Clone Bootable Hard Drive

Using Acronis True Image you can clone basic disks, both MBR and GPT.

  1. Bootable Clone Software Windows 10
  2. Clone Bootable Hard Drive Free
  3. Clone Bootable Hard Drive

Acronis True Image does not allow to clone a single partition; only cloning of an entire disk is possible.

If you are planning to clone a disk from your laptop, please see Cloning laptop hard disk.
  • Acronisreplicates a computer's operating system, software, patches, and drives.
  • Select your old hard drive as the Source Disc, then click Next: Select the new hard drive as the Destination Disc and click Next. If the destination drive has been partitioned, click OK to allow DiscWizard to erase all the partitions on the drive before performing the clone. Review the operation and summary screen, then click Proceed.
Recent versions of Acronis True Image can perform active cloning under Windows/macOS. See the following articles for more information:

Launch EaseUS Todo Backup and click 'Clone'. In the new window, choose the bootable hard drive.

The term 'Active Cloning' refers to a disk cloning operation that does not require you to reboot the computer to complete the operation. Please note that in some cases Acronis True Image will still ask for reboot, disk will be cloned offline, and then computer will reboot back into Windows.

Prerequisites

Source and target disks must have equal logical sector size. Cloning to a disk with different logical sector size is not supported. E.g., you can clone a 512 bytes/sector disk to 512 bytes/sector disk; you can clone a 4096 bytes/sector disk to 4096 bytes/sector disk; but you cannot clone a disk with logical sector size 512 bytes to disk with logical sector size 4096 bytes.

Click here to learn how to check disk's sector size:Software
  • Go to Start -> Run -> msinfo32
  • Navigate to Components -> Storage -> Disks and find the desired disk.
  • Sector size will be displayed in the Bytes/Sector line:

Only basic disks can be cloned with Acronis True Image. You cannot clone dynamic disks.

Checking if you have basic or dynamic disks

You can use Windows Disk Management to see if you have basic or dynamic disks:

  • Hit Start-Run and type in diskmgmt.msc
  • If it shows Basic, then you can do the cloning:
  • If it shows Dynamic, then cloning is not possible:

Source disk volumes can be cloned to the target disk 'as is' or resized proportionally. It is possible to clone a larger disk to a smaller one, provided that the smaller hard disk has enough capacity to fit the contents of the larger disk.

It is recommended that your old and new hard drives work in the same controller mode (for example, IDE or AHCI). Otherwise, your computer might not start from the new hard drive.

If you clone a disk with Windows to an external USB hard drive, you might not be able to boot from it. We recommend cloning to an internal SSD or HDD instead.

It is recommended not to format the source hard disk after the cloning until you are sure that the cloned target disk boots fine.
Cloning RAID disks

Cloning is supported only for simple disk partitioning systems, such as MBR and GPT. Acronis True Image cannot clone RAIDs set up as LVM or LDM. Hardware RAIDs and storage spaces can be cloned provided the environment where Acronis product is running (e.g. operating system) supports them, as Acronis True Image gets the information about RAID configuration from the environment. Cloning of a hardware RAID will work if a reboot is not required: after reboot, the operation continues in standalone version of Acronis True Image, where support of all hardware RAID configurations is not guaranteed and thus the cloning operation may fail after reboot. Acronis development team is working on improving hardware RAID support in bootable environment.

Step-by-step guide

If you use Acronis True Image 2017 or earlier version and you are going to do system disk cloning, we recommend that you do it using Acronis Bootable Media .

Even when you start cloning in Windows, the computer may reboot into the Linux environment the same as when booting from Linux-based rescue media. Because of this, it is better to clone using rescue media. For example, there may be a case when your hard disk drives are detected in Windows and not detected in bootable media environment. If this is the case, the cloning operation will fail after reboot. When booting from the rescue media, you can make sure that Acronis True Image detects both the source and target disks before starting the cloning operation.

Cloning from Acronis Bootable Media
  1. Create Acronis Bootable Media.
  2. Boot your computer from Acronis Bootable Media and select Tools -> Clone disk:
  3. Select the Automatic mode to have your old disk's partitions automatically and proportionally resized to fit the new disk:
  4. Select your old hard disk as the source disk and click Next:
  5. Select the new hard disk as the destination disk and click Next:
  6. If the destination disk is partitioned, click OK to allow the product to erase all data from the destination disk (required to do the cloning):
  7. Review the operation on the Summary window and click Proceed to start the cloning:
  8. When the cloning completes, shut down the system and remove one of the hard drives.
Cloning from Windows
  1. Run Acronis True Image and go to Tools -> Clone disk:
  2. Select the Automatic mode to have your old disk's partitions automatically and proportionally resized to fit the new disk:
  3. Select your old hard disk as the source disk and click Next:
  4. Select the new hard disk as the destination disk and click Next:
  5. If the destination disk is partitioned, click OK to allow the product to erase all data from the destination disk (required to do the cloning):
  6. Review the operation on the Summary window and click Proceed to start the cloning:
  7. If you are cloning a disk with currently active operating system, the program may ask for a reboot. Press Reboot to continue cloning:

    If you press Cancel, the operation will be aborted.

  8. When the cloning completes, you will be offered to press any key to shut down the computer. Shut down the system and remove one of the hard drives:

Video guides

More information

See also .

Tags:

Can I Create a Bootable Clone of Windows Disk Without Bootable Problem

'Does anyone know how to create a bootable clone of Windows disk to another new HDD or SSD without boot problem? I'm trying to clone and upgrade a Windows system disk to a bigger hard drive. But the problem is that I search online, and most people tell that most of their cloned disk won't boot.

I don't want to waste my time cloning the Windows disk but get an unbootable drive at the end. So here is my question: Can I create a bootable clone of Windows disk without boot issue? And how?'

