SSD/HDD Raw Copy Tool: Clone and Upgrade Hard Disk Easily

HDD RAW Copy Tool overview

A raw disk copy is a kind of disk clone method that will copy all the sectors in the hard drive including the blank ones. The other clone method is an intelligent disk clone that only clones the used sectors.

An HDD raw copy tool is a specialized software designed for creating exact sector-by-sector clones of hard drives, including all partitions and boot records. This tool is invaluable for data recovery, disk cloning, and creating backup images of your entire drive. With its straightforward interface, it ensures even users with minimal technical knowledge can perform complex cloning tasks effortlessly.

For a raw disk clone, the target hard drive must have a capacity no less than the original drive that needs cloning. A hard drive raw copy will take more time than an intelligent disk clone.

When should you use an HDD RAW Copy Tool?

One of the most common reasons for using an HDD RAW Copy Tool is to clone a failing hard drive. By creating a raw copy, you can transfer all data, including files, partitions, and boot sectors, to another drive. Additionally, an HDD RAW Copy Tool is useful for disk cloning, backup creation, and migrating data to a new drive without losing any system configuration or data.

Besides that, an HDD raw copy tool can be used in the following cases:

· Data or system migration: transfer everything on the hard drive including a system to another one.
· Data backup: serves as a full backup of the original hard drive just in case of data loss.
· Media duplication: use it to clone storage media devices including SSD, external hard drive, USB flash drive, and SD card.
· Data Recovery: When you need to recover data from a failing or corrupted drive by creating a complete copy before attempting recovery.

Free HDD RAW Copy Tool for Windows 11/10/8/7

AOMEI Backupper Standard is a free HDD raw copy tool compatible with Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7. It allows you to clone your hard drive, ensuring all data, including files, partitions, and system settings, are preserved. This tool is ideal for creating backups, upgrading to a new drive, or recovering data from a failing disk.

• It can help make an exact copy of your hard drive (sector by sector). Also, it is able to do intelligent disk clones, which is helpful to clone a hard drive with bad sectors.
• It supports most of the storage devices that Windows recognizes such as an M.2, mSATA, SATA, IDE, SAS, SCSI hard disk drive, or SSD. It also works with USB removable storage devices.
• While the disk copy is in process, you can still use the computer to do other things. If you do not want to clone a hard drive within Windows, you can create a bootable media and boot from it to start the clone.

AOMEI Backupper

Download the HDD raw copy tool now to ensure the safety and integrity of your data. This tool allows you to create an exact clone of your hard drive, preserving files, partitions, and system settings.

Download Freeware
Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

HDD raw copy tool tutorial - create raw disk image step-by-step

AOMEI Backupper Standard will help you achieve a disk raw clone job regardless of your hard drive partition style, capacity, and file system. You can refer to the following steps to create an HDD raw copy.

Before you do, make sure the capacity of the destination disk is greater than or equal to the source disk. As mentioned, the blank sectors will also be cloned in a raw disk copy. Now let's begin.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Backupper Standard. Select “Disk Clone” under the “Clone” tab. 

Notes:
👉 The Standard version only supports cloning a data disk. To clone a system disk, please upgrade to the Professional version at least. 
👉 The Professional version also allows you to clone MBR to a GPT disk and vice versa without converting the partition style beforehand.

Step 2. Select a disk you want to clone as “Source disk” and click "Next".

Step 3. Select a disk to save the clone as “Destination Disk”. Then click “Next”. If you do it for backup purposes, it is recommended to clone to the external hard drive.

Step 4. On this screen, you can view the operation. Tick the option “Sector by sector clone”. If the destination disk is an SSD, “SSD Alignment” is recommended to optimize SSD performance. After that, click “Start Clone” to start the hard disk raw copy.

During the cloning process, you can watch some videos or do other things because the cloning process will not take much computer resources.

FAQs about HDD RAW copy

1. How do I get data off a RAW hard drive?

To recover data from a RAW hard drive, use a data recovery tool that can scan the drive and retrieve files without relying on the file system.

2. How do you create a raw image of a disk?

Press [Ctrl]+[I] to create a raw image. A raw image is a complete copy of the drive's data, capturing all clusters and sectors, including used, unused, and even some deleted files, stored in one file or set of files.

3. Can you fix a RAW hard drive?

Since RAW indicates the drive is unformatted, the straightforward way to fix it is to format the RAW drive to NTFS, FAT32, or another available file system.

Conclusion

As you can see, the best free HDD raw copy tool - AOMEI Backupper Standard can help you create a hard disk raw copy in just a few clicks. If you don’t want an exact hard disk raw copy, you can use it to clone only the used space of a disk (uncheck “Sector by sector clone”) so as to save your time and disk space.

Besides the cloning feature, AOMEI Backupper Standard is also a comprehensive backup tool that provides many other features to help you protect your hard drive data, like hard drive image backup, system backup, file sync, etc. Just try it by yourself now!