save the backup image and name the image file.

Note: Be sure to name the backup file with the .img extension.

3. Click Read to clone SD card. Wait for the cloning of the SD card to be completed.

Tip✍:
Read only allocated partitions option: you can check this option during the cloning process. It only read the data in use on the SD card you want to clone and drastically reduce the creation time and file size of your .img backup file.

Best free alternative to Win32 Disk Imager if it fails

Though Win32 Disk Imager software is quite easy to use for removable drives, users also encounter many errors when using it. Such as “Cannot find the device”, “Error 5: Access is denied”, and “Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified”.

If you encounter such errors, here is a useful alternative to solve Win32 Disk Imager not working in Windows 10 easily. AOMEI Backupper Standard, a FREE backup software for Windows, is the best Win32 Disk Imager alternative. Win32 Disk Imager is easy to operate, but it just has a few features.

To protect your data on different devices, it cannot meet your needs. But AOMEI Backupper can provide you with the most comprehensive functions to protect your data and system, as well as solve Win32 Disk Imager not working problem. Its outstanding features are listed below:

♨ Four Backup Methods: This software allows you to perform System Backup, Disk Backup, Partition Backup, File Backup. You can backup entire SD card with "Disk Backup" or clone specific partition(s) on it with "Partition Backup", or “File Backup”.
♨ Automatic Backup: It allows you to set up scheduled backup to back up your removable device automatically at a specific time or upon an event. Also, you can set a scheduled time to auto backup folders to USB drive or other removable devices. And it also provides “USB plug in” feature which will automatically copy files when USB drive connected (available after upgrade).
♨ Multiple Storage Devices: It allows you to backup to NAS, to Cloud drives, to SDD, to network location, etc. In addition to backup, you can also clone/sync/restore files on these locations.
♨ Intelligent Clone/Intelligent Sector Backup: It allows you to clone/backup only used sectors on the SD card to another location, which makes it possible to clone large SD card to smaller card easily. It also applies to other hard drives.

If you want to solve Win32 Disk Imager not working in Windows 10 problem once and for all, download AOMEI Backupper right now.

Steps to clone SD card with free Win32 Disk Imager alternative

In this part, you can learn how to backup SD card to local disk with free Win32 Disk Imager alternative from the graphic tutorial.

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Backupper Standard and you will enter into the dark-blue interface. Then click Backup -> Disk Backup in order.

Tips✍:
❀ Disk Backup will backup hard disk to image file. If your SD card is lost or damaged, you can recover data from the backup image.
❀ If you only want to copy data on one SD card to another without creating an image file, you can go Clone -> Disk Clone.

Step 2. Click Add Disk to select the SD card you want to clone.

Tip✍: If you want to backup multiple drives at once, just select all the disks that need to be backed up after clicking “Add Disk”.

Step 3. Then, under the arrow, click the column to select a folder/partition on your computer to save the backup image.

Step 4. (Optional) Click “Schedule” to enable a schedule to run the backup. You can select Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Event triggers and USB plug in (the last two are available in Professional edition). And in Advanced tab, you can choose the way to perform your backup, including Incremental Backup, Differential Backup and Full Backup.

Step 5. Finally, click Start Backup to begin the process.

Tip✍:
Options: You can change the compression level according to your needs. Also, you can change the Backup Mode there, including Intelligent Sector Backup or Exact Backup.

Conclusion

After reading this essay, you may know how Win32 Disk Imager clones SD card. Although its operation is very simple, but the problems are endless. The best free software AOMEI Backupper cannot help you solve Win32 Disk Imager not working problems, but other Windows error, such as Inaccessible Boot Device after clone in Windows 10, This device is currently in use, etc. Try it right now!