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How do I clone a drive with multiple partitions?

Author

Sarah Oconnor

Updated on February 23, 2026

How do I clone a drive with multiple partitions?

How to clone multi-partition HDD to SSD?
  1. Download, install and launch AOMEI Backupper Standard.
  2. Select “Disk Clone” under “Clone” tab.
  3. Select HDD as source disk.
  4. Select SSD as destination disk.
  5. Click “Edit partitions on the destination disk”.
  6. Choose the way to arrange multiple partitions on SSD.
  7. Click “Start Clone”.

Also know, how do I clone a hard drive with multiple partitions?

Step by step guide: clone a hard drive with multiple partitions

  1. Download, install and launch AOMEI Backupper Professional.
  2. Choose the old disk with multiple partitions (here is disk0), and then click “Next” to continue.
  3. Choose the destination disk (here is disk1), and then click “Next”.

Likewise, can I clone just a partition? Some users may choose Windows built-in "Backup and Restore" to clone OS partition to SSD. It means that you need to first backup system and then restore it to new SSD. To make things easier, you can choose to clone only Windows to SSD with disk cloning software.

Also to know, do I need to clone all partitions?

2 Answers. If your partition layout is standard factory setup, I highly recommend that you clone all partitions to the SSD. These small partitions are for boot and recovery.

How do I clone a partition to a SSD?

How to clone multiple partitions to HDD/SSD [3 steps]

  1. Launch EaseUS Todo Backup Free and click "Clone".
  2. Select destination - new disk (HDD/SSD) to save cloned partitions with data, then click "Next".
  3. Then click "Proceed" to execute all operations and clone one or multiple partitions into new disk drive for free.

Is it better to clone or image a hard drive?

It's possible to clone a disk by using a disk image, but the two are distinctly different in the process they use to copy hard drives. Disk cloning creates a functional one-to-one copy of a hard drive, while disk imaging creates an archive of a hard drive that can be used to make a one-to-one copy.

How do I clone a hard drive with MiniTool partition?

Hard Drive Clone Software – MiniTool Partition Wizard
  1. Step 1: Start the Disk Copying Process. From the available disks, choose the hard drive you want to clone.
  2. Step 2: Select Target Disk.
  3. Step 3: Select Partition Options.
  4. Step 4: Boot from the Destination Disk.
  5. Step 5: Apply the Copied Partitions.

Does cloning a hard drive copy programs?

Disk cloning is the process of copying the entire contents of one hard drive to another including all the information that enables you to boot to the operating system from the drive. A cloning program enables you to make a one-to-one copy of one of your computer's hard drives on another hard drive.

How long does it take to clone a hard drive?

So if your cloning speed is 100MB/s, it takes about 17 minutes to clone a 100GB hard drive. If your cloning process takes 87 minutes to clone 500GB data, it is the average speed.

How do I make a cloned drive bootable?

Press a specific key, usually Del for desktop and F2 for laptop, to enter BIOS settings. > Under Boot tab, make sure the cloned drive is first boot order. * If your cloned drive is a GPT disk, make sure the UEFI boot mode is enabled, and if it is an MBR disk, then set it to Legacy boot mode.

Does Windows 10 have cloning software?

AOMEI Backupper Standard, the best free cloning software for Windows 10 can be your best choice. It can help you clone the entire HDD to another HDD/SSD, including operating system, installed applications and all the other data you will never want to lose.

Do I need to partition a new SSD?

Since there's no moving mechanical component in SSD, the transfer rate of different memory chips in an SSD are almost the same. SSD won't confine the data to a particular physical region of it. Thus you don't need to partition an SSD if you just want to get better performance from it.

How do I clone a partition?

Step 1 Select the partition you want to clone and click Tools -> Clone Partition. Step 2 Select destination partition and click OK. Step 3 Select cloning mode and click Start button. Step 4 Click OK to continue when you see following message box.

Does partition order matter on SSD?

The order of the partitions does not matter.

How do I partition my SSD drive?

