Are you wondering the best software for creating a local backup of hard drives, a bootable USB or DVD/CD drive, or migrating data from one PC to another? These top best cloning software are trustworthy choices for you.
Hard drive cloning is the act of creating 1 to 1 copy of hard drive content or solid-state drive. The hard drive contents are stored as a disk image file, and you can easily transfer them to storage devices such as a USB drive, hard drive, or DVD.
In the case that there is a failure of your original hard drive, it is possible for you to easily swap it with the clone. This prevents you from reinstalling system software.
Below is a curated list of the top best cloning software alongside their common features. The list has both commercial (paid) software and open source (free).
Migrate Data from One PC to Another with the Best Cloning Software
1. Acronis
Acronis is known for cloning the operating system, drives, patches, and software of a computer. It lets you clone the configurations of various computers to identically set up each system.
- Features of Acronis
- Acronis provides the easiest method of cloning your disk and backing up your data.
- It protects your important data by using rigid security.
- Acronis defines where, what, and when to back up your important data.
- It provides your complete PC image at a go.
2. Paragon Drive Copy
This cloning software enables you to carry out disk migration to a larger drive. Paragon Drive Copy allows you to effectively manage hard disks partitions.
- Features of Paragon Drive Copy
- Paragon Drive Copy possesses an in-built wizard that helps you restore different kinds of images.
- The software lets its users carry out partitioning activities to ensure disks are properly organized.
- It restores/copies files to a hard disk with different sizes of a sector.
- Paragon Drive Copy helps you clone your OS to a USB flash and use it.
- With Paragon Drive Copy, you can keep your disk properly organized.
3. O&O DiskImage
O&O DiskImage is a cloning software that lets you restore the system and clone or duplicate a PC or hard drive. The software supports Windows, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.
- Features of O&O DiskImage
- O&O DiskImage helps you adjust a connected monitor's selected DPI setting.
- It offers warning and monitoring of security risks.
- It allows you to directly create virtual hard disks.
- O&O DiskImage has improved functionalities to control through Command Lines.
- It lets you boost the system suing drive integration.
- With O&O DiskImage, you can easily restore disk, drives, folders, and files.
4. EaseUS Todo Backup
EaseUS Todo Backup is a cloning software used for cloning a smaller hard disk drive to a larger one. It also enables you to clone Hard Disk Drive (HDD) to Solid-State Drive (SSD) to increase performance.
- Features of EaseUS Todo Backup
- With EaseUS Todo Backup, you can easily restore disk, partition, system, or files.
- Its product enables you to back up your system or recover deleted data.
- It ensures you clone multiple partitions or one partition rather than the whole disk. This is done to avoid the loss of data.
- EaseUS Todo Backup lets you clone GUID Partition Table (GPT) disk to Master Boot Record (MBR) disk or MBR disk to GPT disk from your small size to large size disk.
5. AOMEI Backupper
This cloning software allows you to effectively transfer your OS to another drive without installing it again. AOMEI Backupper enables you to upgrade your hard disk from old to new.
- Features of AOMEI Backupper
- AOMEI Backupper helps you access important files on your laptop, mobile phone, or tablet with your cloud network account.
- It provides services for Windows, Windows 8, Windows 10, etc.
- It clones SSD to SSD, HDD (Hard Disk Drive) to SSD (Solid-State Drive), HDD to HDD for data migration and disk upgrades.
- This software also supports MBR (Master Boot Record) and GPT (GUID Partition Table) partition styles.
- It carries out the data cloning sector by sector.
- It allows you to clone disk to another without disturbing OS (Operating System).
6. MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard is a cloning tool for checking file systems and managing disk partitions. It carries out the read and write speed measurement under disk access scenarios, such as sequential or random.
- Features of MiniTool Partition Wizard
- This software helps you recover data and partition.
- MiniTool Partition Wizard helps you convert New Technology File System (NTFS) to File Allocation Table (FAT).
