Solved: Acronis True Image Hangs When Cloning

Help! Acronis Clone Disk Wizard Stuck

Acronis True Image Cloning - Stuck on Less than 1 Minute

“I've been running the cloning all day, as it errored last night and I had to wipe the SSD clean and start over. I'm on Windows 10 x64, cloning a 1TB SATA to a 1TB SSD to speed up my laptop. I booted my laptop, opened True Image, selected Clone from the tools and selected "Automatic". I've been stuck on "less than 1 minute" for nearly seven hours now. What is going on???”

- Question from Acronis Forum

Acronis True Image is a software product produced by Acronis that provides data protection for personal users, its functions include backup, archive, access and recovery. As a powerful disk imaging software, you can use Acronis True Image to clone to SSD and other drives. 

However, sometimes users encounter some problems while using the software. Above is the problem that users encounter when Acronis True Image hangs during cloning. This article will introduce the possible causes of this problem and the corresponding solutions. Read on if you are interested!

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Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

How to Fix Acronis True Image Cloning Problems

As in the cases above, users often meet that Acronis clone stuck processing. The following are some of the common problems collected in the forum and the solutions given by professionals:

1. Stuck on “Calculating time remaining”, “Less than 1 minute”

This situation often happens when you plan to clone a hard drive on your laptop. Cloning a hard drive in the laptop to an externally connected drive may cause the system to not work properly, so it is not recommended. It is recommended to put the new drive in the laptop first, and connect the old drive via USB.

2. Cloning Process Stops at 80%-95%

The real reason is Acronis cannot clone some hidden partitions under normal conditions. To avoid this problem, you can create a bootable rescue media. It will boot the system outside of Windows and allow Acronis to clone the hidden partitions.

👉 Create a Bootable Rescue Media

Learn how to create a bootable rescue media via Acronis True Image 2020 as follows:

Step 1. In the Tools section, click Rescue Media Builder.

Step 2. Choose media creation method. Here I click Simple as an example. Click here if you choose Advanced.

Notes✍:
♨ Simple—This is the easiest option, suitable for most users. Acronis True Image will choose the optimal media type for your computer. If you use Windows 7 or a later version, WinRE-based media will be created. Otherwise, Acronis Media Builder will create a Linux-based media.
♨ Advanced—This option allows you to choose a media type, therefore you can create the rescue media not only for your computer, but for a computer running a different Windows version.

Step 3. Select a destination for the media. You can select CD/DVD, USB flash drive, ISO image file, WIM image file. Finally, click Proceed.

3. Error "Locking drive C:"

When trying to clone an M.2 SSD, an error message "Locking drive C:" occurs, leaving it stuck in the ready state.

To avoid this, it's advised not to clone the data but to use the backup and restore function. Instead, create a Windows PE version of Acronis Rescue Media and boot the PC from it to perform the recovery. Ensure to use UEFI boot mode for NVMe M.2 drives when booting Windows.

4. Never Returns to the "Proceed" Step

Acronis in clone mode where the clock hangs and goes round and round, but the program never returns to the "Proceed" step.

The only way to regain control is to go to Windows Task Manager and end the Acronis program. If this is what you are experiencing, your best option is to use the rescue media to boot and then perform a clone.

5. Acronis True Image Restart Is Required

This situation often happens when users want to clone to WD SSD. WD SSD does not come along with disk cloning software, so many users turn to Acronis True Image WD edition to replace hard drive. When you encounter this problem, you can turn off the Secure Boot option to solve “Acronis computer restart is required”.

👉 Turn off the Secure Boot Option

Step 1. When your computer starts up, you can press Delete key to enter into BIOS in common situation. (Some computers may require pressing F2 or F12, you can check the computer's motherboard specification or computer’s user manual for detail.)

Step 2. After that, you can find “Secure Boot” option in BIOS (usually under “Security” or “Boot TAB” option).

Step 3. After turning off “Secure Boot”, press F10 to save the setting and exit BIOS.

The above five problems are only a small part of the Acronis True Image cloning problems, there are many other problems, such as Acronis not recognizing WD HD/SSD, Acronis True Image WD edition installation restricted. If you don't want to be bothered by these problems anymore, I recommend you to use the free software below.

Clone Disks Smoothly with Acronis True Image Alternative

AOMEI Backupper Standard is a free disk cloning software. It’s the best alternative to Acronis True Image. You can use it to clone your disks without encountering any problems and boot successfully from the cloned disks. In addition, it allows you to create a bootable media that will start your computer in case something unexpected happens to it. This software can be your first choice for cloning hard drives for the following reasons.

◑ Intelligent Clone: It allows you to clone only used sectors from one hard drive to another while skipping bad sectors, thus you can easily clone a disk to smaller SSD or clone a disk with bad sectors without any obstacle. However, Acronis True Image hangs when cloning a disk with bad sectors. 
◑ Sector by Sector Clone: It allows you to clone all the sectors on a hard drive, even if the sector is blank or it is a logically bad sector. 
◑ SSD Alignment: This feature makes full use of 4k technology that can help you improve the performance of SSD disk.
◑ Support All Brands and Modes of SSDs: You can clone HDD to Samsung/Kingston SSD, clone Intel SSD to another, transfer Windows 10 to NVMe SSD, etc.
◑ Different Operating Systems: It supports Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista, etc.

