Summary :

Macrium Reflect Free Edition touts itself as one of the fastest disk cloning utilities available. This hard drive cloning software supports only Windows file systems, but it does it quite well.

What is the best free drive copy software? MiniTool Partition Wizard is the best hard drive cloning software which can be used to clone hard drive easily and safely. Download the free cloning software now and have a try!

1. I upgraded to an SSD drive. This is how to clone a Mac Drive to SSD for free using the mac software 'Disk Utilities' and changing the Startup Disk.
2. Clonezilla is a partition and disk imaging/cloning program similar to True Image® or Norton Ghost®. It helps you to do system deployment, bare metal backup and recovery. Three types of Clonezilla are available, Clonezilla live, Clonezilla lite server, and Clonezilla SE (server edition). Clonezilla live is suitable for single machine backup.

Why Clone Hard Drive?

Disk cloning is very useful in hard drive management. Simply put, disk cloning copies the complete contents of a hard drive, including the files, the partition tables and the MBR to another location.

It is worth mentioning that when you clone a hard drive, both the source disk and the target disk can be used directly, which is regarded as a simple, direct duplicate (however, cloning is different from copy & paste, check Clone VS. Copy & Paste for the detail).

In the following situations, you may consider hard drive cloning:

• To upgrade to larger hard drivewhen the current hard drive is too small and cannot meet your data storage requirements any longer. For example, you meet the 'low disk space' issue but all partitions are almost full.
• To upgrade hard drive to more advanced SSD to enjoy smooth computer performance. This is extremely useful for those who want to upgrade system disk, as SSD offers faster read-write speed.
• You have a batch of computers (with the same configuration) to be installed. To avoid installing all computers one by one, you can install only one at first and then turn to hard drive cloning software to save effort and time.
• To make an exact hard drive backup. Through free disk cloning, you get a copy of disk backup and avoid the trouble of data restoration when the backup copy is needed.

So the conclusion here is that if you are upgrading your hard drive to a larger one, or replacing it due to a physical failure, cloning hard drive is the easiest method to complete that task. Besides, doing hard drive copy reduces the risk of any accidental data loss.

Recommended Hard Drive Copy Utility

Since hard drive copy is significant, you must be wondering: which is the best freeware for drive copy? In my opinion, MiniTool Partition Wizard is the top recommendation. I will give you my explanation.

Developed by MiniTool Software Ltd., MiniTool Partition Wizard is regarded as the best drive copy software for Windows users, including those who are running 32/64 bits Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows7.

As free drive cloning software, MiniTool Partition Wizard offers two ways to clone hard drives for hard drive upgrade or data backup, including 'Copy Disk' and 'Migrate OS to SSD/HD' (if you only want to clone the system).

All you have to do is put the new drive in the computer as a slave or secondary drive and use this disk copy software to clone the old drive to the new one. Once the process is complete, switch the new drive to the primary and then you are good to go (for hard drive upgrade).

Just press the button to have this free drive cloning tool downloaded! The free edition is flexible to copy any non-system disk; while to copy your system disk, you will need to upgrade to a more advanced edition.

Knowing what MiniTool Partition Wizard is, let's have a look on how to clone a hard drive by using MiniTool Partition Wizard. Here we just take clone hard drive Windows 10 for example, and MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition should be the right choice.

1. To use 'Copy Disk Wizard', both the source disk and target disk must be basic disks.
2. The target disk will be cleaned during the cloning process. Please make sure it can be cleaned; otherwise transfer data out at first.

Step 1. Run MiniTool Partition Wizard to the main interface, then you can see all your hard drives connected to this PC are shown in the middle panel and some operable features are listed in the left panel. Now, select Copy Disk feature to clone hard drive.

Step 2. Here you need to select the target disk (must be basic disk) and click Next to continue. Make sure you know which drive you are cloning to so you do not overwrite the wrong drive.

Step 3. Here come the copy options. If you are copying from a GPT disk, you are able to see 2 options. (4 options when you are cloning an MBR disk, see details here.)

• Fit partitions to entire disk: all partitions will be cloned to the target disk and take up its full capacity according to the partition size proportion.
• Copy partitions without resize: all partitions will be cloned to the target disk according to the original partition size. This option is available when the target disk is large enough to hold all partitions on the source disk.

After you have made the copy options, you can customize each partition size according to your own preference. Then click Next to go on.

Step 4. Then you can see a note which reads 'To boot from the new disk, please configure computer BIOS settings. Make sure the new disk is configured as the default boot disk.' Please keep this in mind if you are cloning the system disk before you click Finish.

