After a recent failure on one of my W10 laptops, I was forced to use the recovery disc I made up several years ago. I restored W10 but in the process, all of my personal files and application software were wiped. Fortunately, I had most of the important files backed up. But I still had to re-load all of my application software, which was a time consuming nuisance. It got me thinking that making up cloned HDDs for each of my computers would be a good idea in the event of a future similar catastrophe. Just remove the bad HDD then plug in the new pre-cloned HDD. That I can do. But I have never done either a mirror or a clone on a HDD. And so, I don't have any basis for downloading, preferably free, cloning/mirroring software. There is a great deal of internet discussion about all the different cloning software titles and their pros and cons, in fact so much is there that I don't know what opinions are worth anything. I want something which is relatively simple to use, foolproof (and free if possible), and is unlikely to screw up my Windows 10. I pretty much understand the cloning steps, but don't know the best bets on cloning software. I have already purchased off eBay and initialized a cheapie used 1 TB 2.5 SATA HDD for each of my four laptops (I already had external HDD enclosures), but I am holding off on doing the actual act of cloning pending further software research. After all, there is no real hurry. Does anyone have good or bad experiences with specific software they might recommend? Or to avoid?

For windows: Ghost
For linux: Clonzilla (it can clone any drive, but runs under Linux)

Easiest of all: Something like this hardware dock. I don't have this specific model but have one just like it. Plug in two drives and push a button. Doesn't need a computer at all.

Best Hard Drive Duplicator/Cloner Docking Station for 2023

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Common sense isn't so common.

I used Partition Magic to clone my old hard drive to a larger one.

Took around 4 or 5 hours. If anything happens to my current one, I can plug in the old one that I left in the PC in seconds.

Based on this review I bought the Sabrent. 1 hour after Amazon dropped it off my "C" drive was cloned. When I used software it took a couple of hours and was a more complicated process.

Thanks johngalt!

$100 for the StarTech dock is a bargain. How much is your time worth when you have to do a reload of everything. Pretty easy to work all day doing a reinstall after a crash.

I have been doing backups for a while so I use TrueImage software and have it install a backup with autoloading capability on a external drive. If I have a crash I just reboot with that external drive as the boot disk and it does everything from there. I like the idea of that clone docking station a lot but my micro computer is a pain to open up and get to the HDD.

A twin drive RAID approach is what I used to do.
The theoretical lifespan is far longer than we can expect our great grand kids to live.

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it just needs more voltage

I still haven't got back to cloning the BU HDs for all my laptops, but did initialize the hard drives to be used to be sure they are working properly. Maybe I will clone sometime this week or next. Have tentatively decided to use AOMEI Backerupper software, but still looking. Backerupper seems to have some features that others do not.

I've got AOMEI. I have the paid version on Desktop 1 and the free version on desktop 2. When I recently tried to clone the HD on Desktop 2 to an SSD using AOMEI free, it got all the way through the setup process until it told me press the button to begin the clone. Upon pressing the button a screen popped up telling me I need the paid version to clone.

And now for a different prospective!

In my experience, drive back ups are good for about a year. After that, their value becomes questionable and the older your computer becomes, the more questionable they become. The reason is the number of programs you load that get abandoned for various reasons. Even when you delete them, they typically leave garbage in your registry, slowing Windows down and sometimes even making other programs run strangely. Even updating programs can cause debris to get left on both the hard drive and in the registry. That is NOT to say you shouldn't back up personal files such as documents and photos! In those documents, there should be one with all your passwords and another with any software registration/key codes. My docs and pictures get backed up both locally and to the cloud. Locally is far faster for restoration but the cloud offers protection in the event of a fire destroying my system.

After more than a year, your computer will be better off if you reinstall the operating system from scratch, which will make sure the registry is clean, and then reinstall the programs you use. Yes, it's a PITA but you will avoid bringing the trash from the old drive to the new one and will usually result in loading the newest version and drivers. Nor do you have to reload everything at once. Reload the programs you use as you need them. Surprisingly, some programs may not get reloaded for several weeks or even months and you may be surprised to find there are some that never get loaded.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

Good comment regarding AOMEI. I'll look for some other software to use. As I said at first, there is so much internet information about different software used for cloning you don't know who or what to believe. I would trust information coming from anyone here more than from some anonymous person on the internet. As this will probably be a once in a lifetime project, I don't want to put any money needlessly into paid software if there is free software which does a satisfactory cloning job. Seems to me that cloning should have been incorporated as a tool inside Windows, but it was not.

