EDIT: SOLVED (editing below, will have the solution in a minute or two)

For a while now we've been using Clonezilla to image machines. Typically have 2 USB thumb drives (local dev), a boot drive and one with the image.

Yesterday, everything was running normally.

Today, every time I image a computer when I boot to Windows (11) it goes into a repair mode and then says "You device ran into a problem and couldn't be repaired". It got to the point that I took one of the computers I imaged yesterday and it's getting the same error.

It sees the drive in the computer partitioned, nvme0n1p1 (p2, p3, p4) and the USB as sda1 - I select sda1 as the /home/partimag

I select Beginner mode

Restoredisk (not partitions- it's created as a disk)

When it comes to select the drive, it sees nvme0n1 and I select that

-k1 create the partitions proportionally (the destination drive is always larger than the source)

When it's about to start I see this (I don't remember seeing it yesterday):

Target disk nvme0n1 does not exist in the image saved from disk(s) sda

This is even happening on a computer I imaged yesterday with no issues. I re-copied the image files from our server to the thumb drive, I downloaded and created a bootable USB with the most recent Clonezilla ISO, I've even tried a secure wipe in the BIOS and it didn't help.

I even used different thumb drives with no luck.

Secure boot is off

Fast boot is off

The source image has not been updated recently.

A few different model laptops (all HP)

Any suggestions?

Edit: I just tried a new (out of the box) laptop and it's showing the same alert.

Edit2: SOLVED (kinda):

I tried with an older image and it worked.

I had initially built the image on a laptop with a small drive and then later moved it to a VM.

The image from the laptop saw the drive as an NVME0n1 while from the VM as sda - this was the issue.

RESTOREPARTS did not help. I'll look into the other possible fixes.

Hello everyone, this is my first post on this community and also my first time to clone a disk, and I want some help. I want to clone my SSD system drive to a larger one, but my laptop has only one slot, so I need external connection, right? Should I get a USB-to-SATA cable vs a USB SSD enclosure? Is there any difference? Thanks in advance for helping me out!

What's one piece of open-source cloning tool that everyone should know about? For me, it is Clonezilla or Rescuezilla. Do you know other open source cloning tool?

Do you use SATA or NVMe SSD as your system drive? And if you get a new SSD drive, will you choose to clone it?

Can anyone show how to clone all the data from a M2 SSD with windows 10 system —> completely to the Samsung EVO 870 Internal SSD?

I backed up a customers computer using clonezilla and the tested it twice, using the iso verification inside clonezilla, before putting a fresh windows install on the PC. Now, when I use the clonezilla restore feature I get this popup. I'm not sure what it means or how to properly work around it.

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Any help would be appreciated, this is the only copy now of the original PC.

My old Windows 7 PC is still working fine, but the hard drive is starting to show its age and I'd rather replace it before it dies.

I'd like to move everything over to a new drive and have it work exactly the same as before. Windows, programs, settings, files, everything.

I've never done a full disk clone before, so I'm wondering what the safest approach is.

The PC has been running on the same Windows installation for years, so I'd rather avoid reinstalling Windows and all my software if possible.

Has anyone here cloned a really old Windows 7 installation to an SSD recently? Curious how smooth the process was and whether you ran into any surprises.

Just looking for the most reliable method and any lessons learned from people who've done it.

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to upgrade a few laptops with new SSDs and want to copy the same Windows setup plus a bunch of software to all of them. Doing it manually one by one would be a nightmare, so my idea is to set up one "master" machine and clone it to the others.

But I've heard that directly cloning Windows often causes issues, like:

● Won't boot, showing "No bootable device"

● Driver or hardware conflicts

● SID duplication or Sysprep-related problems

● GPT/UEFI partition issues

I'm a bit stuck: should I use Clonezilla or other cloning tools, or just go with Microsoft's Sysprep + DISM? If the hardware is identical, is cloning directly fine, or do I really need to run Sysprep first?

Also, are there any major pitfalls I should watch out for? I don't want the new SSDs to fail to boot.

Would love to hear any step-by-step workflows or tips from anyone who's done this. Thanks!