- It allows you to migrate the OS to SSD.
- The software also lets you resize or move the partition.
- MiniTool Partition Wizard enables you to check the file that is occupying too much disk space.
7. Active@ Disk Image
This cloning software is one of the best cloning software. It acts as a handy hard disk image software for creating a similar copy of Blu-ray, HDD, USB, SSD, etc. and saves it in a folder. Active@ Disk Image can also be used for various purposes such as backups, disk duplication, or PC upgrades.
- Features of Active@ Disk Image
- Active@ Disk Image allows you to verify the image after creating it.
- It restores removable disks, solid-state drives, and fixed hard disks.
- A copy of hard drives or disk partition consists of only occupied sectors.
- The software offers image compression.
- It allows you to mount images as a virtual drive.
- Active@ Disk Image supports Windows Vista, Windows 10, 8, 7, XP, Server 2012, and 2003.
8. Macrium Reflect 7
Macrium Reflect 7 offers a backup and disk cloning and imaging solution for personal and commercial use. The software provides direct disk cloning and a more secure way to save your personal and commercial data. The software allows you to back up your USB, local, and networked drives.
- Features of Macrium Reflect 7
- Macrium Reflect 7 restores for fast DR and also offers fast data cloning.
- It helps you schedule your backup using flexible templates.
- Macrium Reflect 7 encrypts your backups.
- With this software, you can easily boost your backup in Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines.
- It also helps you create a running/live Windows OS images.
- Macrium Reflect 7 increases your computer disk space by rapid delta cloning.
9. Clonezilla
Clonezilla is a cloning or disk imaging program. It enables you to clone FreeBSD, MS windows, Intel-based Mac OS, and Linux/GNU.
- Features of Clonezilla
- Clonezilla allows you to customize your cloning and imaging.
- It provides GPT and BMR hard disk partition formats.
- The tool also offers AES-256 encryption to safeguard transfer, storage, and data access.
- It supports multicasting.
- It lets you restore various local devices.
- With Clonezilla, you can restore a single image to numerous local devices.
10. R-Drive Image
R-Drive Image software offers disk image files creation used for backup and duplicatingprocesses. R-Drive Image consists of the exact copy of a partition, logical disk, and hard drive.
- Features of R-Drive Image
- R-Drive Image possesses multiple language user interfaces.
- The software is capable of connecting its images files as read-only virtual drives.
- It helps you clone disk by copying data from the source disk to the target one.
- R-Drive Image enables you to restore images to their original disks, new disks, partitions, or hard drive's free space.
- It can create images without having to restart your Windows system.
- With R-Drive Image, you can save drive image files in removable media like DVD/CD-R (W), Jazz disks, Iomega Zip, etc.
11. DriveImage XML
DriveImage XML is an effective cloning software. It is used for imaging/backing up logical drives and partitions. DriveImage XML helps you store images in XML files. It processes the stored images with third-party software.
- Features of DriveImage XML
- DriveImage XML allows you to restore images to different or the same drive.
- It offers scheduling automatic backups.
- The software allows you to run DriveImage live CD or WinPE boot CD-ROM.
- DriveImage XML enables you to extract files, browse images and views.
- With DriveImage, you can easily copy directly from one hard disk to another hard disk.
12. Iperius Backup
This cloning software is an image backup software for Windows 10. Iperius Backup enables you to create disk images. It helps you clone drive images and automatically sends the cloned images to the cloud. Iperius Backup supports cloud services like Azure Storage, Amazon S3, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc. It secures the cloud backup with AES 256-bit encryption. It does this to ensure that your data is kept safe.
- Features of Iperius Backup
- Iperius Backup offers you a central perspective to monitor backups such as VMs, databases, or files.
- It allows those who use a virtual machine to backup Hyper-V and VMware ESXi machines without turning them off. It also lets you reinstall your disk images in a few clicks when recovering your system.
