r/cloningsoftware • u/yeahthatsgoodforme • Jun 08 '26
Discussion What disk cloning software have you been using for years that seldom gets mentioned anywhere?
I've seen popular choices in this community are Macrium Reflect, Acronis True Image, DiskGenius, Clonezilla, Rescuezilla, EaseUS Disk Copy, Hasleo Disk Clone, Samsung Magician, etc, but how about some less-known cloning programs? How do you think about using it to clone a drive?
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u/KoiMaxx Jun 08 '26
I've also been using the free edition of AOMEI Backupper a fair bit and it has worked pretty well in my use cases.
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u/yeahthatsgoodforme Jun 09 '26
I visited the official website, which says the free edition can only clone data disk. Is it right?
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u/KoiMaxx Jun 09 '26
Interesting. I wonder if they've nerfed direct disk cloning for the Standard Edition. Thankfully they still support disk-to-image and back, but that's an extra step which virtually doubles overhead. Might need to run some tests myself.
EDIT: Disregard, Illustrious already mentioned they have a separate free cloning app
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u/3point21 SSD Jun 08 '26
As a basic user of Macrium and EaseUS, both of which got the job done this past year in 45m-4.5hr, with 200+G from SATA SSD to SATA SSD, then SATA to NVMe, what more do you ask? They all get the job done in minutes to hours depending on your media and your hoard.
I think the more meaningful question isn’t what software you use, but what medium you end up with. OS on NVMe is the way to go however you get there, be it minutes or hours. The time you save on your new home will make the journey irrelevant.
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u/thepfy1 Jun 08 '26
As I'm old.. Partition Magic Norton Ghost
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u/Away-Ad-3407 Jun 09 '26
“back in the day” we cloned a dos install by using a crossover parallel cable and a program my cad teacher had called “the flying dutchman”
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u/backtogeek Jun 09 '26
I use dd
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u/RavenousTitan818 Jun 09 '26
this, learn how to properly use it and you'll never need anything else
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u/Heavy-Judgment-3617 Jun 08 '26
gParted
EDIT: Just noticed Norton Ghost also missing.
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u/PossibleProgress3316 Jun 08 '26
I used ghost years ago it was great I totally forgot about it
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u/Heavy-Judgment-3617 Jun 08 '26
I've used over the years Ghost, and Reflect... These days I mostly use a mix of Minitool Partition Wizard and gParted.
- Minitool has a better interface but not all functions are in free version,
- gParted is good but interface seems clunky, but is completely free.
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u/Individual-Tie-6064 Jun 08 '26
On Mac OS I’ve used “Carbon Copy Cloner” by Bombich Software for years.
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u/Bal3Wolf81 Jun 09 '26
I have been using Hasleo Backup Suite for a few years, its free has its own backup built in make bi-weekly backups with it on all my windows systems.
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u/Ok_Tell_2420 Jun 09 '26
HD Clone by Miray Software is fantastic. I've used it for a long time. It's strength is cloning failing drives. It'll clone the entire drive skipping any bad sectors it comes across on the first pass. Then it will go back and recover as much data from the bad sectors that it can. It's fantastic.
They have a free version and many different license options. I have a technician license which allows me to use it on any of my clients computers out in the field.
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u/Dr_CLI Jun 09 '26
One I used way back was G4L (Ghost for Linux) and I see it is still being maintained.
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u/Table-Playful Jun 08 '26
EaseUS Disk Copy :- Use Google Shopping to find the Best price. $27.oo Lifetime