Solved Help to clone OS drive

I haven't ever had luck cloning a drive and the last time I tried SSD's weren't even a thing yet.

I recently recovered from a very badly corrupted Operating System NVME drive. After doing a Cloud Reinstallation everything is fine again but SeaTools lists the drive as 77% health and passes all the tests. I still do not trust it.

I'm using a 500gb NVME and will soon have a replacement 500gb Crucial NVME.

Googling doesn't make me feel very confident and I'm hoping there's some free software or maybe there's a program within Windows 11 that can do it?

Please friends, what do I do?

There are many imaging tools, and you can clone from many of them.

How you do it depends on how your pc is set up e.g. does it only have 1 NVME slot or 2?

Also do you have an external usb hard drive?

How much data do you have on existing drive?

As an aside, I would recommend buying a 1TB drive as a minimum these days

I never clone. I restore an image. During the image restore, my imaging software will not only initialize a new drive, but I do not hsve to format it either. It willl also allow me to resize and reorder partitions if I am restoring to a larger drive. If the new drive is same size as old just drag each partition from source drive onto the new drive during the restore process.

I use paid imaging software myself, but I believe Haselo Backup Suite Free will do this as well. It will also clone.
I've never used Hasleo to restore so I can not give exact instructions but here is what AI says.

Yes, with Haselo Backup Suite you can restore a system image to a larger drive. During the restore process, Hasleo offers the option to expand your existing OS partition from a smaller partition on the original disk to a larger one on the new drive.

Here's a more detailed explanation and the process:


How to Restore to a Larger Drive with Hasleo Backup Suite:

1. Choose a System Image: In the Hasleo Backup Suite interface, navigate to the "Home" section and select the system image you want to restore.
   
2. Initiate Restore: Click on "Actions" and then choose "Restore".
   
3. Select Target Disk: Follow the prompts, and Hasleo will guide you to select the larger target disk where you want to restore the image.
   
4. Partition Geometry: Hasleo will provide an opportunity to adjust the partition geometry, allowing you to expand the OS partition to utilize the full available space of the larger drive.
   
5. Start Restore: Once you've configured the partition geometry, proceed with the restoration process.
   
6. Post Restore: After the restore is complete, shutdown the pc to boot into the new drive

.

Cloning is easy. Cloning is especially easy with MiniTool Partition Wizard (paid). I realize people like their freeware (which really isn't free) but sometimes biting the bullet is the wisest option. At some point I'll try Hasleo just for curiosity's sake but I've never had a failed clone with MiniTool. I highly recommend cloning an operating system once the user has it working to a satisfactory level. This means that all updates are current, a complete virus scan has been completed, and the unwanted clutter has been removed. In other words, get your OS running ship shape as you want it before you clone it.

A clone of an operating system should be predominantly made for emergency purposes. Once it has been made either drive can be disconnected (you won't be able to run both on the same CPU) and tucked away in a cool, dark, dry place where it won't be completely forgotten. Labelling the drive "clone of ___" or "original__" is advisable. Clones can also be a quick way to see if failure to boot is due to a hardware issue or a software issue. Simply by plugging the copy back into your system after removing the troublesome drive can indicate if the problem is originating in your hardware (still doesn't boot) or if it is simply your software (PC sees the drive but reports nothing wrong). This is where having an external enclosure can be especially handy because you can put the troublesome drive in the external enclosure to see if it can be read.

I highly advise keeping a clone of every operating system of importance. SSD's are relatively inexpensive and cloning an operating system to a solid state drive takes little time if it's under 1TB these days. Even for those who prefer NVMe a good copy can always be cloned back to the NVMe from an SSD. Is there a risk of data corruption? A: Always. But then, every time a restoration is made there is an equal risk of data corruption so the risk is relative. There's always a risk of data corruption whenever files are being transferred or copied no matter what sort of backup one might resort to using. Fortunately there are tools available to ensure data integrity and they will work on a clone just as easily as they will work on a fresh Windows install.

Cloning can have one problem, it clones/copies everything, from empty spaces to deleted but not overwritten or erased data as well as corrupted but readable data. That has advantage of salvaging data without risk to originals. It's also 1:1 in size of original so it will not copy on smaller disk or will leave unusable space on new disk. Backup to restore has disadvantage of needing extra storage to keep the data until restored but has several advantages. When you backup it all goes in one file, only actual accessible data is backed up and even that can be compressed in various compression format and can be much smaller (30-50%) than sum of data in original disk, therefore needing less temporary storage. With it you can also choose which partition to back up and which not. A good backup program like MR or Hasleo can also expand main/OS partition to whole disk automatically so no space is wasted or having to do it manually. The backup file could (and should) be kept for further backup using Differential or Incremental backups that are much smaller than original and so save a lot of work and data.