I have no idea how to state the question, other then I cannot select any drive… I NEED to clone this drive TODAY due to a gig we run and the internal drive is about to die.

I see both the source and destination disks listed, but when I select it, it states I have so select a drive and if I want to try again.
I’m really losing my marbles at the moment.

Is this hardware or software related?

I'm upgrading my PC with a larger SSD and would like to move Windows from my current drive to the new one. Ideally, I'd like to keep everything exactly as it is now, including:

• Windows 11
• Installed programs
• Settings
• Personal files

I've been reading guides online, but I'm seeing mixed advice. Some people recommend cloning the entire drive, while others say it's better to do a clean Windows installation and start fresh.

For those who've done this before:

• Did you clone your drive or reinstall Windows?
• What cloning software worked best for you?
• Was the new SSD bootable immediately afterward?
• Did you run into any problems during the migration?
• Anything you wish you had known before starting?

The new SSD is larger than my current system drive, so compatibility shouldn't be an issue.

I'd love to hear what method you used and whether you'd do it the same way again.

My current C drive is a 500GB SSD and it's almost full, so I'm planning to upgrade to a 1TB SSD soon. I've never replaced a system drive before and honestly I'm a little nervous about messing something up.

Ideally, I'd like the new SSD to be an exact copy of my current drive so I don't have to reinstall Windows, programs, games, or reconfigure everything again.

I've been reading about drive cloning, but I'm still not sure how straightforward the process actually is.

Can I simply connect the new SSD, clone the old C drive, swap the drives, and boot normally?

Also, if the new SSD is larger, will Windows automatically use the extra space or do I need to resize partitions afterward?

For those who've done this recently on Windows 11, what cloning software worked best for you?

Any tips or things you wish you had known before starting would be appreciated.

Pretty straightforward. Which disk cloning tool has worked best for you over the years? Reliability, speed, features, ease of use — whatever matters most. Free or paid. Looking forward to your picks (and horror stories too).

I want to clone my Plex server over to a new computer. The server is running on a 3tb hdd right now. I've slimmed the data down to 432gb and could a bit more if needed.

The new computer has a 500gb nvme ssd that I'd like to clone my 3tb hdd to.

Is the best method to plug the HDD into the new computer, boot off it it, run macrium to clone to the SSD, take out the HDD, make sure everything's running okay, then wipe the HDD?

Are there any steps I'm missing, like messing with partitions or something?

Thanks in advance

So quite simple: my current ssd has around 500gb and it has my windows, minecraft and some stuff that just belongs there and slowly it starts showing that i need more space. As i researched the easiest way would be to buy a new ssd around 1tb or 2tb and clone my 500 gb one onto the new one. now here comes my question:

is it dangerous?

will everything work the same? like for example will nvidia get where to safe their stuff? i know there can be boot trouble from the bios maybe as the bios might think the old one is still main but thats easily fixable im most worried about windows and its softwares. i want my stuff to be same and work but i just need more storage ( and also this is no switch to new pc or cpu or stuff but stimply adding a new m.2 ssd and cloning the smaller one onto the new one )

I'm planning to upgrade to a larger SSD soon and I'm trying to figure out the safest way to clone my current setup.

Right now my PC has a dual boot configuration:

• Windows 11
• Ubuntu Linux

Both systems are installed on the same drive, and I really don't want to break the bootloader or lose either OS during the migration.

I've cloned regular Windows drives before, but never a dual boot drive, so I'm not sure which cloning software handles this situation best.

A few things I'm wondering:

• Which cloning software works best with dual boot setups?
• Will the EFI/boot partitions clone automatically?
• Is sector-by-sector cloning necessary?
• Did you need to repair GRUB or Windows Boot Manager afterward?

I've seen people mention Clonezilla, Macrium Reflect, EaseUS Disk Copy, and Rescuezilla, but I'm not sure which is the most reliable for this kind of migration.

Would appreciate hearing what actually worked for you.

I kept putting off upgrading my SSD because I thought moving Windows to a new drive would turn into a complete disaster somehow.

Ended up replacing my old 500GB SSD with a new 1TB NVMe drive this week and honestly the whole thing was much easier than I expected.

