Best Free RAID Array Clone Software and Easy Guide

About RAID Array

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks which is composed of a set of disks (two or more). It has been divided into different levels, including RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 2, RAID 3, RAID 4, RAID 5 , RAID 10(1+0), and these combinations offer different levels of protection against data security, storage capacity, and performing speed.

It allows you to store the same data redundantly (in multiple places) in a balanced way to improve overall performance, such as superior read/write performance, storage capacity, and data safe reliability. And the RAID disks are used frequently on servers and business enterprises but less popular among personal computers.

In brief, the RAID array’s main function is to organize multiple disks into a single logical disk to get higher performance.

Why Need to Clone RAID to a Single Drive?

RAID cloning is important for computer users, especially for server users. Then, why to say so? Generally speaking, we need to clone RAID array regularly in order to enhance the security of our valuable files kept on the RAID disk. 

Also, we need to do RAID cloning to upgrade disk by transferring data from small disk to lager one. For instance, when all the volumes on the RAID disk running out of memory, you have no choice but to replace the hardware of RAID disk with a larger hard disk drive or a larger RAID disk.

If this happens, then you need to firstly backup the data to another safe place to avoid unwanted accidents such as data loss. And, secondly, rebuild the RAID and then restore the data again. You may have found that, this is a considerably practice method, the only drawback is that it’s too complex and also time-consuming. 

Then, a question come out: is there any easier way? Yes, you can choose to directly clone RAID 0/1 to single drive and then use it to replace the old one.

Free RAID Array Cloning Software

To introduce users a freeware for RAID array clone is exactly the major reason for writing this article. Here, we will introduce you to 2 RAID clone software. Both can help you clone RAID disks.

The first free RAID clone software for Windows 10/11 or previous systems is AOMEI Backupper Standard. It allows users to clone RAID 0/1 to SSD by Disk Backup and Restore feature, and boot from it successfully. And it still allows you to improve SSD disk performance and adjust partition size on the destination disk. 

Besides, its advanced edition, AOMEI Backupper Professional, still offers an direct way to clone RAID disk - it's using Disk Clone feature. And it also supports boost SSD disk performance and adjust partition size. All in all, it's a complete software to protect RAID disk whether it's RAID 0, RAID1, RAID 5, etc.

The second one is Partition manager software – AOMEI Partition Assistant, its standard edition is free for both home and business users. Coincidentally, it supports file-by-file disk cloning for RAID array. 

Broadly speaking, AOMEI Partition Assistant is pretty good free RAID array clone software. Get this freeware here! And then, open it, click Disk Copy under Disk Operations and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the RAID cloning process.

How to Safely Clone RAID 0/1 to a Single Drive 

For Windows Operating System, the RAID array virtual drives are the same as the physical drive after building the RAID array. That’s to say, you can clone RAID drive as a physical disk.

However, there is a little difference. You need to configure the target RAID array before cloning if you want to clone to a RAID array, no matter from a hard disk or another RAID array, such as RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, or other types on Windows Server.

Way 1: Clone RAID 0/1to SSD for Free 

Here, I’ll take free RAID Array clone software for Windows 10/11 or the previous systems - AOMEI Backupper Standard as an example and show you how to clone a RAID with Disk Backup and Restore feature. For easier, try Way 2 below. 

Step 1. Check the RAID array virtual drive you want to clone in Disk Management.

Step 2. Create a disk backup with AOMEI Backupper Standard. Click Disk Backup under the Backup tab. Then, click Add Disk to select the RAID disk and then SSD disk. Afterward, click Start Backup to backup RAID disk. 

Step 3. Switch to Restore tab and choose Select Task. 

Step 4. Select disk backup image in the following and click Next.

Step 5. Tick Restore the entire disk and click Next.

Step 6. Select the new SSD as destination to receive backup image. Then, click Next.  Please note the destination partition will be overwritten, if there any important data, please backup files in advance.

Step 7. Confirm the RAID 0/1 and new SSD is correct and click Start Restore to clone RAID 0/1 to SSD for free.

Notes:

• Edit Partitions:  It helps to resize partition size to fully use unallocated space on the larger disk. And it also has the ability to convert the destination disk from MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR if both disks have different types.
• SSD Alignment: It is to accelerate the reading & writting speed of SSD disk and prolong its lifetime. 
• Universal Restore: It is to restore disk image to a new computer with different hardware, such as, motherboard, CPU, etc. Click here to to learn more about dissimilar hardware restore.

You can easily use free RAID array clone software to backup and restore RAID disk with corresponding features. And you can even use it for image deployments with its small shining tool - AOMEI Image Deploy, it's to deploy image to multiple computers, even with dissimilar hardware.

Way 2: Directly Clone RAID 0/1 to SSD in 4 Steps 

Here you will use the Disk Clone feature on the Professional version. It helps you directly clone RAID 0/1 disk and boot from it without restoring process. If you are currenly using the Standard edition, you need to upgrade now and enjoy it. For server systems, try AOMEI Backupper Server!  

Step 1. Open AOMEI Backupper Standard and click Disk Clone under the Clone tab.

Step 2. Select the RAID 0/1 as the source disk and click Next.

Step 3. Select the single drive (HDD or SSD) as the destination disk and click Next.

Step 4. By default, this software will clone only used sectors to save disk space if you don't check Sector by Sector Clone below. So you can then click SSD Alignment to improve disk performance (eg: reading and writing speed) and click Start Clone to clone RAID disk.

Q & A: More about RAID Disk

Except for the best free RAID Array clone software for Windows 10/11 or previous systems, you may have a lot of unanswered questions about raid disks. Here we summarize the most common one. 

The End

Both AOMEI Backkupper Standard and AOMEI Partition Assistant is a free RAID array clone software, which can help you clone RAID 0/1 to a single drive or SSD within a few steps. This article take the first software as an example and it offers users two available ways to clone RAID disk, select the one you prefer.  If you want to use the second, download and install it, then click Disk Copy and follow the screenshots. The steps are very easy too. 

AOMEI Backupper is a very friendly software. To satisfy different users’ needs, it provides 5 versions, including 1 free version and 4 paid version. For common users, you can use AOMEI Backupper Standard and AOMEI Backupper Professional. For server users, you need to use AOMEI Backupper Server, which is designed for all server-based computer. For IT technicians or business enterprises, you should get AOMEI Backupper Tech or Tech Plus. Check the edition comparison for details.