As two of my laptop hard drives already have fresh Windows 10 installed in them, the cloned drives of both should be clean of junk for replacement purposes. My third laptop has Windows 8.1 and it works well even though it has some age on it. It is not too cluttered up. I hope I never need to install the cloned drives. I also hope I dont have to use my spare tire either, but I never drive anywhere without it.

I am protected. small chuckle

I started cloning my hard drive after a woman at my church was the victim of ransomware. I was using AOMEI but had never tried the cloned drive (dumb of me). I recently had reason to use the aomei cloned drive and it wouldn't boot. This meant that I had to reinstall the OS and while that went fine I lost a lot of vintage software.
After cloning with the Sabrent device ($46 on Amazon) the cloned drive ran fine.
I won't use the "cloud" and keep two clones of my C drive in rotation and one clone of my E drive. With a 1 TB Seagate mechanical drive costing about $20 I feel this is a very cost effective solution.
FWIW: I use an SSD for my C drive but use mechanicals for the clones. I also use a program called Revo Uninstaller to remove bits and pieces of old programs. I can't prove it works but it shows me an extensive list of files it has removed.
If I were better with computers I could probably find a simpler solution but this is within my "skillset".

I still use AOMEI for disk backups on 2 desktops and 2 laptops. It has worked well for me for at least 6-7 years. It irritates me there was no "special discount" to upgrade desktop 2 to cloning version since I'm paid up on desktop 1. Here's a site that I use when I'm looking for help. Tab down a bit when you're on it for backup/cloning support.

BleepingComputer | Technical Support Forums

Backup, Imaging, and Disk Management Software Forum - BleepingComputer.com]

Some udder stuff here:

How to Clone a Hard Drive on a PC or Mac | PCMag

I use EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition. It is easy to use and has the ability to move your OS to a new disk, clone your entire disk, or even clone just one or more partition(s) on your disk.

Just my $0.02 worth...

It will be either that or DiskGenius, also free. Have been researching both today. Have not decided which, maybe will try both as I have three laptops to clone. DiskGenius has fairly straightforward explanations and instructions for use on their website.

As I think I said earlier, I bought three used 2.5" HDDs off eBay for the purpose. Two 500 GB @ $7 each, and one 1 TB for $10? All seem to be in working condition. Good enough for standby use.

I found out about those docks when I needed to clone a failing tivo hard drive. It is a custom file system that software utilities couldn't handle. It cloned my tivo drive without a hiccup.

I've just used it to clone identically sized drives, I don't know what happens if they are different.

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Common sense isn't so common.

According to Sabrent it will only clone if the Target drive (in dock B) is the same size or larger than the original (in dock A).
Based on my experience with AOMEI I would suggest verifying cloned drive to be sure your computer will actually boot from it.

The target drive should be no smaller than the original drive. But some cloning software can automatically take care of that. Or you can manually change the original drive partition size containing everything to be cloned to be smaller, assuming the drive is not fully occupied. For example, if the original drive partition is 500 GB, but it actually holds only 220 GB of information, it can be shrunk to 250 GB and cloned onto a 250 GB target HDD. Or so it seems. But I have not tried it. If you want to replace an existing HDD with a new SSD to get faster performance, you do much the dame thing. Clone the contents of the existing HDD to the new SSD, remove the HDD and install the SSD in your computer. The old HDD can then serve as your rescue drive if ever needed.

Generally, the computer's boot priority may need to be changed to see the new cloned drive, but that is simple to do. In fact, any "bootable" drive such as anything attached to a USB port or a DVD/CD disc generally requires changing the boot priority record in order to boot from it. Instructions on how to do that are all over the internet. It usually involves nothing more than turning the computer on and immediately punching the esc key or maybe one of the function keys repeatedly until the boot priority screen comes up and then changing it.

If anyone is interested in the "How To" of cloning and replacing drives, YouTube has many videos explaining it. The worst part is disassembling a laptop case to access the drives, but even that is not particularly difficult after looking at a YouTube video. Usually it involved just removing screws which hold the case together. It is even easier to work on a desktop computer.

One final item. An external SATA enclosure to allow a HDD or SSD to be plugged into a USB port on your computer is needed. Less than $10 on eBay. I think I paid less than $12 for two of them. Just plug in the drive, no more difficult than plugging in an electric plug into a receptacle.