Minitools Free vs AOMEI Free vs EaseUS Partition Master Free for SSD SATA & NVMe

I had to replace the motherboard (UX560UAK) & battery in my Asus Q504UAK flipbook notebook. When I did I switched over to a Samsung 2TB SSD SATA drive & a 1TB NVMe Samsung "flashstick", since I had an Intel CORE i5 7th Gen processor the SSD drive gave new life back into this flipbook in way of speed because of the dual-core processor.


In a 2021 thread @jvickers posted a question about which is the best partitioning program out there in the market. A lot of users chose MiniTools Partition Wizard over AOMEI Partition Standard & EaseUS Partition Master. I am looking to do a clone of my Windows 11 SSD drive & data backup of other hard drives (IE - I also have an 8TB Seagate HDD), does it boil down to price & user preference (AOMEI is cheaper than Minitools) right now or are there other free tools that can do the same things both software packages are claiming to do? I know you "get what you pay for" so to speak. If I need to come up with the $cratch I will but I would like some other options, please.

Also, I read somewhere that SSDs read & write differently than HDDs & partitioning SSD drives will not help me in the long run as far as if my Windows partition drive C has failed does that mean I also loose my my drive D (for example) partition & data?

Thanks in advance.
Cheers!

Hi SpiritWolfe.

To clone a drive, you're better off using a system image backup application.
You'd be better off posting the question in the Backup and Restore section, although there are plenty of existing threads in there asking similar questions. Most members will probably suggest Macrium Reflect.

You can do the job in two steps by creating an image and restoring it to the new drive, or you can do it in a single step using the Clone feature. You may have issues restoring to different hardware, but Macrium Reflect should be able to handle that.

SpiritWolfe said:

I had to replace the motherboard (UX560UAK) & battery in my Asus Q504UAK flipbook notebook. When I did I switched over to a Samsung 2TB SSD SATA drive & a 1TB NVMe Samsung "flashstick", since I had an Intel CORE i5 7th Gen processor the SSD drive gave new life back into this flipbook in way of speed because of the dual-core processor.


In a 2021 thread @jvickers posted a question about which is the best partitioning program out there in the market. A lot of users chose MiniTools Partition Wizard over AOMEI Partition Standard & EaseUS Partition Master. I am looking to do a clone of my Windows 11 SSD drive & data backup of other hard drives (IE - I also have an 8TB Seagate HDD), does it boil down to price & user preference (AOMEI is cheaper than Minitools) right now or are there other free tools that can do the same things both software packages are claiming to do? I know you "get what you pay for" so to speak. If I need to come up with the $cratch I will but I would like some other options, please.

Also, I read somewhere that SSDs read & write differently than HDDs & partitioning SSD drives will not help me in the long run as far as if my Windows partition drive C has failed does that mean I also loose my my drive D (for example) partition & data?

Thanks in advance.
Cheers!

Click to expand...

I guess I should have written it a little more clearly, my apologies. Sometimes my fingers do not type what my brain is thinking.

What is the sequence of events that data is written to SSDs vs HDDs? I read that where the data is placed or if the files are fragmented will not make a difference if I partition an SSD or not because of the speed of the read/write events occur & whether or not that segment of data that is part of the current file being written to the SSD drive is next to that same file or if it in between two other files. My understanding of what I read was that if my Windows drive C partition goes bad & fails on an SSD my data on that same SSD drive D partition is going to fail or is corrupted as well because it's an SSD drive my data was written to or on. No matter if I can recover my original drive C Windows partition or not.

I use a defragmenting program on my HDDs, but I rarely on my SSDs.

SpiritWolfe said:

but I rarely on my SSDs

Click to expand...

Never defrag an SSD. Search for "optimixe" Open Defrag & Optimize. If the drive need trimmed, you can do so from that page, but SSDs should be automatically set up for TRIM on a schedule when windows detects the drive. SSDs and NVME drive are trimmed, never defragged unless you want to wear out his drive.

I agree. Always use a reputable imaging/cloning app. Personally I never clone though many here do. I always create an image of the old drive, replace it with the new drive and restore that image to the new. If the new drive is larger than the cloned drive, my imaging application allows me to resize the partitions during the restore process to use the additional space. Basically it goes like this:

1.While running on original drive, install imaging software. Plug in a usb flash drive and create recovery media for that software. As a precautionary step, make sure you can boot from this recovery media before proceeding.

2. Connect an an external drive. Using the software, create a full system image and save this image to external drive .

3. Replace your system drive with new drive. NOTE: It's not 100% necessary but strongly advised that all additional disks be disconnected both during a clean install or image recovery as a safety precaution.

4. Boot from recovery media and select restore. Select the image you want to restore.

5. select the drive to recover to. My imaging app allows me to drag and drop the partitions from the image onto the new drive. If the new drive is larger than the original, It also allows me to change the size of the partitions to my specification to use the additional space. Then my imaging app does the rest...it initializes, partitions, and restores data to the new drive all in one fell swoop.. It's also able to fix any boot problems one might encounter if whenows fails to boot from the new drive afterwards..

