Cloning a boot drive. Cloning a hard drive

In some cases, the user wants to transfer all data from one hard drive to another. This procedure is called cloning. So cloning hard drive, it is a process of sequential and complete record data from the original drive to another. For home PC users, this procedure allows quick change HDD or SSD in case of replacement or upgrade. This operation can be performed using simple programs with an intuitive interface, one of the most famous is TrueImage fromAcronis.

For large companies, the disk cloning procedure allows you to quickly set preferences on a large number of identical machines, when expanding the office or replacing work computers. Then the original instance with a fully configured system and installed work programs for the company's employees. One original HDD or its image becomes a donor for a dozen workstations.

The process of working with the Acronis program interface

All user interfaces of media cloning programs are very simple. These programs can be run both in the operating system and with external media: USB stick or DVD. This makes it possible copy data from / to a computer without loading Windows

Acronis True Image is designed for both cloning hard drives, and transfer operating system from HDD to SSD. He handles it without mistakes, moreover, it has support not only for BIOS, but also for UEFI. First you need to find the latest version and install it to a bootable flash drive or CD. Can use any utilities for creating bootable devices, such as USB Flash boot to DOS.

After that, in the BIOS or UEFI interface, you must select download fromUSB drive. At the time of system boot press F2, F8, F9 or Del key. Paragraph "". This is followed by a computer, after which you must select utilityAcronis.

In its interface, you should specify original disk and target, moving sections one at a time. If the target disk is smaller than the source disk, you must select system partitions, and only select from user space necessary files. Thus, it is possible to carry out transfer operating system from HDD to SSD to speed up your computer.

After using and successfully starting Windows, you need to delete empty partitions on the source disk, using the utility " Hard Disk Wizard". To do this, there is an item for deleting a partition and an item for adding unallocated space.

Transferring a system from one computer to another using True Image

To transfer the system and the contents of the hard drive from one computer to another, the program from Acronis provides the ability to preservation backup of hard disk partitions on external media. It is enough to follow all the above steps and enter the submenu " Backup". If you do not use compression, then such a copy will take up as much space as the original data. For this reason, it is necessary to use external storage sufficient volume. The maximum backup size can be halved.

After transferring information to external media launch Acronis True Image on a secondary computer by connecting an external drive to it. Selecting " Restoring a backup»You must follow the instructions and mark the hard drive under the system and user partitions.

Cloning a hard drive is an operation that saves you the hassle of Windows installation and software when transferring data to a new drive (SSD drive or regular hard drive). As part of this operation, on the connected to the computer second hard the disk transfers the entire partition structure of the first hard disk, all the data on them, as well as a workable activated Windows system with all settings and installed software.

The function of cloning hard drives is offered, in particular, by Acronis True Image data backup software and Paragon Hard Disk Manager. All of them provide separate processes for transferring only Windows itself to another disk while maintaining its performance, cloning individual non-system partitions, and cloning the entire disk with the ability to make changes to the partition structure of the clone hard disk.

A distinctive feature of Acronis True Image is the function of cloning a hard disk with the ability to exclude individual junk files. We will get acquainted with this process in detail below - we will clone the hard disk using Acronis True Image, and during the cloning process we will exclude some data for transfer.

1. About Acronis True Image

True Image is a product from the master of the software market, Acronis, which offers, in particular, various solutions for disaster recovery of data at a professional level. True Image is not only a panacea for all problems with Windows in the form of restoring it to the state from a backup that was once saved. The software package also contains a lot of other useful functions, such as:

• bootable media and a utility introduced into the system preboot mode for cases when Windows does not start;
• restoring Windows on a computer with other components;
• storing backups in Acronis cloud storage;
• system cleaning tool;
• trial mode of Windows with the ability to undo changes made;
• other useful utilities.

The current version of Acronis True Image 2016 can be purchased on the official website of the developer.

