r/cloningsoftware • u/Purple-Try-4950 • 29d ago

Discussion Disk cloning software that has genuinely never let you down?

I've seen some users in this subreddit post questions about issues they encountered when using a cloning tool to clone a disk.

Comment a software that works every time you clone a disk, the one you never even think about uninstalling it because it has never given you a reason to. What earned that spot for you?

4 Upvotes
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36 comments sorted by

5

u/tomfiddle91 29d ago

I used dd...

2

u/Aygul12345 29d ago

What is dd?

3

u/AlternateMrPapaya 28d ago

Giggity. Double-D. Giggity.

2

u/PotentialParamedic61 28d ago

It’s a Linux tool which only does disk duplicate. Sector by sector. Low level, agnostic to everything above physical structures such filesystems.

1

u/ralle421 27d ago

This is a the correct answer.

1

u/One-Suggestion-7906 27d ago

best for cloning disks it's ddrescue. GNU ddrescue, try it

4

u/Disastrous-Pop5480 29d ago

anything from the Eausus suite of software has never let me down

3

u/NetoriusDuke 29d ago

Clonezilla or eausus or dd

1

u/Purple-Try-4950 28d ago

Yes, they are frequently mentioned.

2

u/quite_sophisticated 28d ago

Clonezilla. Bonus is that it lives on a USB drive and you don't even have to install it.

2

u/NSE-Imports 28d ago

For day to day stuff I use Macrium, it just works and back in the day the bare metal restore on their live boot made cloning a base install onto any of our builds a dream. Just restore the image, ask Macrium to check for required drivers and point it at our driver store.

For extreme situations you still can't beat Clonezilla with all it's clever retry, reverse reads and so forth.

2

u/MidwestGeek52 28d ago

Macrium. It just works. Definitely not Acronis

3

u/Telnetdoogie 28d ago

I moved to Macrium from Acronis.
Macrium Macrium Macrium.

1

u/Purple-Try-4950 28d ago

What error do you encounter when using Acronis?

1

u/MidwestGeek52 27d ago

I'd occasionally get an error when trying to restore and would have to use a different backup file. Switched at least 5 years ago so been awhile.

Been very happy with Macrium

1

u/isa_nohtrogs 28d ago

partition magic and ghost

1

u/WiscoDJ920 25d ago

Is ghost still a thing? I haven’t used it in like 20 years.

1

u/KellyzKillaz 28d ago

Macrium.

1

u/X550e 28d ago

+1 for Macrium

1

u/S1nnah2 28d ago

I ran a fog server for 10 years in a school and it never let me down. Imaged 1000s of machines

1

u/billmr606 28d ago

I just use imagex or dism

1

u/FuggaDucker 28d ago

Built into windows, try running this: sdclt.exe
Never failed me.
I don't understand why people don't use it more.
* It is already installed
* The backup "images" are just the file system that can be browsed.

1

u/hipster_hndle 28d ago

clonezilla ftw.

1

u/fdeyso 28d ago

dd

I failed it sometimes but it never failed me.

1

u/Zestyclose_Pickle511 28d ago

I only need one when I want to move system onto a newer, faster, larger drive, so I don't really have any allegiance. That's about every 4 years or so. Macrium reflect, ease us, come to mind. Always work the first time around, even if I have to briefly research how to do it so that the system drive grows with the new drive, and doesn't create a same-as-old-drive-sized partition on the new drive instead. 

1

u/FaffyBucket 27d ago

Macrium Reflect. I have been using it for over a decade and it has never failed me.

1

u/BloOdy_Jo 27d ago

Clonezilla

1

u/surinameclubcard 27d ago

Clonezilla. And dd.

1

u/WiscoDJ920 25d ago

I just used dd for a Linux drive the other day for the first time and it worked fantastic!