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Are you looking for an excellent solution to clone Windows to an external hard drive? If you're seeking cloning methods, then you've come to the right place. This article will provide a detailed guide on how to clone Windows 11/10/8/7 to an external hard drive. Before we start, let's first look at the reasons for cloning Windows to an external HDD.
Why clone Windows to an external hard drive
Cloning Windows involves creating an exact replica of your computer, including the operating system, essential applications, installed drivers, and so on. This way, the data on the target disk is identical to that on the original disk. You might clone Windows to an external hard drive for the following reasons:
- Backup data to protect against loss due to computer failure
- Clone an old hard drive to a larger external one for added storage space
- Upgrade an old hard drive to improve computer performance and reduce drive failures
- Replace a computer and clone Windows for a one-step installation of all programs from the previous PC
You can also clone Windows to an external hard drive to make a bootable USB drive. For whatever reason, it's always a good option to clone Windows to an external hard drive. It brings a lot of conveniences to your computer and saves more time and effort by directly cloning Windows instead of copying Windows programs and files one by one.
Next, I'll recommend you an excellent third-party tool - AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, which can help you clone Windows to external hard drive quickly.
- Note:
- Make sure the external hard drive has more space than your Windows system before cloning. And back up all important data on the external hard drive in case of data loss.
How to Clone Windows to an External Hard Drive
AOMEI Partition Assistant is an excellent free disk cloning software. It can not only copy NTFS partition, but also directly migrate the operating system. It helps you clone Windows to an external hard drive safely and quickly. Plus, it has a user-friendly interface, so even beginners can easily master the cloning process.
After connecting the external drive to your computer and making sure that Windows recognizes it, clone Windows to the external drive by following these steps:
Step 1: Select the source disk.
- Click "Clone" from the left menu. Choose "Clone System Disk" or "Clone Data Disk", then click "Next".
Select the source disk, then click "Next".
Step 2: Select the target disk.
- Select the target HDD/SSD and click “Next” to continue.
Read the warning message and confirm with a “Yes” click.
Step 3: Review the disk layout and edit the target disk partition sizes, if necessary.
When prompted that all data on the target disk will be erased, click “Continue” (make sure to back up any important data on the target disk beforehand).
Here you can choose to “Auto Adjust Disks”, “Clone as Source”, or “Edit Disk Layout”. (Choose the last option if you want to leave more space for C:.
Step 4: Click Start to begin cloning the disk.
Isn't it easy to clone Windows to an external hard drive with Partition Master? As a powerful disk partition tool, Partition Master provides extra convenience to help you boost your PC performance. Some of the features of Partition Master are as follows.
MiniTool Partition Wizard is also easy to use. Even if you're new to computers, you can download it and use it to copy a partition to another hard drive. Please share this tool with your friends so they can successfully move Windows to an external drive too!
Conclusions
Have you learned how to clone Windows to an external hard drive with Partition Master? This article will give you more reasons to clone Windows to an external hard drive and introduce you to the professional cloning software – Partition Master.
With this tool, cloning Windows to an external hard drive isn't a complicated task. After the clone is complete, you can boot Windows from the cloned external hard drive. Apart from cloning Windows to an external hard drive, you can also use the Partition Master tool to clone an old system and make it run from a USB drive or an SD card, for example.
Frequently Asked Questions About Cloning Windows to an External Hard Drive
There are also some other questions about cloning Windows to an external hard drive. These are issues that people often run into, so if you've encountered one of these, feel free to check out the short answers below. Hopefully, these questions and answers will be of help to you.
**1. Can you clone Windows to an external SSD?**
Of course, you can easily clone Windows to an external SSD with professional cloning software. With tools like Partition Master, you can use the "Migrate OS to SSD" feature to move the operating system to the SSD or use the "Clone Partition" function to clone partitions on Windows one by one to the external SSD.
Yes, you can clone a 1TB HDD to a 2TB SSD. However, keep in mind that the SSD will have unused space since the cloned data from the 1TB HDD will only occupy a portion of the 2TB capacity. To fully utilize the larger SSD, you would need to resize the partition on the SSD after cloning, which can be done using various disk management tools.
Of course, you can clone 1TB HDD to 2TB SSD. You should make sure that there is enough free space on the 2TB SSD to hold the data on the 1TB HDD. Then choose a professional cloning software, like Partition Master.
3. How to clone Windows from one hard drive to another?
Built-in Windows tools, such as Disk Management and Diskpart commands, do not support cloning Windows from one hard drive to another. For this purpose, you can use a reliable third-party tool – Partition Master.
Step 1: Download and launch Partition Master.
Step 2: Click the "Clone" button and then click "Next".
Step 3: Select a source disk and a target disk, then click “Next”.