Top 5 Free Hard Drive Cloning Software | Handpicked List

When need the hard drive cloning software?

As its name implies, hard drive cloning software is a tool used to copy a hard drive (SSD, HDD, USB flash drive, SD card, etc.) to another storage media, through which you can migrate all contents from one location to another different one. So, the hard drive cloning program is necessary whenever you need to clone a disk for any one of the following purposes.

✎ Back up and protect vital data: Many accidents might lead to data loss when you use your computer. With the hard drive duplicated beforehand, you can get back crucial data when the original disk fails.
✎ Replace an old hard drive with a new one: With the usage of your hard drive, you may feel that your hard drive is too old to run well. Thus, you need to change your old hard drive to a new one.
✎ Upgrade HDD to SSD: It’s well known that SSD (solid state drive) has better properties than HDD (hard disk drive). So, more users would like to clone HDD to SSD for an upgrade.

List of best 5 free hard drive cloning software for Windows OS

There are many species of hard drive cloning software available for your choice. But finding out the best one is a challenging task. To save your time and energy, we have searched the internet and picked the best six HDD to SSD cloning software with the highest score and most praise.

# 1. AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard

Suitable for: Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista system; home, individual, commercial and non-commercial use
Price: 100% free

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is a reliable disk management and cloning tool that can be used to create/delete/resize/move/clone partitions, etc. It has been specializing in disk cloning for many years. Its graphical interface and easy-to-follow steps are friendly to all levels of users.

✍ Features:

✔ Available to clone disks and copy partitions.

✔ Offer intelligent cloning methods: Clone Disk Quickly and Sector-by-Sector Clone.

✔ Support cloning hard drives of different sizes.

✔ Be flexible to edit partition size and complete the clone simultaneously.

✔ Able to clone drive with bad sectors and BitLocker drive.

✍ Limitations:

✘ Only support cloning MBR data disk for free.

Review: AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard comes with a lot of useful features to clone disks and partitions. The only demerit is the standard edition just supports MBR data disk clones, but this can be easily overcome by upgrading to its Pro edition.

# 2. Macrium Reflect

Suitable for: Windows XP+ system; home, personal, commercial, and non-commercial use
Price: Free & paid

Macrium Reflect is versatile hard drive cloning software that can be used to clone and image disks, partitions, and individual files. It allows you to restore the image in the event of a partial or complete system failure.

✍ Features:

✔ Be able to clone the entire hard drive or partition.

✔ Support making backup images of folders and files.

✔ Available for SSD trim.

✍ Limitations:

✘ No incremental backup.

✘ No backup sync.

Review: Macrium Reflect is more like a disk & file image app that can quickly create a backup of hard drives and files. If you are for home and personal use, the free version is enough. The paid version is more recommended for professional users and businesses.

# 3. AOMEI Backupper Standard

Suitable for: Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista system; home, individual, commercial and non-commercial use
Price: Free

AOMEI Backupper Standard is reliable Windows backup software to safeguard operating systems, data, and applications using backup, restore, or clone features. Its free network cloning and image development is being favored all over the world.

✍ Features:

✔ Offer disk cloning and imaging.

✔ Support incremental backup, automatic backups, and real-time sync.

✔ Able to image and restore individual files, apps, folders, and entire disk partitions.

✔ Clone only used space or sector by sector.

✔ Allow SSD alignment.

✍ Limitations:

✘ Slow backup time.

✘ Not support system disk clone between MBR and GPT.

Review: AOMEI Backupper Standard is great for data backup. Its professional backup feature can always protect your system against crashes. Although some users complain about its backup time, it’s easy to understand when you think of it’s free.

# 4. O&O Disk Image

Suitable for: Windows 7+ operating systems; personal and commercial use
Price: Free & paid.

O&O Disk Image is a disk management application that can back up the entire system while the computer is being used. Its clean and simple interface allows users to easily clone and make a duplicate of the entire hard disk.

✍ Features:

✔ Available to backup and restore individual files/folders.

✔ Support imaging and restoring individual drives/partitions.

✔ Equipped with incremental and differential backups.

✔ Able to make images of used sectors only.

✍ Limitations:

✘ No advanced disk cloning features.

Review: O&O Disk Image is a good disk image & clone tool but when compared with other competing hard drive cloning software, it lacks more advanced disk cloning features for the different cloning needs.

# 5. Clonezilla

Suitable for: Linux, Mac, and Windows systems; personal and commercial use
Price: Free and open-source.

Clonezilla is the most widely applicable HDD to SSD cloning software. It is compatible with a range of operating systems. This hard drive cloning and imaging application has been welcomed by millions of users for its fast backup time and great cloning features.

✍ Features:

✔ Support multicast cloning

✔ Apply to AES 256 encryption

✔ Able to clone MBR and GPT partition

✍ Limitations:

✘ No differential or incremental backup

✘ Online imaging or cloning is not supported.

✘ The user interface is difficult to operate.

Review: Although Clonezilla is a powerful open-source disk cloner and image program, that has attracted several computer users, most of them give up using this tool when seeing its complicated interface and navigation.

Conclusion

We hope you can select the best disk cloning tool for yourself after looking through our list of the top six hard drive cloning software in this passage.

If you want a tool that offers basic disk cloning and imaging features, the available products include Macrium Reflect, AOMEI Backupper Standard, and Clonezilla is more suitable for sophisticated users.

For advanced disk management features, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard and O&O Disk Image should be your top priority.

FAQs

Is there a free way to clone a hard drive?

While Windows lacks a native SSD cloning tool for transferring data from one hard drive to another, you can choose to use third-party disk cloning software for free. These applications help in quickly migrating data from HDD to SSD regardless of size without reinstalling the operating system or applications.

Does Windows 10 have disk cloning software?

Yes, Windows 10 does not have built-in disk cloning software. However, you can use a variety of third-party disk cloning tools to clone a hard drive or SSD. Some popular options include AOMEI Partition Assistant, EaseUS Todo Backup, Macrium Reflect, Acronis True Image, and Clonezilla. These tools provide various features and functionality for disk cloning, backup and recovery purposes. You can choose the one that best suits your needs and preferences.

Which software is best for cloning?

The "best" disk cloning software can vary depending on your specific needs and preferences. However, a highly regarded option is AOMEI Partition Assistant. It offers a user-friendly interface and a wide range of features for disk management. Many users find AOMEI Partition Assistant to be reliable and efficient for their disk cloning needs.

Does cloning drive copy everything?

Cloning an SSD requires copying all the data in the source drive, including the operating system (OS), installed programs, files, and configuration. This process creates an identical copy of the source drive on the destination SSD, guaranteeing that everything will be transferred, including the operating system.