Free to Clone Ext4 Partition in Windows 10, 8, 7

When need to clone Ext4 partition in Windows?

“I have an Ext4 partition (with Linux operating system installed) on my internal hard disk, now I want to clone it to an external hard drive to boot another computer from Linux OS. But I don’t know how to clone Ext4 Linux partition in the Windows environment. Any idea? Thanks a lot!”

It is well-known that Ext4, Ext3 and Ext2 are the default file system format for the Linux operating system and we cannot access those Ext partitions in Windows computer. To run Linux on Windows for dual boot, it is necessary format drive to Ext4, and install Linux OS onto it. However, when you want to make an exact copy of the original Ext4 partition or transfer Linux to a different partition, cloning the Ext4 partition will be a perfect solution.

Freeware to clone Ext Linux partition in Windows

Partition clone is not the same thing as “Copy and Paste” like you do to copy personal files. The core difference is that partition clone can copy everything related to the partition such as partition settings, file layout, partition type, hidden files or folders, etc while “Copy and Paste” cannot. Therefore, everything on the target partition can work as normal afterward. For example, the cloned OS and applications can load up and run successfully.

To clone Ext4 partition in Windows 11/10/8/7, you can use the AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. This freeware can clone Ext4/Ext3/Ext2 Linux partition and NTFS/FAT32/exFAT partition on all editions of Windows 11/10/8/7. Besides, it provides “Clone Partition Quickly” and “Sector-by-Sector Clone” methods: the first one only clones the used sectors to the target partition and allows you to clone a bigger partition to smaller partition while the second one clone used and unused sectors to destination partition.

However, you should know that you can only clone Ext4 partition by “Sector-by-Sector Clone” since Ext4 is a Linux file system and cannot be recognized by Windows. Namely, you cannot clone Ext4/Ext3/Ext2 to smaller partitions. Now download the freeware and read the rest content to learn how to copy Ext4 partition to another larger partition.

Steps to free clone Ext4 partition in Windows 10/8/7

Now, we will explain how to clone Ext4, Ext3 and Ext2 partition on Windows PC step by step. First of all, please check out the following precautions:

▸Only the unallocated space can be selected as the destination space, so please make one by shrinking or deleting another partition in advance.
▸Ensure the destination unallocated space is large enough to hold all sectors on the Ext4 partition.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant,  right-click the partition you want to clone and select the "Clone Partition" tool to run partition clone. (You can also click the "Clone" main tab and select "Clone Partition".)

Step 2. In next window, select the destination partition or unallocated space to hold your source partition, and then click "Confirm".

Step 3. Then, you will enter the Confirm interface where you can check the source and destination clone location. After all is set, you can click the "Confirm" button to continue.

Notes:

• There is a "4k alignment" option. If you want to copy a partition onto a SSD (Solid State Drive), ticking this option will optimize the read and write speed on this partition. It can also extend the life of the SSD.
• If you select the "Sector-by-Sector Clone" mode, the unallocated space must be equal or larger than source partition. If you tick the option, it will be unable to resize the destination partition.

Step 4. In the next window, you can click the "Settings" button to adjust the target partition size. As you can see from the screenshot, you could adjust the size of source partition in order to fit the target partition as per your need, or directly skip the step and click "Save".

Step 5. You can preview the partition copy operating by viewing the "Pending Operations". To commit the "Pending Operations", please click "Apply" and "Proceed".

The cloning process will start and you can check the cloning process. Once the process is completed successfully, you will get a congratulation window. Finally, you can check the partition layout on the destination disk will be identical to the source partition.

Wait for a while and the clone will be completed. If you are planning to clone NTFS partition, FAT32 partition or exFAT partition, the steps are quite similar.

Summary

So, with the help of AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, you can clone Ext4 partition on Windows computer within 5 steps. In addition, this freeware also supports cloning hard disk, merging partitions, converting MBR and GPT without deleting partitions. To enjoy more advanced features like allocate free space, migrate OS to SSD, quick partition a large disk, convert dynamic disk to basic one without losing data, you can upgrade to Professional edition.