Step 5. Finally, you need to press the Apply button located on the toolbar to start hard drive cloning process. When finished, you will find all your files stay intact on the original drive and the target drive has an exact same copy.

For a more intuitive guidance, please watch this video:

Don't hesitate to have a try on this free cloning software now!

RECOMMEND:

Want to know more information about how to successfully boot computer from the new hard drive? Now, you can find answers from our previous post: 2 Ways to Boot from New Hard Drive after Copying Disk or Migrating OS.

In fact, MiniTool also puts forward another free cloning software to clone hard drives which is called MiniTool ShadowMaker. Although it is mainly designed for Windows backup, it also comes with useful Clone Disk feature. To get the details of how to use this disk copy software, you are suggested to read Clone OS from HDD to SSD.

Tips for Cloning Your Hard Drive

Now you know how to clone hard drive by using MiniTool free cloning software. Here I would like to put forward some tips to help you deal with cloning issue better.

• Don't just copy & paste files to another location on your hard disk if you are leading the operating system. Use professional disk cloning software like MiniTool Partition Wizard to help you.
• Use another hard drive, especially an external hard drive for your backup copies, because there is less chance of losing/damaging computer and external hard drive at the same time.
• At least one cloning copy should be kept well. Don't erase the current backup unless you are going to create a new one.
• If you use your computer frequently, back up your data often. Having a recent backup is always good for data recovery. Apart from hard drive clone, professional disk imaging software is also recommended to save effort.

Free Hard Drive Cloning Software For Mac

Further Reading: Cloning VS. Imaging

When dealing with backup issue, cloning or imaging is always the question asked by many users. Many people choose to make a disk image, while many prefer hard drive cloning. Before I state my opinion, I would like to start with cloning VS. imaging.

One may ask, 'what the heck is the difference between cloning and imaging?'

Imaging is frequently used for preventative backup, which means you never know when you need the backup image for data restoration. Today most disk imaging software offer schedule backup feature, and you can set to back up files daily, weekly, or monthly. Besides, incremental backup and differential backup are provided, making it possible to save hard disk space.

If something bad happens, you can have the original image for restoration purposes without having to reinstall Windows and other applications.

Disk cloning is more significant for hard drive replacement or hard drive upgrading, which means probably you will use the destination disk right away. When you clone a hard drive, actually you are cloning the entire contents of the drive instead of creating an image file.

The only issue you need to concern is that you need to have another physical hard drive that is large enough to contain all data in the original drive. During the cloning process, all files on the target disk will be cleaned so be sure that you are operating the right disk.

The conclusion here is: although cloning and imaging both back up and restore data, whether to choose cloning or imaging all depends on what you want to accomplish. In a word, for frequent backup issue, imaging software is better; for hard drive upgrading issue, free hard drive cloning software should be given the priority.

Best Cloning Software For Mac

Summary

In this post, I mainly tell why you need to clone hard drive, which tool is best for hard drive clone, how to use it to clone hard drive, the differences between cloning and imaging, and several tips on hard drive cloning. Hope all these information is helpful in dealing with your hard drive copy issues.

Now it's your turn to have a try. Just download the best free drive copy software and start cloning hard drive. I believe you can do everything smoothly as long as you follow this guide correctly. For any suggestions or questions towards using MiniTool software, please contact [email protected] or leave us comments below. Much appreciated!

SuperDuper! v3.5, which is Big Sur compatible and produces bootable Intel and M1 backups, is now in Beta: see the Shirt Pocket blog for information.

Have no fear. SuperDuper v3.3.1 is here, and it includes full Catalina support!

SuperDuper is the wildly acclaimed program that makes recovery painless, because it makes creating a fully bootable backup painless. Its incredibly clear, friendly interface is understandable, easy to use, and SuperDuper's built-in scheduler makes it trivial to back up automatically. It's the perfect complement to Time Machine, allowing you to store a bootable backup alongside your Time Machine volume—and it runs beautifully on your Mac!

Version 3.3.1 lets you ignore 'missing drive' errors during scheduled copies, and also improves Smart Wake, which ensures your backups happen whether your Mac is awake or asleep...and won't turn on your screen if your Mac is already awake.

This new version also improves Smart Delete, an awesome new capability that minimizes the possibility of disk full errors while maintaining safety with no speed penalty, native Notification Center support, a Finder extension to quickly run copies, and other improvements. SuperDuper can even create and copy from snapshots, which means with an APFS backup drive, you can restore today's Smart Update, yesterday's, etc! It's super cool.

