How to Clone Windows Operating System 11/10/8/7/Vista/Server?

Quick Navigation:

• 1. How come you copy Windows to an external drive?
• 2. How to clone a hard drive on Windows?
• 3. FAQs about cloning Windows operating system
• 4. Conclusion

When should you transfer your Windows installation to a new hard disk or solid-state drive? It is preferable to create a Windows OS copy to a different hard drive - HDD or SSD - after you have just finished installing the Windows OS and numerous drivers, along with other often used software.

Alternatively, the capacity of the current system disk will be exhausted after some time of use, resulting in a gradual decline in performance. To increase the computer's overall performance and running speed, you may need to copy Windows OS to a new HDD/SSD with greater capacity at that time.

So, the question is, how do you transfer Windows to a fresh disk? You may trust some disk copy software to accomplish your goal effectively. You can easily transfer your Windows installation to a new hard drive without first reinstalling or backing it up.

How come you copy Windows to an external drive?

Let's say that after a long period of use, your disk has become old and weak, and perhaps it lacks enough storage space, causing your computer to perform slowly. Or your hard drive intermittently becomes unresponsive. You may be fed up with Windows and want to clone it to an external hard drive.

Also, after getting a new computer, you can clone the old computer to avoid reinstalling everything. Due to data security reasons, a clone from the system drive to an external device is required. Here are the top three justifications:

1. Replace or upgrade the old disk.

Making a clone of the smaller disk onto the larger one will duplicate all the data on the smaller disk, giving you access to greater storage space. Cloning a hard disk to an SSD is preferable, but computer speed is paramount. An SSD, it is stated, can offer ten times the speed of a regular HDD. If there are issues with the system drive, you can also clone it to a new drive for replacement to avoid data loss.

2. Move Windows OS to another computer.

If get a new machine and don't want to reconfigure the system settings and install the programs, clone the old computer is a good choice. It can help you use the new computer just as the old one without wasting too much time to reinstall everything. For some business users, it's really wonderful to move the Windows OS to multiple machines in this way.

3. Clone Windows OS to external drive as backup

There would be unexpected issues happen to the system drive. A backup is always necessary. A bootable clone of Windows OS can help you reduce the downtime in case the old system drive failed. You can just boot from the cloned drive directly and continue the work.

How to clone a hard drive on Windows?

Ensure your computer can read the disk or drive you purchased. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for your drive to learn how to set it up and establish a connection. Look at our troubleshooting guide for help with an external hard drive that isn't being recognized.

DoYourClone for Windows is designed for cloning hard drive on Windows PC. With this software, you can move everything of Windows OS to an external hard drive and create a bootable clone. Also, the software offers macOS version which can help you clone OS or create backups for any drives on Mac.

With simple and easy understanding interface, any user can easily handle the software to clone entire disk or partition with the software DoYourClone. It can help you clone internal or external hard drive, SSD, USB flash drives, or memory card. All the data on your device can be 100% duplicated by the software. It can ensure to create an exact copy of your drive. For system drive, the software guarantee to create a bootable copy if the original system drive is working and bootable.

Download and install the software on your PC and then follow the steps below to clone Windows OS to a new SSD or HDD or external device:

Step 1. Connect an external drive to the computer. Open DoYourClone on your PC, choose Disk Clone mode.

Step 2. Select the computer disk as the source disk and select the external hard drive as the destination disk. (If you tick "Sector by sector clone", it will clone each sector from the source drive, including the empty sectors. So, the external hard drive should be equal or bigger than the source disk.) Then click Next button to continue..

Step 3. Then you can preview the clone layout. If necessary, you can also edit and change the layout on the destination drive. If the external hard drive is SSD, tick "Check the option if the destination is SSD." 

Step 4. Then click on Clone button to securely clone Windows OS to the external hard drive. It will take a while based on the size of the source disk. Just wait patiently and leave the disk cloning process running.

Step 5. Once the process is done, the software will show the information that the clone is completed. You can click Done button to finish.

Step 6. At last, you may need to verify and confirm if the cloned drive is bootable. Close the program and restart the computer. Then immediately press a shortcut key (like F1, F2, Del, or another one you may see on the screen when booting up) to enter BIOS. Change the boot sequence and choose the cloned SSD or HDD as the first boot device. Save the change and restart to boot from the cloned drive.

FAQs about cloning Windows operating system

1. How to clone Windows OS to an external HDD/SSD?

1. Download and install DoYourClone for Windows and open it.
2. Connect the external hard drive to your computer.
3. Choose disk clone mode.
4. Select the source disk (Windows disk) and select the destination disk (external hard drive).
5. Click Next, then click Clone button.
6. Securely clone the Windows OS to the external hard drive.

2. How to boot from the cloned SSD?

Case 1: Changing the boot drive in BIOS settings so both drives can be used simultaneously.

• After restarting, press F2/F8, or any other keys depending on the mainboard of the computer, to access the BISO menu.
• Select the cloned SSD as the boot disk under the Boot tab, then save the configuration.
• You can restart the computer after the cloned SSD has been successfully booted.

Case 2: Your laptop only has room for a single solid-state drive. Here's what you should do:

• Put your laptop to sleep and remove the clunky old disk.
• Put in the new SSD or hook it up.
• When you turn on your laptop again, it will use the cloned SSD instead of the original one.

3. Can I clone Mac OS to an external hard drive?

Yes, DoYourClone offers a Mac version to clone Mac startup disk to the external hard drive, create a bootable clone backup for Mac. To clone macOS to an external hard drive, you can use the Clone OS mode which can create an exact and bootable copy.

Conclusion:

A copy of your system will be made after the procedure is finished. Before saving the system clone, the destination drive must be formatted. The information would be lost if that happened. If you want to keep the data on the destination drive, back it up first. The software's other functions will make the sector-by-sector clone feasible. All partitions, used or not, can benefit from being cloned. Alignment parameters for the target SSD can also be adjusted.

Therefore, making a system clone to keep the OS intact is crucial. The OS can be shielded from crashing in case of a virus or malware infection or application or system file corruption. In addition, the OS can suffer data loss from natural calamities.