Clone an external hard drive to another external hard drive in a simple way

Updated by Linda on September 14, 2021 to Disk/Partition Clone | How-to Guides

Question: How can I quickly clone an external hard drive to another one in Windows 10?

"A friend of mine complained that he spent a good three hours in front of his computer copying a 500 GB external hard drive to another 1 TB external hard drive to back up his data. He used Ctrl C + Ctrl V to back up one external hard drive to another! No wonder it took so long. Is there a faster way to clone an external hard drive?"

What is the fastest way to clone an external hard drive?

This is a good way to clone an external hard drive to transfer data from one external hard drive to another. However, if the files and programs installed on the external hard drive you're transferring are huge, this will take quite a long time, as per the scenario above.

Then, what is the fastest way to clone an external hard drive to another external hard drive (HDD or SSD)? Use Disk Copy. This ultra-fast SSD/HDD raw copy tool is used for disk duplication, cloning, upgrading, replacement, or simple backup. With just a few clicks, you can clone an external hard drive to another external HDD in Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP, whether it's HDD to HDD, HDD to SSD, or SSD to SSD.

Moreover, this cloning software also allows you to clone a hard drive with bad sectors, clone a failing hard drive to a new HDD/SSD, and more.

How to Use Disk Cloning Tools to Copy an External Hard Drive to Another Drive

Once both drives are connected to the computer and recognized, you can proceed.

Preparation:

• Connect both external hard drives to your computer ahead of time. • Download and install a disk cloning tool.

Step 1: In the Disk Mode, select the external hard drive as the source disk.

Step 2: Select another external hard drive as the destination.

Step 3: A warning message will appear, alerting you that the data on the target disk will be erased. Click “OK” to proceed.

Step 4: Edit the disk layout if needed, and click Continue to proceed with cloning the external hard drive.

Step 5: Wait for the processing to complete.

Conclusions

With a disk copy tool, you can easily clone an external hard drive to another external one, clone your internal boot drive to a new one, or clone a disk in a WinPE environment. Additionally, you can use a user-friendly yet powerful hard drive cloning software to clone an OS partition to an SSD, clone data from one internal hard drive to another, and more.

FAQs on Cloning External Hard Drives

The following three questions are closely related to cloning an external hard drive. Please refer to the answers for more information.

How do I backup an external hard drive to another external hard drive?

Detailed Steps for Cloning an External Hard Drive

1. On the main screen, you'll see two cloning methods. Click on Disk Clone Mode.

2. Select your source external hard drive, then click the “Next” icon.

3. Select your target external drive, then click “Next.”

4. Edit the disk layout if necessary, and click “Continue” to start cloning the external hard drive. Wait for the process to finish.

Can I clone a hard drive?

Yes, you can use professional disk cloning software like the Disk Copy tool to help you clone a hard drive easily. It enables you to clone a hard drive on Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista and even clone a failing hard drive in WinPE mode.

Also read: How to Clone HDD to SSD in Linux

How can I clone my entire hard drive?

Steps to clone a hard drive in detail:

1. Launch your disk cloning software and click "Clone." Select the source hard drive that you want to clone.

2. Select the target disk.

3. Preview the disk layout after cloning. Finally, click “Go” to clone one hard drive to another with just one click.

How do I clone my hard drive to an external one?

1. Right-click "This PC/My Computer" and select "Manage," then choose "Disk Management."

2. Right-click the main data drive and select “Add Mirror.”

Choose the drive to use for the copy.

4. Click Add Mirror.