If the SSD hasn't been partitioned, you can create partitions on it directly. Step 1: At the start, type Disk Management and you will see a list of connected hard drives. Step 2: Right-click one SSD partition and select "Shrink Volume". Enter the amount of space you want to shrink then click on the "Shrink" button.

What is Lrs_esp?

If your computer boots with UEFI (and it probably does, considering that you have the EFI System Partition), you need the LRS_ESP partition. It contains the OS loader that UEFI-based systems look for. The unnamed 128MB partition is usually called System Reserved, which is leveraged by BitLocker.

What is Pbr_drv?

As Ramhound noted, WINRE_DRV is a partition for Windows Recovery Environment. I suspect PBR_DRV is a partition associated with the Lenovo One-Key Recovery software. Both of these are probably relatively small partitions that are normally hidden from end-users.

How do I clone a partition with Acronis True Image?

  1. Run Acronis True Image and go to Tools -> Clone disk:
  2. Select the Automatic mode to have your old disk's partitions automatically and proportionally resized to fit the new disk:
  3. Select your old hard disk as the source disk and click Next:
  4. Select the new hard disk as the destination disk and click Next:

How do I clone just C drive to SSD?

If you want to clone C drive to SSD, a third-party utility is needed and iSumsoft Cloner -- the professional system and partition cloning software is recommended to you. Just do it! Step 1: Download, install and run iSumsoft Cloner tool. Step 2: Click the Copy option, select the source target and destination target.

How do I clone a 1tb hard drive to a 250gb SSD?

Afterward, you can start cloning your 1TB HDD to a 500GB or 250GB SSD without data loss:
  1. Step 1: Select the source disk.
  2. Step 2: Select the target disk.
  3. Step 3: View the disk layout and edit the target disk partition size.
  4. Step 4: Execute the operation.

What is the difference between clone and image disk?

It's possible to clone a disk by using a disk image, but the two are distinctly different in the process they use to copy hard drives. Disk cloning creates a functional one-to-one copy of a hard drive, while disk imaging creates an archive of a hard drive that can be used to make a one-to-one copy.

What to do after cloning hard drive to SSD?

Part 2.Boot from the cloned SSD
  1. During the process of computer restarting, long press "F2" key (perhaps other keys like DEL) and access to the BIOS environment.
  2. Change the boot order and set the cloned SSD as the boot drive in BIOS.
  3. Press "Enter". Now you should boot the computer from the SSD successfully.

How do I clone my hard drive to SSD without cable?

How to clone HDD to SSD without SATA to USB cable?
  1. Download, install and launch AOMEI Backupper Professional.
  2. Select your HDD as source disk (here is disk 0), then click “Next”.
  3. Select SSD as destination disk (here is disk 1), then click “Next” to continue.
  4. In this window, you can preview the operation result.
  5. Wait for the process to complete and then click “Finish”.

How do I transfer windows to a new SSD?

What You Need
  1. A way to connect your SSD to your computer. If you have a desktop computer, then you can usually just install your new SSD alongside your old hard drive in the same machine to clone it.
  2. A copy of EaseUS Todo Backup.
  3. A backup of your data.
  4. A Windows system repair disc.

How do I boot from a cloned SSD?

Part 2.Boot from the cloned SSD
  1. During the process of computer restarting, long press "F2" key (perhaps other keys like DEL) and access to the BIOS environment.
  2. Change the boot order and set the cloned SSD as the boot drive in BIOS.
  3. Press "Enter". Now you should boot the computer from the SSD successfully.

What is the best free software to clone a hard drive?

EaseUS Todo Backup has its competitiveness. EaseUS free hard drive cloning software is with a slick interface, plus a range of cloning options. Though it's free, you can find an array of functionalities available for time-unlimited use, which you can only see in the commercial versions of its top 3 rivals.

How do I clone to a smaller SSD?

Now let's learn how to copy data from a larger HDD to a smaller SSD:
  1. Step 1: Select the source disk.
  2. Step 2: Select the target disk.
  3. Step 3: View the disk layout and edit the target disk partition size.
  4. Step 4: Execute the operation.