Best Free Disk to Disk Clone Software of 2023

What is Disk Clone Software?

Disk clone software (also called disk copy software) is specialist software that is used to create a 1-to-1 copy of an HDD or SSD to a secondary hard drive, not just for files but its operating system, partition layout, drive letter, customized settings, installed programs, personal data, etc. All contents on the original disk can be transferred to the destination disk, which enables you to boot to the operation system from the cloned drive.

If you are looking to free disk cloning software to migrate data from one hard drive to another, you have landed in the right place. In this article, we will cover the best cloning software that can help you create disk to disk clone free.

Why Need Disk to Disk Cloning?

Disk cloning is very useful in many scenarios, and here are 2 common scenarios.

◑ Upgrade a disk or replace an aging disk with a fresh one. After a long period of use, the capacity of the computer will become less and less, and the speed of the computer will also be affected. In order to improve computer performance, it is a common practice to make a free disk to disk clone for hard drive upgrade or replacement.
◑ Make a duplicate of your HDD/SSD as a backup. Sometimes, we backup folders to USB drive or other external drives in order to protect our precious data. However, this cannot keep all data and information when some unexpected disasters occur, disk to disk copy will prevent you from losing valuable data or reinstalling the system and configuration settings. You can get full data recovery in the event of a machine crash.

Best Cloning Software Free to Clone Disk - AOMEI Backupper Standard

Does Windows 10 have a cloning tool? No, there is no native Windows cloning software that can clone disk to disk free. So, if you want to copy from one disk to another in Windows 10 or other systems, you have to use third-party software. Copying disk to disk may take you some time, depending on the size of the copying disk. However, it is much faster than installing each machine separately, especially if it involves many applications.

Speaking of the best disk to disk cloning software, AOMEI Backupper Standard tops the list. It offers a Disk Clone feature to migrate hard drive to another HDD or SSD, and it also provides Partition Clone to clone a specified partition instead of the whole disk. It is fully compatible with Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista, and it comes with powerful features to make disk to disk clone an easy task.

♪ Intelligent clone: With the fastest cloning method, it selectively duplicates used sectors while skipping bad sectors from the source, making it easy for cloning to smaller SSDs.
♪ Sector By Sector Clone: With this option, you can copy all the sectors from the source drive to the destination disk, which can preserve the original disk layout for data recovery.
♪ SSD Alignment: As HDDs have different structures than SSDs, partition alignment along the SSD block boundaries is crucial during the cloning process. With this option, you can optimize the SSD performance.

How to Perform Disk to Disk Clone Free in Windows 10/8/7

With AOMEI Backupper, you can escape from the tedious work of transferring data, configuration settings, installed applications, and programs to the new drive. Next, in the following chapter, we will show you how to use AOMEI Backupper free disk cloning software for HDD to SSD, HDD to HDD, or SSD to SSD clone.

Step 1. Connect the target disk to your PC. Download the free hard drive cloning software AOMEI Backupper and run it, then click Clone and then Disk Clone in order.

✨ Note: The free version only supports cloning between two data disks. If you want to clone a system disk, please upgrade to the Pro version to use the System Clone feature.

Step 2. Select Source Disk that you wish to clone, and click Next.

Step 3. Select Destination Disk to save the cloned data, and click Next.

✍Note: You will be prompted the destination disk will be overwritten or deleted, so it's suggested to backup files ahead of time. If not, your data will be overwritten after cloning.

Step 4. Tick SSD Alignment to optimize the performance of the SSD if necessary (such as cloning hard drive to an SSD). Also, you can select Sector by Sector Clone to clone all the sectors on the old hard drive.

Step 5. Click Start Clone to execute the free disk to disk clone on Windows 10 easily. 

✍Notes:
● Before you perform disk cloning, make sure that your target disk has enough space, otherwise this operation cannot be performed.
● Disk Clone doesn’t support dynamic disks. Please use System Clone or Partition Clone options to clone a dynamic disk.

How to Boot from the Cloned System Disk Securely?

If the cloned hard drive involves the operating system, it is suggested to restart your computer and continuously press a specific key (usually F2, F8, F12, Del) to enter BIOS Setup -> Boot, then set the cloned disk as the first boot device in BIOS or replace the old hard drive with the new drive directly to boot from the cloned drive.

Conclusion

Disk cloning is a convenient and efficient method of migrating your data from an old disk to a new one. This process allows you to enjoy the benefits of a new hard drive, such as faster performance, quicker boot times, and improved durability.

To perform a disk to disk clone free, you can rely on AOMEI Backupper Standard, which allows you to clone a hard drive to SSD, or even a smaller SSD with ease. Besides, it provides multiple backup options to help you automatically backup Windows systems, hard drives, partitions, and files/folders.