There are many online and offline PC backup solutions available to protect your important data. One such backup solution is to use cloning software for windows 10 to make an exact copy of your storage drive.
A cloning software for windows 10 will make a bit-by-bit copy of your storage drive on a new storage drive, allowing you to keep using it without having to reinstall Windows or any other cloning software for windows 10.
Let’s take a look at how disc cloning can help you and the best cloning software for windows 10 on the market to make the process go more smoothly.
Why clone software your storage drive?
Cloning a storage drive is typically done for one of two reasons: to create an exact backup of data or to migrate to a new storage drive. If your first drive’s data is ever lost, you can boot from the other drive and carry on as if nothing had happened.
When it comes to cloning, a storage drive makes an exact copy of itself that you can use to migrate to another drive. If you have a slow HDD and want to upgrade to an SSD, cloning software will make moving everything from the HDD to the SSD a breeze.
Pros
- Cloning makes moving to backup storage easier and faster because you don’t have to reinstall the operating system or configure the settings.
- By cloning multiple storage devices, you can install the same operating system with custom data and configuration on multiple computers.
- Data from multiple computers can be easily managed and restored in the event of a failure.
- To use the backup, the cloning software does not need to be installed on the other storage drive.
Cons:
- Cloning takes up more space than other backup solutions because it creates an exact copy of the storage drive.
- To backup data, you’ll need another storage drive; backups can’t be done on the same drive.
- To update any new changes, full cloning is required (in most cases); differential or incremental backups are not possible.
Now that you know why you should use cloning software for windows 10, take a look at the cloning software for windows 10 listed below.
7 Best Cloning Software for Windows 10
1. Paragon Drive Copy
You can use Paragon Drive Copy to make a full drive clone, a partition clone, or a simple operating system clone. This tool is actually a small part of the main Paragon Hard Disk Manager application. Fortunately, it can be purchased separately for half the price, so you won’t have to purchase the full software if you only need the cloning software for windows 10.
You have complete control over which data you want to clone and which you want to leave alone with Drive Copy. It supports both MBT and GPT partitions and includes some basic partitioning functions such as merging and splitting partitions.
2. Acronis Disk Director
Acronis Disk Director is one of the few disc management cloning software for windows 10 packages that includes both drive management and cloning capabilities. It supports file systems such as FAT32, NTFS, FAT16, Ext2, Ext3, Reiser3, SWAP, and Linux because it’s a Windows-only cloning tool. While cloning gives you complete control over what data you want to clone and even allows you to manage partitions directly from the interface.
Without using any other software, you can create new partitions, split/merge them, and label them. It can also be used to recover volumes that have been deleted or corrupted by accident. You can use it to create a single volume from multiple drives, convert a disc from basic to dynamic, create bootable media, and optimize drive space, among other things.
And yet, at $49.99 for a single licence, I believe Acronis Disk Director provides far more value than other paid tools. However, it would be redundant if you didn’t need the other disc management features. You can try the Acronis Disk Director Demo version if you’re interested. It’s a fully functional version, but only up to 10GB of disc space is supported.
3. Iperius Backup
The paid version of Iperius Backup does an excellent job of cloning by allowing you to create customized clones on both storage drives and virtual machines. You can clone an entire disc, a partition, or a system; there are also dedicated options for cloning software for windows 10 and starting a virtual machine system.
If you really want to run your existing system inside of a virtual environment and avoid risks, this can be extremely useful. Apart from cloning, the software also allows you to create backup images and update them using a differential and incremental backup system. You can save the backup both online and offline, and you can compress and encrypt it if necessary.
4. EaseUS Todo Backup
EaseUS Todo Backup is worth purchasing if you need both a backup and cloning tool. It also has a good free version, but it’s limited to creating backup images and can’t clone storage drives. The paid version, on the other hand, is much better at cloning and allows you to clone the OS, a partition, or the entire disc.
It has dedicated options for moving the system drive to a new storage drive and booting from there, which is useful if you need to migrate your operating system from an HDD to an SSD. You can also create a bootable USB drive from your current OS and use it from anywhere.
Its backup solutions, in addition to cloning, are quite comprehensive. You can make file backups or full system image backups, and you can encrypt the data to keep it safe. Online and offline backups can be stored on the same storage drive, external drive, FTP server, NAS, or cloud storage. The cloning software for windows 10 also includes a 30-day free trial version that includes most of the premium features but with slower backup and restore speeds.
5. Macrium Reflect
If you’re new to cloning and don’t want to break the bank, Macrium Reflect is the way to go. Although it is not as powerful as Clonezilla, Macrium Reflect’s free version is very comprehensive and easy to use. You can create backup images or full disc clones with the free version, which is available for both personal and commercial use.
You can also use different schedule templates to schedule backups. Although the free version is adequate for backups and whole-disk cloning, if you want more features, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid (and rather expensive) version. The most important feature of the paid version is the ability to use their Rapid Delta Cloning technology.
This enables the differential backup method to be used on a cloned storage, which is impossible with other software. Macrium Reflect will only update new changes rather than creating a completely new clone if you need to update the cloned storage drive. This feature, however, requires that both storage drives use the NTFS file system. Aside from that, the premium version protects you from ransomware and allows you to encrypt backup data.
6. Clonezilla SE
I wouldn’t call it the best cloning software for windows 10 on the market, but it is the most comprehensive free cloning software available. Clonezilla is an open-source cloning software that is available in two versions: Clonezilla live and Clonezilla SE. Clonezilla Live is designed for home users who want to clone to a single storage drive, while Clonezilla SE is designed for businesses who want to clone up to 40 computers at once.
The software can clone Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and even Chrome OS because it supports almost all file systems. It is also not limited by partition type, so you can use legacy BIOS or UEFI to clone MBR or GPT partitions. If necessary, the data can be encrypted using AES-256. Its user interface isn’t particularly intuitive, but cloning a single drive is a simple process. However, cloning to multiple computers or using multicast can be difficult for inexperienced users.
7. AOMEI Backupper
A reliable free version of AOMEI Backupper is also available, which can handle both backups and cloning. In terms of cloning, the free version allows you to create a full disc clone or a partition clone. You’ll need to upgrade to the pro version to create the operating system clone. The free version also includes nearly all of the necessary backup and restore functions.
System backups, partition backups, file backups, incremental/differential backups, sector-by-sector backups, and much more are all possible. The majority of the pro version’s features are unrelated to cloning, so the free version should suffice if you only need to clone the operating system.
The pro version, on the other hand, allows you to split/merge backups, sync data in real time, mirror backups, create event-triggered backups, filter file types, encrypt backup images, and backup/restore dynamic discs. I liked that AOMEI Backupper provides customer support (on working days only) even in their free version, which is unusual in other software.
Conclusion
If you’re not familiar with the growing process, I recommend trying cloning software for windows 10 AOMEI Backupper or Macrium Reflect. Both have free versions that are reliable and have a user-friendly interface, making the cloning process simple for you. If you want comprehensive cloning software for windows 10, Clonezilla and Acronis Disk Director, whether free or paid, are your best bets.