SuperDuper's interface confirms all your actions in simple, clear language to ensure that the end result is exactly what you intended. Take a look, and click for additional screen shots!

· Main Window · Progress · Snapshots · Scheduling · General Options · Advanced Options ·

The SuperDuper! Main Window

We all know that using the Macintosh is usually a trouble-free experience.

Except when it's not. Like when:

• Your hard drive starts making that horrible clicking noise that signals an imminent meltdown
• A momentary lapse of coordination causes your MacBook Pro to take a dirt nap
• The system suddenly fails to boot
• Your most important day-to-day application isn't working with the system update you just applied
• The new driver you just updated is causing your Macintosh to crash
• That lousy software you just tried didn't come with an uninstaller, and scattered files all over your drive
• You need to restore a stable copy of your system, but don't want to lose what you've been working on
• You need to test new versions of the operating system with production data you can't afford to lose

It happens to all of us, eventually. And recovering can be a painful, error-prone, time-wasting experience, if it's even possible at all. Until now.

Carbon copies. And a whole lot more.

SuperDuper is the most advanced, yet easy to use disk copying program available for macOS. It can, of course, make a full backup, or 'clone' — in moments, you can completely duplicate your boot drive to another drive, partition, or image file. In even less time, you can update an existing clone with the latest data: use Smart Update and, minutes later, your backup is completely up to date!

Faster than a speeding bullet – and more accurate!

SuperDuper isn't just the most powerful cloner available: it's incredibly fast, too. Its Smart Update feature evaluates hundreds of thousands of files and directories in just minutes, automatically updating your clone to reflect any changes you've made on the original drive – including custom icons, HFS+ attributes, ownership changes... the works! It can even copy (and Smart Update) Time Machine backup volumes!

Expertise not required.

SuperDuper comes preconfigured, ready to perform all the most common copying and cloning tasks. We've pored over the Apple documentation so you don't have to. Every step of the process carefully follows all Apple recommended policies and procedures.

Whether you're making a full backup to a disk image, using Smart Update to update an existing backup, or making a complex clone to test a software update, the process couldn't be simpler: select the source drive, the destination and the appropriate script. Click Copy Now, and SuperDuper does the rest.

Doveryai no Proveryai.

Most companies would cherry-pick their feedback, and include selected quotes from happy customers. Sure, we could point you to our 4.55 star review from Macworld, ormanyotherraves. We could even point you to our back-to-back 2005 and 2006 Eddy Awards!

But we're not going to do that. Instead, we encourage you to ask some friends, and look for yourself! Here's a simple Google query for 'superduper macintosh review' to get you started.

(It means 'Trust but Verify'.)

Clones for experts.

Regular backups aren't always the best way to recover for the risk takers out there who jump on every software update. Unless you take specific steps, fully restoring a backup restores everything on the drive, overwriting both the system and user files. If that's what you want to do, great. But it usually isn't, because everything you've done since the backup would be lost!

With SuperDuper, though, you can easily 'checkpoint' your system with a Sandbox, preserving your computer's critical applications and files while you run on a working, bootable copy. If anything goes wrong, just reboot to the original. When you do, your current Documents, Music, Pictures — even iSync data — are available! You can get back to work immediately!

Clones for industry!

SuperDuper has enough features to satisfy the advanced user, too. Its simple-but-powerful Copy Script feature allows complete control of exactly which files get copied, ignored, even aliased ('soft linked' for the Unix inclined) from one drive to another!

SuperDuper is perfect for software developers, software 'seed' sites, QA testers, even system administrators:

• Developers and Seed Sites
  Need to keep up to date with the most recent weekly build of a new operating system? Use the provided 'Copy with Shared User Files and Applications' script, or create your own. A few clicks later and your clone is ready to upgrade, without unsafe downgrades, or unsupported 'intermediate build' upgrades!
• QA Testers
  Need to regress against a large number of operating system targets, or other types of fixed configurations? Simply save a series of images, and in minutes you can restore them and be ready to test.
• System Administrators
  Need complete control over building a standard image for one, one hundred or one thousand systems? SuperDuper's Copy Scripts make it easy!

Get cloned.

Give SuperDuper a workout on your own system. Clone to your heart's content—for free. See what else is possible. When you're convinced that SuperDuper is a terrific solution—and a great value at US$27.95—you can click buy now, have the registration entered with a single click, and start using its advanced features immediately!

Download the free trial now!