what happens when cloning a HDD

[leon]

Hi Guys, just asking please, if one clones their hard drive what actually is copied.
Is it everything on the source drive copied or just certain sectors.

Thank You:thumbsup:

[bojan]

It is 100% accurate copy... says Google.

[leon]

Thanks Bojan, well I tried it with Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office and it was a total screw up and failed miserably as did the back up of my SSD.

It started ok than told me that it had 1 day and 7 hours to go and shortly after it just closed down.
I couldn't then access my Computer anymore and had to hold down the start button to literally close it down.

It fired up again and is ok, but I am very disappointed as I paid for this program.

Leon

[astro744]

I have used the free version of this one to clone a HDD onto SSD and also clone smaller SSD to larger SSD.

https://www.aomeitech.com/ab/standard.html

The paid version has a few more features and is also not subscription and when upgrading you are offered discount coupons.

I also use Paragon Hard Disk Manager (older version) to resize partitions. AOMEI also have a partition manager.

[astro744]

In answer to your question; the path you take depends on the capacity of each drive.

If the target is smaller that the source but still capable of taking all the data then the target will have to have its data redistributed during the cloning process and you wont be able to do a sector to sector clone. I never do a sector to sector and let the software handle the redistribution and resizing of partitions. Note the free version of the software I mentioned wont allow resizing during the clone so you will end up with empty space at the end. You then need a partition resizing software to stretch the partition to the max. Note SSDs need some space for over-provisioning which you can set-up after the clone.

I usually use the defaults in AOMEI and then resize afterwards with other software. I've only cloned no more than five disks total so there may be other users with better advice.

[RAJAH235]

Hi Leon,
I run ATI 2019 but did not update it to the latest coz 2019 works for me.

Your problems with the new version can be posted on their forum.

Here...> https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-cyber-protect-connect-forum/acronis-cyber-protect-connect-forum

They are usually fairly prompt at replying & are mucho knowledgeable.

Should be able to assist you...no probs.

I've found that ACRONIS can be a tad "buggy" at times.

If you get your version working O.K......maybe don't update it?

[leon]

Thank you all for your responses, I will work through this, and contact the people concerned.

Leon