How do I clone my hard drive (HDD) with Windows?
You need:
In order to go through the steps in this step by step approach, you need the following products:
- A laptop or desktop PC
- The free Windows program Macrium Reflect Free
- A SATA/USB adapter
- A hard drive (HDD)
- Time (the transfer can take up to 8 hours)
- Optional: a hard drive casing for your old drive
Step 1: make a connection
Before you start the transfer, it's important to connect the hard drive to your computer or laptop first. You do this via the SATA/USB adapter. This adapter has 2 USB cables, one of which is used to power the drive. The other is for data transfer. Plug both cables into the USB ports of your computer. Click the other end onto the drive.
Step 2: select old hard drive
Start the program Macrium Reflect Free. In the main screen of the software, you'll see the drives connected to your computer in the top screen. Select your drive by checking the box under the drive icon. Then, choose the option Clone this drive at the bottom.
Step 3: select a new hard drive or SSD
A new screen appears. Select the option Select a drive to clone to and choose your new hard drive or SSD.
Step 4: partitions (optional)
You can see that the drives are subdivided into smaller pieces. These are partitions. Partitions organize the drive so you can use a hard drive as if it consists of several smaller drives.
Delete any current partitions on the new hard drive or SSD by selecting it and clicking on Delete existing partition. Select the partitions on the source drive and click Copy selected partitions. Is your new SSD larger than the old one? You can make a partition larger by selecting it and clicking Cloned Paritition Properties so that you can adjust it here. Next, click Ok and Next. Also click 'Next' if you don't want to do anything with the partitions.
Step 4: start cloning
Click Next again to get an overview of the settings. Go through them and click Finish. Choose a name for the backup and click Ok, followed by Continue. The cloning process starts. Once this process is complete, you can use the new, cloned drive.
Step 5 (optional): a hard drive enclosure for your old drive
Now that you've replaced your drive, you don't immediately have to throw it away. Why not use an external hard drive enclosure. When you place your drive in the enclosure, you can connect it to your computer via a USB cable. That way, you can still make backups. Keep in mind that the transfer speed depends on the USB connection in this case and that it might be slower than you're used to from the drive.