CountMike said:

Cloning can have one problem, it clones/copies everything, from empty spaces to deleted but not overwritten or erased data as well as corrupted but readable data. That has advantage of salvaging data without risk to originals. It's also 1:1 in size of original so it will not copy on smaller disk or will leave unusable space on new disk. Backup to restore has disadvantage of needing extra storage to keep the data until restored but has several advantages. When you backup it all goes in one file, only actual accessible data is backed up and even that can be compressed in various compression format and can be much smaller (30-50%) than sum of data in original disk, therefore needing less temporary storage. With it you can also choose which partition to back up and which not. A good backup program like MR or Hasleo can also expand main/OS partition to whole disk automatically so no space is wasted or having to do it manually. The backup file could (and should) be kept for further backup using Differential or Incremental backups that are much smaller than original and so save a lot of work and data.

Click to expand...

That's only one type of cloning. R Drive Image was notorious for cloning like that and I still think the program is good for the purpose for those who seek the best shot at making an exact duplicate with the least amount of risk of data corruption. No doubt, they've changed some since. With MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro Ultimate I can clone a drive and extend the partition the OS runs on without issue. No space is wasted and I have an exact duplicate of the master on a bigger drive with plenty of headroom. Ideally, one would be best off backing up the drive and then cloning it. Once the clone is made pop it into the PC with the original disconnected and make another backup. Leave nothing to chance. My main is backed up about 4 different ways:

1) Kaspersky backup
2) Windows Backup and Restore
3) Windows File History
4) Cloned

In addition to this I also stay in the habit of making restore points at least once a week and I have a huge drive in RAID 1 for archiving everything on my desktop via drag and drop because I don't trust Windows File History.

Scannerman said:

That's only one type of cloning. R Drive Image was notorious for cloning like that and I still think the program is good for the purpose for those who seek the best shot at making an exact duplicate with the least amount of risk of data corruption. No doubt, they've changed some since. With MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro Ultimate I can clone a drive and extend the partition the OS runs on without issue. No space is wasted and I have an exact duplicate of the master on a bigger drive with plenty of headroom. Ideally, one would be best off backing up the drive and then cloning it. Once the clone is made pop it into the PC with the original disconnected and make another backup. Leave nothing to chance. My main is backed up about 4 different ways:

1) Kaspersky backup
2) Windows Backup and Restore
3) Windows File History
4) Cloned

In addition to this I also stay in the habit of making restore points at least once a week and I have a huge drive in RAID 1 for archiving everything on my desktop via drag and drop because I don't trust Windows File History.

Click to expand...

Hasleo for instance is free and has more options (cloning included) far cry of what MS has to offer and MS admitted so. It's all in realm of preference what to use as long as it can keep precious data safe. Nowadays, they are more valuable than storage itself. great investment. I have over 6TB of NVMe storage just in main PC and 8Tb in offline storage as backups and still have to chose what and where and how to backup. System disk i don't keep anything important on and is least to worry about as it's all replaceable and still do daily incremental backup separate from everything else but it's just a time sever as it would me take a week to replicate but it could be done. It's also most vulnerable of all so why not, it would be foolish not to. Most of it is set on auto, just have to see confirmation, no bather at all. That's on main PC, on laptop used once in blue moon for not important jobs, one extra, small SSD is enough for occasional backup here and there.

Jeepers - before we totally confuse OP with an avalanche of posts - let's find out what actual configuration his pc is so we can properly target appropriate advice to their setup as I asked in post #2.

Yeah I've d-loaded Hasleo but I haven't installed that beefy burger yet. I'm in no rush because my system works as it is. Still, I like to play with stuff so I'll likely do it on my next build or on the old main. I couldn't agree with you more when you say that it is all in the realm of preference and this is brought home to me every day it seems. I like to keep my system disk at 1TB or less because this is practical. Plus you are so right about it being the most vulnerable. I'm the same with my laptop. In fact, I gave away my laptop to my daughter and got myself a cheaper one because I use it so rarely. It's still in the box and I still need to set it up and update it. I would just plug my laptop into broad band and transfer that way but these days it's easier for me to just move files onto a USB stick and transfer to archives. I'm lazy. Very little of what I put on my laptop requires backing up but factory resets are always a pain. lol

cereberus said:

Jeepers - before we totally confuse OP with an avalanche of posts - let's find out what actual configuration his pc is so we can properly target appropriate advice to their setup as I asked in post #2.

Click to expand...