The program has a free 30-day trial version designed to familiarize users with most of the functionality of True Image. However, the hard drive cloning feature is disabled in the trial version. For these purposes, you need a full-fledged activated Acronis True Image 2016. This is exactly what will be used in our case.

2. Source and destination hard drive

To define hard drives, let's use the terminology of Acronis True Image itself. The hard disk from where the data will be copied and the partition structure is the original HDD. The disk that will become a clone of the original one is the target hard disk. In our case, the disk management utility, a regular Windows tool, will help to visually see the initial picture of the disks. Quick access to it in system versions 8.1 and 10 is implemented in the context menu on the Start button. The universal way to launch it is to call the Run function (keys + R), enter the command diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.

In our case, two hard drives are connected to the computer. The source hard drive is marked Disk 0 by the system. This is the working hard drive with Windows and data on non-system partitions. As Disk 1 is displayed in the utility as a newly connected hard drive, it will be the target, that is, it will become a clone of Disk 0.

Target Disk 1 appears to have a partition structure and some stored data. When cloning a hard disk, all information from the target disk, as well as its original partition structure, is destroyed. Therefore, if there is any important information on it, it must be transferred to the original hard drive or external media.

As a rule, the cloning process does not require even an approximate match of disks in terms of volume. The target hard disk can be of any size and any size smaller than the source one, as long as there is enough space to accommodate the data that actually takes up space on the source disk. And in the case of Acronis True Image, this is not even necessary due to the ability to exclude individual folders and files.

3. Cloning process

Upon launch, True Image 2016 will prompt you to sign in to your Acronis cloud storage account. We can close the login window.

Directly in the program interface in the side menu ribbon on the left, select the "Tools" section-tab, and in it - the "Clone Disk" item.

And follow the step by step disk cloning wizard. We need a preset automatic clone mode. Click "Next".

Source hard disk selection window: here we click with the mouse, respectively, on the disk from which the data will be transferred. The numbering of disks in True Image differs from the numbering of the standard Windows utility, therefore, in the designation of disks, it is better to navigate by their volume or model. Click "Next".

Target hard disk selection window: here we click on the disk to which we want to transfer the partition structure, Windows and other data. Click "Next".

Since in our case the target hard disk is not a new disk with unallocated space, but a disk with a structure and stored data, Acronis True Image promptly warns us about the danger of information loss. Everything you need is saved, so we can safely press “OK”.

Recovery method selection window: here you must leave the pre-installed option for copying partitions unchanged. Click "Next".

Summary window: here you can already start the hard drive cloning process by clicking the Proceed button at the bottom, if there is enough space on the target drive and there is no need to exclude individual files. And, perhaps, there is plenty of space on the target disk, but you simply don’t want to transfer unnecessary data to it from the source disk, thereby increasing the duration of this process in time. To clone the hard drive incompletely, in the data summary window, click the "Exclude Files" button.

In the file exclusion menu, we will see a tree structure of the contents of the source hard disk. Files and folders cannot be excluded from the system partition C, we will work only with non-system ones. For example, in our case, we exclude several video files on the second partition of disk E. The process of excluding files requires the completion of data processing, this will be indicated in the information line at the bottom of the window.

The third partition of the source disk F will be completely excluded from the cloning process. After cloning as a partition, it will not cease to exist, but will be empty. Upon completion of all operations to exclude folders and files from the hard disk cloning process, we can start running it. Click "Get Started".

After the preparatory steps, Acronis True Image will ask you to restart the system. The program will perform the cloning process in Windows preload mode.

In preboot mode, in the Acronis True Image window, we will see a preset option to turn off the computer after the cloning operation is completed. You can leave it on to be distracted by your own business, and then, when you turn on the computer, you can immediately get into the BIOS and set the boot priority from the target hard drive.

Cloning is completed, we can boot from the target hard drive.