Know there are a number of imaging/cloing apps available, some paid, some free. They are not all equal and not all offer the same features. Not all will clone if you decide to go the clone route. Some will clone but not image.There's tons of threads on this forum that can guide you to one that will work for you. Here's a 40 page one where you can see everyone's individual recommendations.




I

@glasskuter

My original question was not quite answered...

glasskuter said:

It also allows me to change the size of the partitions to my specification to use the additional space. Then my imaging app does the rest...it initializes, partitions, and restores data to the new drive all in one fell swoop..

Click to expand...

You stated that the image recovery app initializes & partitions. Ok. However, I read somewhere that when you add multiple partitions to an SSD drive or NVMe flashstick, for example, unlike HDDs when the main (drive C) partition gets corrupted the second partition (drive D) will remain intact. But if you create 2 or more partitions (a C & D) & the main drive C partition fails, it will bother (or corrupt) the second partition (drive D) as well, & thus, this partition will also fail because unlike the HDD the data on the SSD is randomly written/read from the NAND QLC memory.

Is this a true statement?

This is due -- correct me if I am wrong here -- to the fact that the randomizing of the read/write of data to the NAND storage on an SSD over the, what, sequential(?), magnetic storage of the read/write data to an HDD disc is why the second partition on an SSD will become corrupt if the main or boot partition of an SSD is also corrupt, too? Does this domino effect or cascade make creating multiple partitions on an SSD drive a moot point?

I would like to think not. I would also like to think that if I create a secondary or a tertiary partition on an SSD if one partition gets corrupted then the others would be ok & the data would remain intact too. Just curious.

Cheers!

@SpiritWolfe

There's ten points just for filling out your computer specs.
You can't believe how much that helps us help you.

i found none of the free stuff is very good,, most of the important stuff is disabled unless paid

SpiritWolfe said:

You stated that the image recovery app initializes & partitions. Ok. However, I read somewhere that when you add multiple partitions to an SSD drive or NVMe flashstick, for example, unlike HDDs when the main (drive C) partition gets corrupted the second partition (drive D) will remain intact. But if you create 2 or more partitions (a C & D) & the main drive C partition fails, it will bother (or corrupt) the second partition (drive D) as well, & thus, this partition will also fail because unlike the HDD the data on the SSD is randomly written/read from the NAND QLC memory.

Is this a true statement?

Click to expand...

I'm not knowledgeable enough to understand the technology or be able to have an reasonable discussion in the way data is read/write using a ssd/nvme and whether these drives cause corruption across partitions. Yes I do know one can not compare it to the sequential read/write of a hdd. I know the advantages of using ssds and nvmes far outweigh any of their disadvantages. Nothing I have read has led me to believe they are more or less prone to corruption no matter if additional partitions are created or not. Maybe one of the bigger electronic brains here can give you a straight answer to that.

To my thinking, corruption is more likely to happen from user error, a windows update gone totally wrong, or windows decides to throw a hissy fit for whatever reason than from the drive I'm using being the cause of any corruption. Not saying it can't happen. Just that so much other stuff is more likely to. Therefore, I don't differ in my partitioning choices dependent on what kind of drive I am dealing with. If I get corrupted, I get corrupted. I've got enough backups it won't make a difference in the grand scheme of things. Restore an image to that or another drive and keep on trucking.

I'll be perfectly honest. I'm still trying to understand what the question is. Sorry.

glasskuter said:

I'm not knowledgeable enough to understand the technology or be able to have an reasonable discussion in the way data is read/write using a ssd/nvme and whether these drives cause corruption across partitions. Yes I do know one can not compare it to the sequential read/write of a hdd. I know the advantages of using ssds and nvmes far outweigh any of their disadvantages. Nothing I have read has led me to believe they are more or less prone to corruption no matter if additional partitions are created or not. Maybe one of the bigger electronic brains here can give you a straight answer to that.

To my thinking, corruption is more likely to happen from user error, a windows update gone totally wrong, or windows decides to throw a hissy fit for whatever reason than from the drive I'm using being the cause of any corruption. Not saying it can't happen. Just that so much other stuff is more likely to. Therefore, I don't differ in my partitioning choices dependent on what kind of drive I am dealing with. If I get corrupted, I get corrupted. I've got enough backups it won't make a difference in the grand scheme of things. Restore an image to that or another drive and keep on trucking.

Click to expand...

Basically, since the newer storage technology is now here & affordable to more of an array of users, it boils down to what flavor, SSD or HDD, do you want to use to store your data on & feel comfortable with. As you stated @glasskuter

Stigg said:

I'll be perfectly honest. I'm still trying to understand what the question is. Sorry.

Click to expand...

I am sorry I was not trying to confuse you, @Stigg, just trying to understand how SSDs handle data over HDDs & whether or not I should treat SSDs like HDDs in the future.

The botom line is I have had HDDs for over a decade with no data loss & with me being new to the SSD storage technology I was wondering if SSDs could last longer than the average 5~7years, as "they" predict. I guess "in theory" they could, if maintained properly as with anything else...


Cheers!