How to Clone External Hard Drive to Internal Hard Drive [Simple & Efficient]

Updated By

Tracy King 

Written By

Cici 

Last Updated on April 22, 2024

Most users are used to cloning Windows from an internal hard drive to an external hard drive or cloning from one external hard drive to another. But they may be unclear whether it is possible to clone an external hard drive to an internal hard drive. The following is a typical scenario of such cloning:

If you're wondering the same thing, don't worry – we'll help you decide whether you need to clone your external hard drive to an internal one.

Can I clone an external hard drive to an internal hard drive?

Yes, you can clone an external hard drive to an internal hard drive. Cloning isn't limited by the form of the hard drive. Cloning an external hard drive to an internal one allows you to migrate your backup data back to your computer. You can also transfer your system from an external hard drive to an internal one.

However, most people might not be familiar with cloning an external hard drive to an internal one. It's not a difficult task. As we mentioned earlier, cloning doesn't depend on the flow of data. As long as the drives work, the clone will work. Let's take a look at how to clone an external hard drive to an internal one.

# How to Clone an External Hard Drive to an Internal Hard Drive

To make sure you can successfully clone an external drive to an internal one, this section will be in two parts:

Prepare to Clone an External Drive to an Internal Drive

Steps for Cloning an External Hard Drive to an Internal One

With the right preparation, you can clone your external hard drive to your internal one quickly and safely. Let's look at what you need to do before cloning.

Preparing to Clone an External Drive to an Internal Drive

Please prepare the clone according to the following requirements:

1. Make sure you have enough room on your internal drive to accommodate the external drive.

2. Back up any important data using professional backup software, since the data on the target disk will be overwritten or deleted during cloning.

3. Ensure that the target disk and the source disk have the same format. If they're different, convert them to either MBR or GPT. You can easily check the disk format by following these steps:

Step 1: Press Windows + R, then type “diskmgmt.msc” to open Disk Management.

Step 2: Right-click the target disk and choose "Properties".

Step 3: Look at the “Volume” table to check the partition style.

Check the disk partition style

If the formats are different, you can convert GPT to MBR or convert MBR to GPT without losing data.

4. Connect the external hard drive to the appropriate PC port: For a desktop, you'll need a SATA data cable and a SATA power cable. For a laptop, you'll need a SATA-to-USB adapter, or you can connect it directly via a USB port if the drive has a built-in USB interface.

2. Download a professional cloning software - AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. It's an all-in-one disk management tool that can help you clone system and disk partitions, saving you a lot of time and effort.

With the preparations out of the way, let's look at the steps to clone an external hard drive to an internal one.

### Steps to clone an external hard drive to an internal one

AOMEI Partition Assistant is a professional system and partition cloning software, like copy NTFS partition. Due to its exquisite design and user-friendly features, it has gained popularity and support from users. It allows you to easily clone external hard drive to internal hard drive. Follow the steps below to meet your needs:

Step 1: Clone an external storage device (SD card/USB/external hard drive)

1. Click on the "Clone" tab. Select "Clone Data Disk" and click "Next" to proceed. 2. Choose a source disk and select a new device (SD card/USB/External Hard Drive/Internal Hard Drive) as the target disk, then click "Next". 3. Click "Yes" to confirm the warning message.

Step 2: Keep all changes

1. Check the source disk layout (you can edit the disk by clicking "Adapt to target disk" or "Clone as the source disk size"). 2. Click "Start" to begin cloning. 3. Wait for the cloning process to finish.

Partition Master is also a smart tool that allows you to edit cloned partitions to clone only used space. You can also use this tool to clone a damaged hard drive.

You may also like: Free Disk Cloning Software.

If you have any questions about cloning, download it for help!

Conclusions

On this page, we know that apart from cloning a partition to another disk, an external hard drive can also be cloned to an internal hard drive. After getting prepared, Partition Master offers a simple and quick solution to clone an external hard drive without losing data. Here are some frequently asked questions about today's topic. Please keep reading if you are interested. FAQs about cloning an external hard drive to an internal hard drive

Here are some common questions with brief answers. I hope they are helpful to you.

1. Can I clone an external hard drive to an internal hard drive?

The answer is yes, you can copy the data from an external drive to an internal one. A clone operation doesn't care about drive types; it's concerned only with capacity and format.

How do I clone an entire external hard drive?

With specialized cloning software, it's easy to copy an entire external hard drive. AOMEI Partition Assistant is a reliable tool to perform this operation. Follow these steps to clone the entire hard drive:

Step 1: Run Partition Assistant and then click “Clone” from the left menu.

Step 2: Choose to Clone System Disk or Clone Data Disk, then click Next to select the source disk.

Step 3: Choose the destination location, then click Next and Yes to confirm any warning messages that appear.

Step 4: Preview the layout, resize if necessary, and click Start.

3. Should I clone my hard drive or make an image of it?

Whether you need to image or clone your hard drive depends on your needs. Cloning is faster than imaging if you want to transfer data or upgrade to a larger drive. However, imaging offers more backup options.