Lucien updated on January 31, 2023 to Disk Clone Solution
Do you want to clone a hard drive in Windows 11? Find out how to clone a hard drive on Windows 11 with or without software by following this guide.
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How do I clone a hard drive in Windows 11? I need to replace my old hard drive with my OS installed. Can I reinstall Windows 11 on my new hard drive or just make a full copy?
Do you know how to clone a hard drive in Windows 11? We have the answer. It's great to have a backup, but it's not always enough. Backup and clone are two different ways of creating a duplicate or copy of data or information.
Backup is primarily used for data protection and disaster recovery purposes, whereas a clone is used for creating an exact replica of a system or data for testing or deployment purposes. It is occasionally necessary to clone the drive for several reasons such as replacing your old hard drive or upgrade hard drive to SSD for better performace. Windows 11 offers various tools and methods to clone a disk, including the built-in feature or a third-party disk cloning software.
Many users may think cloning hard drive is a hard task and beyond their capabilities. To do so, all you need is the appropriate strategy. In this article, we will guide you through the process of cloning a disk in Windows 11 using different methods: clone a disk with the built-in feature or a third-party disk cloning software, such as Donemax Disk Clone for Windows.
The following are the detailed steps for cloning a hard drive by using the control panel with its built-in backup feature on Windows 11.
Step1: Type 'Control' into the Run prompt and press Enter to open Control Panel.
Step 2: Click 'Backup and Restore'.
Step 3: Click 'Create a System Image' on the left panel.
Step 4: You are then asked to select destination to save the system image such as external hard disk, DVD, or network location.
Step 5: Click 'Next' and it will list the drives to be backed up, and the total storage space to be taken up.
Step 6: Click 'Start backup' To initiate system image creation. It will sequentially back up the drives and create a disk image that you can restore.
Step 7: After creating, then you can restore the disk image to the new drive. All the data will be cloned to the new drive in Windows 11.
It's worth nothing that Windows' technique does not create an ISO or a conventional system image, instead, it creates a folder called WindowsImageBackup in which everything is saved. To restore your PC, Windows needs Virtual Hard Disk and other files.
After the process is complete, a system repair disk will be generated. It's a good idea to make one because it will help you boot your computer if it gets corrupted or you receive a BSOD. The repair disk also includes Windows system recovery tools, which can rescue Windows from a serious issue or re-image your machine using a system image.
If you are not a Windows professor, you can try to use a disk cloning software to help you quickly clone a disk on Windows 11 PC. Here, we recommend you to try Donemax Disk Clone - a powerful and easy-to-use disk cloning software for Windows 11.
Just free download and install Donemax Disk Clone for Windows on your Windows 11 PC. Then you can run it to help you clone hard drive.
Donemax Disk Clone at a glance:
| 📋 Tasks to do |
|
 Hard drive |
Compatible with all the hard disk brands including: Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, Toshiba, Lenovo, Sony, Transcend, LaCie, ADATA, etc. |
| 🖥 Windows OS | Support Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista |
| ✉️ Support | Only email support within 24 hours |
| 💰 Price | For 2 Windows PCs: |
👉 To clone an entire disk on Windows 11, just follow the steps below:
Step 1. Run Donemax Disk Clone on your Windows 11 PC, and then choose Disk Clone.
Step 2. Select the source disk and destination disk. Donemax Disk Clone will clone the source disk to the destination disk. Click Next.
Step 3. You can edit the layout of destination disk, and then click Clone.
Donemax Disk Clone will quickly clone the OS and data from the source disk to the destination disk. The cloning process in Windows 11 may take some time, depending on the size of the original disk and the speed of your computer and hard drives.
Must-do Tip Before Disk Cloning:
please back up data on destination hard drive if they are important for all the data on the destination disk will be wiped after cloning.
Stop trying to figure out how to clone a hard disk in Windows 11. We've provided you with a step-by-step guide to help you solve this issue. Cloning a disk in Windows 11 can be a useful way to transfer all your data, applications, and settings from one disk to another. With disk cloning software such as Donemax Disk Clone, the process is simple and straightforward. You don't need to worry about the unexpected failure of your hard disk any more in Windows 11.
Lucien
Contributing Writer
Lucien is a writer and a chief programmer of Donemax software who has worked in the company for 5+ years. He has written much of the content on the site and devotes to providing troubleshooting and solution for Windows and Mac users including disk cloning, data recovery, migration, eraser, error fixes.
Donemax Disk Clone