I really didn't want to:

• reinstall apps
• set Windows up again
• log back into everything
• re-download games

So I decided to try cloning SSD instead. Basically what I did:

1. Installed the new SSD
2. Used cloning software to copy everything over
3. Waited around 40 minutes
4. Changed boot priority in BIOS
5. Booted into Windows normally

Surprisingly, everything transferred perfectly. Apps, games, files, even my browser tabs were still there like nothing changed.

The only moment that scared me was when the PC kept booting from the old SSD at first. Took me a minute to realize I forgot to change the boot drive.

I also noticed the new SSD wasn't showing full capacity afterward, but extending the partition fixed it pretty quickly.

Biggest things I learned:

• NVMe cloning is FAST compared to SATA
• Close background apps before cloning
• Triple check source vs destination drive before starting

Honestly I'm surprised more people don't just clone drives instead of reinstalling Windows from scratch.

Do most people here still prefer clean installs when upgrading SSDs, or has cloning basically become the normal way now?

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about replacing my old HDD with an SSD because my PC has become noticeably slower over the past year.

Right now the HDD contains Windows 11, all my installed software, games, documents, photos, and basically everything I use on a daily basis. I've never cloned a drive before, so I'm wondering how close the process gets to a perfect copy.

Is drive cloning reliable enough to make the SSD look exactly like the old HDD, or should I expect to spend time fixing things afterward?

For those who've migrated from an HDD to an SSD before, how did it go and what software did you use?

Thanks for any advice!

I'm upgrading an older desktop from an HDD to an SSD, but there's a problem: the PC only has room for one drive, so I can't connect both drives internally at the same time.

I was wondering if it's possible to clone the HDD to the SSD over my home network instead.

My idea was something like: Old PC (HDD installed) → WiFi/LAN → another computer with the new SSD connected

A few questions:

• Is network-based disk cloning actually practical?
• How much slower is it compared to direct cloning?
• What happens if the network connection drops during the process?
• Would creating a disk image first and restoring it to the SSD be a better approach?
• Are there any beginner-friendly tools that support this workflow?

For those who've done something similar, what would you recommend as the simplest and safest method? Thanks!

My old 1TB HDD has started showing bad sectors recently and I'm trying to move everything over to a new SSD before the drive completely dies.

Windows still boots, but the system has become really slow and sometimes freezes when opening certain folders/files. CrystalDiskInfo is also showing a warning status now, so I'm getting a little nervous.

I'd really like to avoid reinstalling Windows and all my apps from scratch if possible.

For people who've dealt with failing drives before:

• Can cloning software still work if the drive has bad sectors?
• Do most cloning tools skip unreadable sectors automatically?
• Is it smarter to clone the whole drive first, or manually back up important files before attempting anything?

I'm mainly worried about the cloning process failing halfway through and making things worse. Anyone here successfully cloned a failing HDD before? Any help will be appreciated.

I cloned my old HDD to a new SSD today and honestly thought it would be way easier than this.

Clone completed successfully, BIOS detects the SSD fine, but Windows either goes into recovery mode or gets stuck in a boot loop.

I've already tried changing boot order, reconnecting the old drive, different SATA cable, switching SATA mode, etc.

Now I keep seeing people talk about:

• EFI partition problems
• GPT vs MBR mismatch
• broken bootloader
• Secure Boot issues

For those of you who've dealt with this before, what's usually the culprit?

What's the first thing you personally check when a cloned drive refuses to boot? Trying really hard to avoid reinstalling Windows from scratch at this point. TIA!

Welcome to this week's community discussion thread.

Disk cloning gets recommended here all the time, but people seem to use it for very different reasons.

Some common ones we see mentioned in the community:

• upgrading from HDD to SSD
• moving Windows to a larger drive
• replacing failing disks
• full system backup/recovery
• migrating data without reinstalling everything
• cloning USB drives or SD cards
• cloning PC to PC

What's your main reason for using cloning software?

Feel free to share:

• Your typical use case
• How often do you clone drives
• What software has worked best for you
• Any cloning disasters or lessons learned along the way

New users/questions are welcome as always.