Clonezilla is really a free tool according to Linux designed specifically for drive cloning containing any type of data. It does this by copying all of the bits on a drive to a different equal or larger drive.
If you’re running Windows 10 on your device, you can also use Clonezilla to migrate the current installation with all your settings, apps, and files to a new larger or faster drive with no need of reinstalling the operating system. Or use Clonezilla as a backup tool before making changes to your current installation.
Within this guide, you’ll learn the steps to use Clonezilla to clone a hard drive with an installing of Windows 10 to a different drive.
Warning: Although this is a non-destructive process, making changes to some drive has its risks, as a result begin using these instructions carefully and also at your personal risk. If you’re likely to replace a drive, it’ll be also a good idea to produce a back of the data before proceeding. You’ve been warned.
How you can clone Windows 10 to SSD or HDD using Clonezilla
Although using Clonezilla to make an exact copy of the drive on new drive is an easy process, there’s some preparation and specific steps that you need to follow.
The steps below will show you with everything else you should know, including shrinking the partition around the main drive to suit it on smaller drive, connecting a new hard disk, downloading and developing a bootable media to make use of Clonezilla, cloning process, and even the steps to make sure that after the process you’re using the entire available space.
Shrinking partition (optional)
If you’re moving from the large traditional hard disk (HDD) to some smaller and faster Solid-State Drive (SSD), you may need to shrink the partition to suit a volume on a smaller drive using these steps:
Open Start.
Search Disk Management and click on the very best lead to open the knowledge.
Right-click the main volume (C:) and select the Shrink Volume option.
Click the Shrink button to reduce along side it from the volume whenever possible.
Once you complete the steps, you can keep with the steps below to clone the drive.
Connecting clone drive
After reducing the size volume, you are able to connect the new drive to motherboard. The process to connect a traditional HDD, SSD, and M.2 drives will change per manufacturer as well as computer model, as such be sure to check your computer manufacturer support website for additional specific details.
You are able to connect a drive using a USB adapter, however, you shouldn’t use an external drive while you can’t utilize it as a boot drive. However, you can use a USB external drive if you’re intending to produce a backup, which you’ll restore towards the same or different drive.
Creating Clonezilla bootable media
Before you can clone a drive, you have to download the Clonezilla ISO file and create a bootable media to use the software.
The simplest method of produce a Clonezilla bootable media is to use the ISO with Rufus, a third-party tool made to create bootable USB flash drives.
You can download the Clonezilla zip file, but when you make a mistake using the instructions it can break your current installation.
To download and create a Clonezilla bootable Usb memory card, begin using these steps:
Downloading Clonezilla ISO file
To download the ISO file, use these steps:
Open Clonezilla download page.
In step No. 2, select the ISO option as file type.
Click the Download button.
Once you complete the steps, you are able to go to use Rufus to produce a USB bootable media.
Creating Clonezilla bootable USB
To create a bootable media, connect a USB flash drive with at least 4GB of storage, and then use these steps:
Open Rufus website.
Under the “Download” section, click on the download link for the new edition.
Double-click the file to launch the tool.
Use the “Device” drop-down menu and choose the Usb memory card.
Click the Select button.
Select the Clonezilla ISO file.
Click outdoors button.
Click the beginning button.
Once you complete the steps, before you begin your device using the tool, you have to ensure your device can boot from USB.
Typically, you’ll have to access your device Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) hitting one of the function key (F1, F2, F3, F10, or F12), the ESC, or the Delete key during boot.
Once inside the first, look for the Boot section and make sure the boot order is placed to the drive that contains the Windows 10 installation files, and do not forget in order to save the configuration.
The BIOS/UEFI can be different with respect to the manufacturer and even per computer model, as a result be sure to check your manufacturer support website for more specific instructions.
Cloning Windows 10 using Clonezilla
To use Clonezilla to clone a Windows 10 installation to a different SSD or large HDD, use these steps:
Start your device with the bootable media.
Select the Clonezilla live option and press Enter.
Choose your language and press Enter.
Select the Keep option to stay with default keyboard layout option and press Enter.
Pick the option and press Enter.
Select the device_device option and press Enter.
Choose the Beginner mode option and press Enter.
Choose the disk_to_local_disk local_disk_to_local_disk_clone option and press Enter.
Pick the (source) drive which contains the information that you would like to clone to a different drive and press Enter.
Important: If you don’t specify this option correctly, you are able to end up wiping out the incorrect drive.
Select the (destination) drive, the empty drive that you’re replacing (or backup storage) and press Enter.
Choose the sfsck option to skip the checking and repairing from the source system files and press Enter.
Select the action to perform after the cloning is complete. Option available, include choose, reboot, or powerfoff. (You are able to select any option.)
Press Enter to carry on.
Type Y and press Enter to confirm the cloning process.
Type Y and press Enter again to re-confirm that the process is going to be erased within the destination drive.
Type Y and press Enter to close the boot loader, which is the piece of code that makes the Windows 10 drive bootable.
Once you complete the steps, Clonezilla will proceed to clone the information (bit-by-bit) in the source to the destination drive.
Following the process is finished, either switch the old using the new drive on your computer or remove the cloned drive if this sounds like backup.
Expanding cloned drive
When the clone drive is larger than original drive that you simply replaced, then you’ll want to use the Disk Management experience to expand volume to make the available the extra space usable.
Open Start.
Search for Disk Management and click the very best lead to open the knowledge.
Right-click the volume (C:) and select the Extend Volume option.
Click the Next button.
Choose the disk with space that you would like to allocate (usually the default settings).
Click on the Next button.
Click the Finish button.
Once you complete the steps, the primary volume on the drive should expand using the unallocated space making the size of the storage bigger.
We’re focusing this guide on moving a current installing of Windows 10 with apps, settings, as well as your personal files to a new drive to exchange a hard drive or backup purposes, but you can clone any drive with data.