Create a complete and strictly identical backup of your PC disk by making a clone using a dedicated tool.
There is nothing insurmountable about cloning a hard drive, even for the most discerning user. Whether you are looking to back up your data, or transfer the operating system installed on your PC’s old mechanical hard drive to an SSD, there are many reasons you might want to clone a hard drive.
In a few very simple steps, you will be able to create a strictly identical copy of the contents of a disc. For this you will need two disks connected to your computer (the source disk, and the target or destination disk), with on the target disk, at least as much storage or more than the source disk. Here’s how to do it.
1. Format the target disk
First, do a proper formatting of your new drive / SSD where you want to clone your computer’s primary drive. To do this, click on the Windows Start menu, find Create and Format Hard Drive Partitions and launch the utility.
You should see the system disk appear there, the one currently installed in your machine, and most of the time with the letter C :, as well as the new disk, the target disk, on which you want to clone your main disk. To format it, right click on it and select Format.
If your new disk appears in black with the words Unallocated, right click and choose to create a New Simple Volume. Follow the steps of the wizard to generate a volume the size of the disk.
2. Download Macrium Reflect Free
First, download the Macrium Reflect Free utility. This completely free tool includes a function to clone your hard drive. You will thus be able to obtain a true copy, strictly similar, and bootable, of your original disc.
Download Macrium Reflect Free for Windows (Free)
Be careful, however, when installing the program, a download manager will open and ask you to select a version. Choose the Free version to enjoy the free version of the software and click on Download. The utility will then be downloaded and saved in the directory selected by default in the downloader.
Then choose Home when asked what type of license you want to use.
The next step will ask you to register your copy of Macrium Reflect. You can skip this step by unchecking the option.
3. Access cloning
In the main window of Macrium Reflect Free, the two disks connected to your machine (the source disk, the one installed in your PC, and the destination disk) should be automatically recognized.
Click on the Clone this disk button displayed just below your PC disk.
4. Select the source disk and the target disk.
The window that appears offers you to select the source disk and the destination disk. By default, your machine’s system disk should be automatically selected.
Then choose the destination disk by clicking on Select a disk to clone to… Your blank disk should automatically add itself as the Destination disk. Then click on the Next button.
Macrium Reflect Free offers to schedule the cloning of your disk. Skip this step by clicking Next
5. Start the disk cloning
A summary window should appear. Double check that you have selected the correct source and destination drives, take a look at the steps in the process to make sure this is correct for your situation.
In our case, the System partition and the Recovery partition will both be cloned to the destination disk. Click the Finish button and then click OK to start the cloning process.
Then confirm by checking the All target data will be overwritten box. Confirm to proceed then click on Continue.
The cloning process starts, take your patience until all the data is copied.
Once all the data has been successfully duplicated on the Recipient disk, Macrium Reflect should display an alert window indicating that the cloning is complete.