If you want to clone a hard drive to another hard drive or SSD, you can follow the graphic tutorial below.

✩ Note: The destination disk will be overwritten or deleted, so it's suggested to backup files ahead of time. If not, your data will go after cloning.

Step 1. Download AOMEI Backupper Standard, install and launch it.

Step 2. To clone a hard drive to SSD, select "Disk Clone" option under the "Clone" tab.

Tips✍:
✾  Disk Clone doesn’t support dynamic disks. Please use System Clone or Partition Clone options to clone a dynamic disk. 
✾ The Standard version only supports cloning data disks. If you want to clone disks with system installed, you could consider upgrading to higher editions.

Step 3. Select the Source Disk that you want to clone, and then click "Next".

Step 4. Select another drive or SSD as Destination Disk where you want to clone source disk to, and then click "Next".

Step 5. Confirm the settings, and then click "Start Clone". Tick "SSD Alignment" to improve the disk performance if it is an SSD disk. 

👉 Helpful features for cloning: 

✬ Edit Partitions: To make full use of unallocated space left on the target disk. It's mainly used to clone disk to larger disk, regardless of HDD or SSD.
✬ Sector by Sector Clone: To clone all sectors of the original disk to the target drive with larger or same disk space. Please note this feature can make "Edit Partitions" disappear.

👉 And it's suggested to use the first feature if you are in one of the following situations. It helps you resolve them completely. 

#1: The cloned drive not show full capacity.

By default, all the cloning software makes an exact copy of the source disk, as a result, the clone drive does not show full capacity after cloning. If the target disk is larger, please try the following 3 options in the Edit Partitions. And the last two options are available on the Professional version.

• Copy without resizing partitions: It will not resize the partition size.
• Add unused space to all partitions: It will reallocate the unallocated space to each partition of the target disk, appropriate for the disk size.
• Manually adjust partition size: It allows you to extend unallocated space to any partition on the destination disk you want. 

#2: The cloned drive not bootable after cloning.

One of the biggest reasons is the destination and source disk has different partition style and you don't convert them to the same before cloning. In this situation, you can simply check Convert the destination disk from MBR to GPT or vice versa, depending on the disk partition styles of them. 

Both MBR and GPT are two different disk types for data storage. And you can check its disk properties in Disk Management if you don't know clearly. The overall steps are below:

• Press Win + R to open the Run window. Then, type diskmgmt.msc and hit OK to open disk management.
• Then, right-click the disk you want to clone and select Properties in the pop-up window.
• In the Properties window, select the Volume tab and confirm the partition style. It can be MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT (GUID Partition Table).

• Similarly, check the disk partition style of the destination disk. If it is still MBR, you can clone hard drive from bootable USB for free. To clone GPT to GPT (eg: clone NVMe to NVMe), MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR, try Pro version.

FAQs on Hard Drive Cloning Hangs

1. Why does my hard drive cloning process hang with an error message like "Locking drive C:"?

The "Locking drive C:" error often occurs during hard drive cloning due to issues with file permissions or processes running in the background. This error can leave the cloning process stuck in a non-responsive state.

2. Can I resolve the "Locking drive C:" error while cloning an M.2 SSD?

Yes, the "Locking drive C:" error can be resolved. To avoid encountering this error during M.2 SSD cloning, opt for using the backup and restore function rather than cloning. Additionally, creating a Windows PE version of Rescue Media and booting the PC from it can help perform the recovery without triggering the error.

3. What should I do if my hard drive cloning process gets stuck?

It's best not to force it to continue. Instead, try restarting the computer. If the issue persists, consider using an alternative method like backup and restore or creating a Windows PE version of Rescue Media to perform the recovery.

4. Are there any specific settings I need to check before cloning my hard drive?

Yes, before cloning your hard drive, ensure that your computer's BIOS or UEFI settings are configured to support NVMe M.2 drives. Use the UEFI boot mode operating system when booting Windows from the new drive to avoid compatibility issues.

5. Is it recommended to use a specialized cloning tool to avoid hangs?

Using a reliable and specialized cloning tool like AOMEI Backupper can reduce the chances of hangs. Always choose a reputable software that supports your hardware and provides regular updates.

Conclusion

That Acronis True Image hangs when cloning seems to be a problem that Acronis users often encounter. There are many reasons for this problem. The solution in different scenarios will be different. Finding these solutions will be very troublesome.

However, if you turn to the FREE software—AOMEI Backupper, you will not encounter any Acronis True Image cloning problems. It supports you in cloning different types of disks without any problems.

In addition to being a powerful disk cloning software, you can also use its backup, synchronization, and recovery functions. If you want to fix the problem of  WD Sync not working, OneDrive sync pending, please use its Basic Sync feature. Use this software to protect your data now!