One Easy Way to Clone External Hard Drive to Another
Need to clone an external hard drive to another external hard drive in Windows 11, 10, 8, or 7? Download free cloning software - AOMEI Backupper Standard to help you.
Why clone an external hard drive to another external hard drive?
Cloning an external hard drive creates a duplicate copy of files on it, so you can use it as a backup copy. It's similar to backup external hard drive to another external hard drive, but they are not exactly the same. Then you can easily get them back if your files are lost or the disk is damaged.
Also, users can use it as a replacement for the current system disk in case of system failure or other serious scenarios. So you can easily migrate operating system to new SSD without reinstalling it.
In addition, some users still try to clone the entire disk to transfer a large amount of data quickly, copying and pasting individual files is laborious and time-consuming.
What do you need to clone an external hard drive?
For whatever purpose you want to clone an external hard drive to another, you need to a cloning software. However, none of the current versions of Windows have this cloning feature. We highly recommend you use AOMEI Backupper Standard, one of the best external hard drive cloning software.
- Have a clear graphic user interface and easy to operate.
- Different cloning scenarios, such as clone data disk from MBR to MBR, clone large HDD to smaller SSD, etc.
- Clone external hard drive of different brands, including SanDisk, WD, Samsung, Toshiba, Transcend, etc.
- Optimize SSD disk performance, such as reading & writing speed.
- Advanced features, such as clone MBR disk to GPT, Edit Partitions, migrate operating system to SSD, etc. Upgrade now to enjoy them!
100% SecureHow to clone one external hard drive to another in Windows 10 or 11
By default, AOMEI Backupper Standard clones only used sectors from one hard drive to another. So it will be ok if the another external hard drive is smaller.
- Install these two external hard drives to your PC and make sure they can be detected by Windows.
- Prepare two connectors, such as USB-to-SATA cable or adapter, if necessary.
- Remember clearly which disk is the source external drive. Because all data on the destination external drive will be overwritten during the cloning process.
- Download and install cloning software - AOMEI Backupper Standard.
- Please backup files first if there is any important data on the destination disk.
Then, learn how to clone an external hard drive using the following steps:
Step 1. Select a cloning method.
Open AOMEI Backupper Standard. Then, on the main page of this software, click Clone > Disk Clone.
Step 2. Select the external hard drive as source disk.
It will display all available disks on your computer. Select the external hard drive you want to clone and click Next to continue.
Step 3. Select another external hard drive as destination disk.
Find and select another external hard drive in the following window to receive all the data on the source disk. Then, click Next and OK to confirm you want to clone external hard drive to another one.
The destination disk will be overwritten. So please be you select the right disk or backup files in advance to prevent data loss.
Step 4. Clone external hard drive to another one
The Sector by sector clone feature clones all sectors of the original disk. It requires the target disk to be equal to or larger than the source disk. Optionally, click SSD Alignment to accelerate the writing and reading speed of the SSD disk (if it is). Then, confirm everything is ok and click Start Clone to copy external hard drive to another external hard drive.
FAQs on how to clone an external hard drive
The following questions are highly relevant to how to clone an external hard drive. Check the answer if you have similar questions.
Q 1. How to backup external hard drive to another external hard drive in Windows 10?
Q 2. How do I clone a hard drive to another hard drive?
Q3. Can I clone large HDD to smaller SSD?
Q4. What are the differences between clone external hard drive to another and backup external hard drive to another
The backup and restore method requires you to backup to a temporary storage and then restore to another external disk. As a result, it creates a compressed image file.
During the process, it requires temporary storage and takes double the time. What's more, your data is inaccessible unless you restore it.
Cloning, on the other hand, is simpler and more straightforward. It's a 1:1 copy - no extra device and time & effort saver. The data is accessible through a PC without restoring.
Verdict
Cloning external hard drive to another external hard drive using free cloning software - AOMEI Backupper Standard is the easiest way to make a duplicate copy of your important files on the disk. You can view, modify, or delete files in the target disk at any time without restoring the image file.
Best free cloning software for external hard drive
Also, you still can use it to clone system disk, such as clone GPT disk to MBR, and make it bootable. Note it's available on the professional version of AOMEI Backupper. In addition, you can also use it to clone OS only instead of entire disk. For server users, you could consider using AOMEI Backupper Server.