4. Dealing with the space of the target hard disk after cloning

By booting from the target hard drive and getting into Windows system First of all, let's look at the partition structure. We launch the regular disk management utility. Since the target disk is now the first in the computer's boot priority, Windows defines it as Disk 0. The latter has become a clone of Disk 1, once the source, with the same partition structure and proportionally distributed space, according to the structure of the source hard disk.

When excluding files, we completely removed all data from the third partition of the original hard drive. This partition now appears on the source drive as partition I and still contains data. His clone on the target drive - now partition F - is empty, as expected.

You can use it either to store data, or attach its space to any other partition. For these purposes, there are software disk managers Disk Director from the same company Acronis, no less effective Paragon Hard Disk Manager, free or their analogues. You can resort to them if you already have experience with this kind of software. Moreover, True Image 2016 provides for the possibility of redistributing the target disk space along the way during the cloning process. To do this, at the first stage of the cloning wizard, you must select manual rather than automatic mode.

Naturally, such a move will complicate the operation and increase the chances of making mistakes by beginners. In our case, the operation was already burdened with the work of excluding individual files, therefore we will entrust individual simple operations for forming the partition structure of the clone hard disk to the lite version of the disk manager, a standard Windows utility.

The disk management utility has a minimum of functionality and does not provide for overwriting hard disk sectors in order to merge partitions or borrow part of their volume from some for others. However, operations to expand partitions using the free space of neighboring partitions on the right can be carried out without overwriting data.

Let's add, for example, the space of an empty third partition of the target hard disk to its neighbor - the second non-system partition. To do this, the third section F must be deleted. In the utility window, click it, call the context menu and select "Delete volume". We confirm the action.

The third partition is now shown as unallocated space.

We call the context menu on the neighboring section E and select "Extend volume ...".

We follow the volume expansion wizard and give the second partition all the available space.

Now there are only two partitions on the target hard disk - a system partition and an enlarged non-system one.

According to the same scheme, you can do otherwise, leaving the third section for storing data. It is necessary to transfer the necessary files to it from the second partition, and delete the second partition. Due to its unallocated space, you can then expand the system partition C.

Have a great day!

It's up to you to decide :) The main thing is not to store backup copies of your data on the same hard drive from which you make these copies. This does not make sense, because if this HDD is damaged, you will lose all the data along with the copy, since they were stored on the same disk. I hope everything is clear here :)

So, let's start creating a backup copy of your system, including everything that is in it:

As a result, the backup process we configured will start. Its duration will depend on the volume that we are archiving, on the performance of the computer, the selected priority, the degree of compression of the archive and other parameters:

We just have to wait until the end of the backup.

After copying is completed, its verification may begin if you specified this during configuration. And then go to your media or the place where the copy was made and check that the backup is in place :)

This is how an archive created by Acronis True Image looks like:

In my example, the archived space had a volume of about 12 GB, and the archive turned out to be 4.9 GB in size. Those. the maximum compression made it possible to reduce the archive by more than half, which is just great!

Now let's look at how to back up individual files and folders, and not the entire system to restore if necessary in case they are lost.

Create a backup copy of individual files / folders

As I mentioned earlier, Acronis can create not only entire partition backups for further computer recovery if necessary, but also individual files / folders. Thus, you can save space on the media where you will store backups and back up only those data that are really important and cannot be lost.

For example, those who work in boxes using multi-accounts probably have a large table with logins and passwords for the boxes themselves, wallets, mail. I know from my own experience that losing this data is a very sad situation :)

So, let's look at the process of backing up files and folders step by step:

This is how you can create full copies of your system on a regular basis so that in case of its “crash”, then quickly restore it entirely or some individual files / folders. Of course, the instructions turned out to be voluminous and at first glance it seems that all this is complicated :) In fact, the steps are simple, I just got used to describing each action. But you won’t get confused anywhere and, having done this once, everything will become clear and the next time you won’t need any instructions at all.

I will tell you how to restore the system from a backup immediately to a ready working state, as well as restore individual files / folders, in the following article:

I do not say goodbye for a long time :) Bye everyone!