Nothing wrong in knowing options.

cereberus said:

Jeepers - before we totally confuse OP with an avalanche of posts - let's find out what actual configuration his pc is so we can properly target appropriate advice to their setup as I asked in post #2.

Click to expand...

OP has a lot to choose from. It's still their own preference as to what method of cloning they want to use. But sure. I can leave this thread and let it go.
MiniTool covers most configurations anyway and if it were a really old system I'll probably resort to R-Drive Image, but they have a rather advanced system so I think MiniTool should work just fine. SIW2 probably gave the best response to the OP's question.

CountMike said:

Nothing wrong in knowing options.

Click to expand...

That is my point - if OP bothers to reply, we can focus our reply. Otherwise we are just deluging them with TOO MUCH information.

We have all gone through lots of learning - with a complete beginner, we should lead them gently through things.

Bombarding lots of info is my main gripe about Linux sites but nobody ever takes you through the steps slowly.

Still, I cannot censor other posters of course.

So for those wanting to know more so I can get an accurate answer...
The NVME says it has a little over 35,000 hours on it and that'd have to be how old the system is because when I went from AM3 to AM4 I did NOT want HDD's or SSD's. I wanted to be as light and wire free as possible.
Motherboard - Aorus Master X570S Pro w/ 4 NvMe slots.
The current OS NvMe is a 500gb drive and it ONLY stores the OS.
Pictures and Downloaded files anything I could set to save to another drive goes there leaving 347gb free on this drive.
The new drive is a Crucial 500gb NvMe.
There are 3 other NvMe Drives one for games, one for movies, and one for TV shows. I am prepared for outages so I have a big library to watch when without internet.
There's a 500gig SSD 2.5" drive that stores all the pictures, documents, and other bits I've told windows to save here and NOT to the OS drive.
I have 1 PCI-e slot I can throw an expansion NvMe card onto which I could use to mount the new NvMe to clone/migrate my Windows 11 onto and then swap the drives out when I'm all done.

If I have to, I don't want to because it takes 4-6 days to fine tune and reinstall everything, I'll do a clean install.
I have made sure this current installation is clean, error free, and fine tuned to my preferences so I would PREFER to clone if at all possible.

Aorus Master X570 also supports SATA. (Nice choice btw.) I point this out because you wish to keep your build as light as possible. I recommend connecting a SATA SSD of appropriate size, formatting it and cloning your existing drive with your OS onto the SSD. Connecting SATA SSD is easy: No muss, no fuss, no leetle tynee screw job. Once you have done this you can remove the SSD and your system is as light as it has always been.

Cloning back from SSD to NVMe is fast and easy. I do not know if you wish to clone your storage drives as well, but I would advise attempting to do this separately, each to their own separate drive, but again, user preference prevails. It would be easier to just copy the data to another drive and run a backup. Some people are unaware of the fact that when they make a clone it must be removed from the PC afterwards or, the original must be removed for the PC to boot up properly otherwise the operating system gets "confused" about which drive to boot.

The best cloning software IMO is the kind you pay for. I like using MiniTool but there are plenty of other good ones out there. It used to be that the freeware would only allow you to copy a very limited amount of data. Perhaps this is no longer the case. I wouldn't know because I've been happy using MiniTool with the lifetime license for ten years now. I only had to pay once.

I hope this helps

cereberus said:

That is my point - if OP bothers to reply, we can focus our reply. Otherwise we are just deluging them with TOO MUCH information.

We have all gone through lots of learning - with a complete beginner, we should lead them gently through things.

Bombarding lots of info is my main gripe about Linux sites but nobody ever takes you through the steps slowly.

Still, I cannot censor other posters of course.

Click to expand...

I use Acronis on three systems for around 100 AU dollars and have never had an issue with it. It will backup a 500mb ssd drive in around 10 minutes and restores without any issues. Would not be without it, very good insurance for the money. I have in the past found that most free backup software is very basic and hard to use where as Acronis is at most a three click process.

While I was reading through all your helpful tips and advice, thank you by the way, my computer tech friend who taught me how to build computers a decade ago FINALLY got back to me. He instructed me through the steps using Macrium Reflect.

It was actually pretty simple. Made me feel dumb again. But I got it taken care of and it only took a total of 10 mins between initializing the drive, cloning the drive, testing the drive, and replacing the drive. Going from NvMe to NvMe was super fast, a total of 4 mins to clone. I'm going to take the old drive and stash it safely just incase.

I hadn't anticipated getting this much attention and assistance. Love coming here for this exact reason. Thank you buddies!

Glad to learn it worked out for you. All's well that ends well. Have fun!

Please mark thread as "solved".

Good you got it solved. never be without a backup especially with todays operating systems and Malware.
Cheers