Free Download The Best WD Cloning Software

WD (Western Digital) is a renowned company known for designing and manufacturing reliable data storage devices like HDDs, SSDs, and portable disks for users worldwide. As technology advances, the demand for upgrading disks, cloning for backup, and saving time through multiple installations has grown significantly among WD users.

At this time, having effective cloning software becomes necessary to streamline these tasks and conserve both time and effort. So, today, we will focus on WD clone software and share something you may want to know.

Does Western Digital have its clone hard drive software?

Regrettably, Western Digital has not introduced its proprietary cloning software; but it recommends using a tool called Acronis True Image for Western Digital, which offers both backup and cloning features. With it, you can access the "Clone Disk" option by clicking on "Tools" in the sidebar, which will lead you to the cloning wizard. Following the steps will complete the cloning process, which is not overly complex.

However, there are some limitations you need to know. First, the WD clone software will only work if you have a Western Digital hard drive. If you try to use it with a different type of hard drive, it may not work with an error message.

Second, the Acronis True Image WD edition cannot recognize Western Digital HDD/SSD devices formatted with exFAT. To resolve this, you need to format exFAT to FAT32 or NTFS, as exFAT is commonly used for modern digital drives.

Third, even if you have a WD hard drive or SSD connected to your computer, there might be times when the Acronis True Image SSD clone software doesn't duplicate your chosen disk exactly the way you want it to due to compatibility, configurations or disk conditions.

What is the best WD clone software?

We can see, the suggested cloning software may exclude many users for its brands limitation and compatibility. If you want to choose a suitable cloning software for an alternative, it is better to equip with these traits:

Based on these features, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard stands out with its “Clone Disk” feature. Thanks to its user-friendly interface, it makes drive cloning accessible to users of all skill levels, without any brand restrictions. All data on your old drive including programs, files, and even OS can be transferred within few steps.

Furthermore, it achieves an ideal balance between versatility and cost-effectiveness. If you upgrade to the Professional Edition, functions like App Mover, Allocate Free Space, Merge Partitions can help you extend drive space effortlessly. For performance enhancements and keep computer health, it can also share various solutions.

Now, I will show you how to use the WD clone software to transfer data.  Before starting, we need to make some preparations in advance.

Preparations:
✎ Firstly, connect the new disk to your PC and make sure it can be detected. If your PC has no extra disk bay for it, you need a USB-to-SSD cable.
✎ What you should pay attention to is that the capacity of the new disk should not be smaller than the used space of your current disk.
✎ Please initialize the SSD if it's new. When setting the partition style, please set the partition style(MBR or GPT) as the same as the HDD. 

Then, you can follow the guide about how to clone HDD to SSD in Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7. 

Step 1. Install and run the cloning software for the hard drive. Click "Clone" on the top pane, and select “Clone Disk”.

Step 2. In this window, you need to choose a copying method to clone to SSD. Here "Clone Disk Quickly" is selected.

▪ Clone Disk Quickly only copies the used space of the source disk to SSD. The destination SSD should be larger than the used space of the source disk and can be smaller than the source disk.
▪ Sector-by-Sector Clone copies all sectors of the source disk to SSD no matter it is used or not. The target SSD should be larger than the source HDD or SSD.

Step 3. Select the disk that all data including OS needs to be migrated as the source disk.

Step 4. Choose the new SSD as your destination disk. Tick the box before "Optimize the performance of SSD" to run 4K alignment.

Step 5. Here you can adjust the partition size on the destination disk. When cloning to a smaller disk, the first option will be greyed out.

▪ Clone without resizing partitions: Keep the size of source partitions.
▪ Fit partitions to the entire disk: Adjust the partition size automatically to fit the whole target disk.
▪ Edit partitions on this disk: Change partition size manually on the destination disk as you like.

Step 6. You’ll get a note here. Keep it in mind and click “Finish”.

Step 7. In the main interface, hit the “Apply” and “Proceed”  button in turn to commit the operation.

▌Tip: How to boot from the new disk after clone
That is how to use the Western Digital Drive clone software to transfer data. If you do not know how to boot from the new disk, you can follow this guidance. Here we take an SSD as an example.

▶ If your PC can only accommodate one disk, you need to remove the old hard drive and install the new SSD.

Step 1. Unplug the power, remove the battery from the laptop, and press and hold the power button for around 10 seconds to release any residual power.

Step 2. Remove the case cover and locate the old hard drive on the motherboard. Loosen the screw and unplug your old disk. 

Step 3. Install the new SSD into the slot and screw the screws to fasten the bracket.

Step 4. Finally, place the case cover and battery back onto the laptop; and connect the power.

▶ If it's available to hold the old hard drive and new SSD on the PC, you can enter BIOS to set the new SSD as the first boot device. 

Step 1. Reboot the PC and press a functional key (ESC, F1, F2, F8, or F10) during the startup screen to enter BIOS. 

Step 2. In the BIOS setup, go to the Boot tab and use arrow keys to set the new SSD as the first position in the list. 

Step 3. Save and exit from the BIOS setup. 

Further reading: How to move OS only with AOMEI Partition Assistant?

The Disk Clone feature of Western Digital clone software provides users with the flexibility to transfer specific components, allowing users to replicate all the original data to the new drive. However, if you want to move original operating system only, there is an additional function called "Migrate OS" available to assist you.

This function is specifically designed to move your operating system and its associated data to the new drive. With this, there is no need for reinstalling applications or reconfiguring any Windows settings.

Verdict

The best WD clone software is introduced here. You can download it to effortlessly upgrade a drive or make a backup. Afterward, the software AOMEI Partition Assistant can share a powerful hand for your computer management. Except for the aforementioned functions, you can rely on it to fix computer issues like rebuild MBR or convert system disk between MBR/GPT as well. By the way, if you are a Windows Server user, here is the Server Edition that can be downloaded for your device compatibility.