- Iperius Backup is capable of backing up databases such as MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MySQL, and Oracle.
- The software supports a variety of virtual and database services.
13. Symantec Ghost Solution Suite
Symantec Ghost Solution Suite is a development tool and imaging software used by users to deploy Linux, Mac, and Windows operating systems. Symantec has a built-in web-based user interface. The web-based user interface is designed with wizards to enable you to backup images.
This cloning software is designed for businesses that want an easy-to-use first-class imaging tool.
- Features of Symantec Ghost Solution Suite
- Symantec Ghost Solution Suite deploys computers in large groups.
- It offers a complete system to reduce costs and improve response time for both small and big jobs.
- Symantec Ghost Solution Suite allows you to migrate, manage, and deploy irrespective of your special IT requirements or organization's size.
- It allows you to re-image computer hard drives, distribute drives and patches, upgrade computers, or migratea large group of users to new computers such as installed programs and custom settings.
- It also allows you to remotely manage all kinds of devices like servers, notebooks, and desktops via the phases of lifecycle management and computer deployment.
- Symantec Ghost Solution Suite captures an image (the hard drive's clone) from a reference computer. It then distributes the image to either set up new computers or reinstall computers to their basic configuration.
14. PING
This cloning software is one of the most efficient Linux toolboxes you can find in the market today. It can be used to rescue a system. The software is a live Linux ISO based on the LFS (Linux From Scratch) documentation. You can easily burn PING on a CD and booted. It can also be integrated into TFTP/PXE environment.
- Features of PING
- PING locally restores and backs up files or partitions to the network (SSHFS, FTP, NFS, or MS Network Shared directory).
- It helps you format and partition a disk before installing Windows. This is done to ensure the installation of your unattended Windows will occur on the right partition).
- It enables you to create your own restoration bootable DVD.
- It enables you to either integrate within a RIS/PXE environment or burn a bootable DVD/CD.
- PING also lets your Microprocessor on the computer start and then manage the operating system's related data flow and some other attached devices.
- It enables you to restore/back up Basic Output/Input System Data.
- PING helps you restore and back up hard drives easily.
- The software is configured to protect the data on a system by restore/backup features.
15. DataNumen Disk Image
DataNumen Disk Image is a powerful and free cloning software used for restoring and cloning drives or disks. It allows you to create and restore drive or disk image byte by byte. DataNumen Disk Image is useful for forensic, drive & disk copy/cloning, and data backup & recovery.
- Features of DataNumen Disk Image
- DataNumen Disk Image works on all Windows operating systems.
- It works with all types of disks and drives.
- The software also supportsthe cloning of multiple disks in batches.
- It uses specified data as a substitute for damaged sectors.
- It also carries out data cloning from corrupted media.
16. iSumsoft Cloner
iSumsoft Cloner is a disk and partition cloning software. It enables you to do bare metal recovery, backup, and system deployment.
- Features of iSumsoft Cloner
- iSumsoft Cloner helps you create a WinPE boot disk that lets you clone hard drive, partition, and Windows system without even logging in to Windows.
- The software clones one hard drive to another hard drive and preserves all data and partition's integrity.
- It also backs up and restores Windows system/partition without data loss.
- It copies one partition to another partition/hard drive.
- iSumsoft replaces your PC's hard drive without data loss or reinstalling Windows.
- It helps you copy the Windows system from a hard drive to another hard drive like from HDD to SSD and keeps the destination hard drive bootable.
Conclusion
With this list of top best cloning software, we hope it's been helpful in your decision to choose the best cloning software. In selecting the best cloning software, you should consider your needs and budget.
If you desire a free app with image and basic disk cloning features, then go for EaseUS Todo Backup, AOMEI Backupper Standard, and Macrium Reflect. If you are a professional user, you should consider Clonezilla free, open-source software for disk management.
On the other hand, the best products for advanced disk management include MiniTool Partition Wizard and Paragon Software Hard Disk Manager.
