Dell Hard Drive Cloning Software: Top 2 Choices

Why do you need Dell hard drive cloning software?

Dell computers enjoy great popularity around the world. There are a variety of Dell models which serve different needs, such as the Inspiron line for home or home-office use and the Latitude line for small business or corporate needs.

If you have used a Dell computer for a long time, you may want to clone Dell hard drive for following reasons:

▶ Replace Dell hard drive with SSD. As a result, you can enjoy the benefits brought by an SSD, like fast speed, low power consumption, noiseless operation, etc.
▶ Upgrade current hard drive to a larger drive. It will also help to reduce the booting time of your computer and the loading time of installed programs or applications.

To make the cloning process easy and secure, specialized Dell hard drive cloning software is necessary.

1. Prime Dell hard drive cloning software - AOMEI Backupper

AOMEI Backupper Professional, the best disk cloning software for Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP, comes to help. You can benefit a lot from its following features:

What’s more, with the user-friendly interface, even a computer novice can complete the cloning process smoothly. And it not only applies to Dell hard drive but also other disk brands, such as Seagate, WD, SanDisk, etc. Wanna have a try? Download and install this Dell cloning software right now!

AOMEI Backupper

Easiest hard drive clone software for Windows PC.

FREE Download
Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

How to clone Dell hard drive to SSD via AOMEI Backupper

☞ Bear in mind that the target SSD will be overwritten during the cloning process. So if there’s important data on it, be sure to backup files beforehand. 

Step 1. Connect the target SSD to your Dell computer and make sure it is detected.

• If your computer has only one drive bay, connect the SSD via a SATA-to-USB adapter or a hard drive enclosure.
• If your computer has more than one drive bay, install the SSD in an extra slot.

Step 2. Run AOMEI Backupper, click Clone from the left list and select Disk Clone.

Step 3. Select the Dell hard drive as the source disk (here is Disk 0) and click Next.

Step 4. Select the destination SSD you just connected to your PC (here is Disk 1) and click Next.    

Step 5. In the Operation Summary interface, choose SSD Alignment to boost the performance of SSD disk. After confirmation, you can click Start Clone to clone Dell hard drive to SSD.

>> Edit Partitions: there are four options – “Copy without resizing partitions”, “Add unused space to all partitions”, “Manually adjust partition size”, and "Convert the destination disk from MBR to GPT". You can resize partitions or convert disk type of the destination disk based on your needs.
>> Sector by sector clone: all sectors on the source disk will be cloned no matter if they are used or not. It requires that your SSD is equal to or larger than the original Dell HDD. 

Step 6. Wait until the cloning process is complete. Then, replace the Dell HDD with the cloned SSD. Your computer should be able to boot from the cloned SSD without errors.

Note: If the cloned SSD works well after a period of time, you can reformat the Dell hard drive and take it as your second storage device.

2. Built-in Dell cloning tool - SupportAssist OS Recovery

Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery provides a recovery environment that consists of tools to diagnose and fix issues like system crashes, startup issues, and system corruption, etc. From v5.5.1 and later, it also supports Disk Cloning functionality. Learn how to use it to clone Dell laptop hard drive below.

How to clone Dell HDD to an SSD with SupportAssist OS Recovery

☞ In this case, there is only one drive bay inside the Dell laptop. So the whole cloning process is: clone data from the old hard drive to a transition disk and then clone data from the transition disk to the new SSD. 

Step 1. Use a SATA-to-USB adapter to connect the transition disk to your Dell laptop.

Step 2. On boot, hold F12. In the One-Time Boot Settings menu, click SupportAssist OS Recovery.

Step 3. Click Back Up Files / Disk Cloning. Then select Disk Cloning and click Next.

Step 4. Select USB storage device and click Next. Then select the transition disk you just connected and click Next.

Step 5. The original system disk is selected as the source disk by default. Confirm the source and destination disk information and click Next.

Step 6. Once the cloning process is complete, click Continue to turn off the computer. On shutdown, swap the old HDD with the new SSD.

Step 7. Ensure the transition disk is connected and then turn on the computer while pressing F12 to access the one-time boot menu. Select to boot from the transition disk and press Enter.

Step 8. On SupportAssist OS Recovery launch, click Okay.

Step 9. Click Continue to clone data from the transition disk to the new SSD.

Step 10. On success, unplug the external drive and click Continue to boot from the newly installed primary drive.

📢 Warning: If the computer shuts down during the cloning progress, the process must be restarted. Thus, it is suggested to plug in the AC adapter to your computer while cloning.

(Fixed) Cloned SSD won't boot Dell 

Some users may encounter problems after cloning Dell hard drive, such as the cloned SSD won't boot. Here are some common fixes:

Fix 1: Update Dell BIOS

Sometimes, an outdated BIOS can cause compatibility issues with new SSDs. Visit Dell's support website, check for the latest BIOS update for your model, and follow the instructions to update it.

Fix 2: Disable 2nd Boot Device

Also, some users solved this problem by disabling another hard disk in the BIOS. You should go to BIOS > select Boot > Hard  Disk Drives > 2nd Boot Device and Disable > save changes and restart from the 1st Boot Device.

Fix 3: Using Macrium Rescue Media

If you cloned Dell hard drive with disk clone software - Macrium, you can choose to create a rescue media using Macrium, boot the system from it and clone the hard drive again. Please remember to disconnect the original drive before you boot the cloned drive the first time.  

Summary

If you plan to upgrade Dell hard drive to an SSD or a larger drive, you can turn to the best 2 Dell hard drive cloning software - AOMEI Backupper or Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery. As you see, there are fewer steps involved to clone Dell hard drive using AOMEI Backupper than using SupportAssist OS Recovery. Besides, no transition disk is needed if you pick AOMEI Backupper.

Actually, AOMEI Backupper is not just a specialized cloning program. It also offers the backup and recovery functions. You can use it to backup multiple drives in Windows 10. Go for this tool and discover more!