What Is Windows 10/8/7 Bootable Clone

A Windows 10 bootable clone is an exact copy of a bootable hard drive on the computer, including the operating system and other files. To clone a bootable hard drive for Windows 10, you can choose to clone the entire disk or clone the partition(s) which contain the operating system and related boot files. And it's easy for ordinary people to clone for upgrading their system disk with OS and all data to a new drive without any boot or start issue.

But how? How to make it possible to clone Windows disk without any bootable errors on Windows 10/8/7? This tutorial will offer you the right tool - powerful bootable disk clone software and detailed guidelines to help you effectively clone Windows disk without any boot errors.

Download the Best Disk Clone Software for Windows 10/8/7

To guarantee you with a smooth disk cloning process on Windows PC and save your precious time and energy, we'd like to recommend you download the best bootable disk clone software for help.

EaseUS Disk Copy is a simple-to-use but powerful disk cloning tool which allows you to entirely clone or copy disk and partition to the new drive with ease. The most prominent feature of this software is that if your disk has bad sectors, it can clone and rescue your data from the hard disk to a new device by ignoring the bad sectors.

And you can even clone disk data to a smaller drive by using this tool. It's fully compatible with all Windows OS, and you can download it and install it on your PC to start creating a bootable clone of your Windows disk on your own.

Highlights:

  • Easy to use: This simple disk cloning software helps you make a full copy of contents on a disk and move your data, system, or apps to another hard drive.
  • Safe and reliable: This tool wouldn't cause damage to your disk and must let you boot your computer from the cloned SSD/HDD after cloning.
  • One-click OS Migration: This tool will detect your disks space automatically and prompt 'do you want to migrate OS to your new drive' when there is a new drive available.

Note: Activate EaseUS Disk Copy before you starting cloning disk. And if you have a problem with using it, please contact our tech support team for online support without any extra charges.

Clone

Video Tutorial: How to Create a Bootable Clone of Windows to New Disk

In this video, you'll get a step-by-step guide to clone Windows disk to another new HDD or SSD wtihout booting issues. Let's check:

How to Create a Bootable Clone of Windows Disk With Simple Steps

Connect the new hard drive or SSD to your computer before starting the cloning process. Let’s see how to clone your Windows PC without any boot problems right now.

Step 1: Download, install and run EaseUS Disk Copy on your PC.

Click 'Disk Mode' and select the hard drive that you want to copy or clone. Click 'Next' to continue.

Bootable Clone Software Windows 10

Step 2: Select the destination disk.

Note: The destination disk should be at least the same big or even larger than the source disk if you want to copy or clone the source hard disk.

Step 3: Click 'OK' to confirm if the program asks to erase data on the destination disk.

Step 4: Check and edit the disk layout.

If your destination disk is an SSD drive, do remember to Check the option if the target is SSD.

Step 5: Click 'Proceed' to start the hard drive cloning process.

How to Boot Windows 10/8/7 from a Newly Cloned Bootable Disk

To ensure that the cloned Windows disk is bootable on your computer, please do remember to complete the boot order and set your computer to start and boot from your new disk after the whole bootable disk cloning process:

Step 1. Shut down your computer and insert the cloned disk into your Windows PC.

Step 2. Restart PC and continuously press F2 or F8 to enter the BIOS setup.

Step 3. Go to the Startup or Boot column and set the computer to boot from your new drive.

Step 4. Save the changes and restart your PC. No extra bootable problem or other issues will occur on your PC anymore.

Extra Tips to Fix Cloned Drive Won't Boot

If you fail to boot from the cloned drive, you can do the following things to fix it:

  1. 1. Set the correct drive to boot
  2. 2. Correctly connect the SSD or HDD to Your Computer
  3. 3. Add necessary drivers to the cloned SSD/HDD
  4. 4. Restart the cloning process and fix the errors
  5. 5. Fix GPT/MBR conflict

If your cloned drive still cannot boot, you can contact us and let us know more to help you as soon as possible.

Do You Need Specialized Services for System Boot Issues?
EaseUS also provides 1-on-1 remote assistance to fix the boot issue. If the solution above does not work for you, please contact our professionals via Email or LiveChat on this page. To ensure our professional assistance work, you are suggested to connect the unbootable system drive to a healthy computer when getting connected with us.

Conclusion

With the help of EaseUS Disk Copy, you can easily create a boot clone for Windows disk without booting problem. Besides, this software also supports cloning Linux HDD to SSD. If you don't know how to boot from the cloned drive, you can also get the details above. As for the method of bootable clone, if you have any suggestions, you can also inform us.

Windows 10/8/7 Bootable Clone FAQs

If you still have problems, you can read the following related questions and answers.

Clone Bootable Hard Drive Free

How do I make a clone bootable?

Step 1. Download, install, and run EaseUS Disk Copy on your PC.

Step 2. Select the destination disk where you want to clone/copy the old drive and click Next to continue.

Step 3. Check and edit the disk layout as Autofit the disk, Copy as the source, or Edit disk layout. Autofit the disk is recommended.

Step 4. Click Proceed to start the disk cloning or disk copying process now.

Can you clone Windows 10?

Yes, you can. With the help of EaseUS Disk Copy, you can easily clone Windows 10 to a bigger drive without a booting problem.

What is the best cloning software for Windows 10?

Best disk cloning and disk imaging software for Windows PC:

Clone Bootable Hard Drive

  • EaseUS Disk Copy
  • EaseUS Todo Backup
  • Paragon Drive Copy
  • Macrium Reflect
  • CloneZilla

Is a cloned hard drive bootable?

Generally speaking, When you have used a professional disk cloning software to clone a live system disk, the target disk is bootable.