There are several reasons why you may want to clone your hard drive, such as creating a backup of the contents of your hard drive, upgrading to a new drive, or shifting to a new computer. Cloning is a better option than simply copying all your data from one drive and moving it to another one since it allows you to boot your PC, which is not possible when you just copy your data.

Additionally, it can help you avoid a lot of headaches that are usually involved in copying files and is also much faster. While Windows 11 does not have an inbuilt feature that lets you clone hard drives, you can still do so with various third-party applications designed for this purpose. So, without further ado, let's take a look at how you can clone your drive on Windows 11.

Download and install your preferred cloning software

To clone your drive on Windows 11, you need cloning software, and there are lots of options to choose from, such as AOMEI Backupper Standard, Clonezilla, Macrium Reflect, EaseUs ToDo Backup, DiskGenius, etc. Selecting the right software is important and can directly affect the cloning process, so make sure to read the reviews when selecting one.

For the purpose of this guide, we're using DiskGenius, which is a free and easy-to-use multipurpose tool that lets you create disk backups and recover data in addition to cloning drives and partitions.

  1. Visit the DiskGenius website and click on the 'Free Download' button.
  1. Once the software is downloaded, install it on your PC and open it. The interface you see will show you all your drives, drive formats and sizes, and additional details. Now you can get down to cloning your disk.

Clone your hard drive

To start the cloning process, connect the target hard drive that you want to clone to, internally or with the help of a USB adapter. For laptops, use a USB-to-SATA adapter. Once you have connected the drive, check that your PC recognizes it. Then, follow the steps below.

  1. In the DiskGenius window, click on the 'Tools' menu in the menu bar at the top and then on the 'Clone Disk' option.
  1. A 'Clone Disk' pop-up will appear and will ask you to select the source disk. Select the drive you want to clone by clicking on it in the pop-up window and then click on the 'OK' button.
Note: If you want to use the drive you clone to be bootable, your source drive should be the C drive, in most cases, as it contains all your system files.
  1. Next, select the target disk to which you want to clone the drive and click on the 'OK' button. You can either plug in another drive internally and use it as the target drive or use an external disk. In either case, it should have adequate free space to be able to store all the data of the disk you are cloning.
Note: Cloning applications like DiskGenius allow you to not just clone the entire drive, but even select data from valid sectors or clone specific partitions.
  1. In case you do not have enough space on the target drive, DiskGenius will show you a pop-up where you can choose the partitions you want to clone. Select the partitions you want to clone by clicking on them.
  1. You can also select specific partitions instead of the entire disk by clicking on the 'Tools' menu and then on the 'Clone Partition' option.
  1. Once you've selected the source disk or partition and the target disk, click on the 'Start' button to begin the cloning process. DiskGenius will show you a warning message before starting the cloning process.
  1. Wait until the cloning process finishes. It can take some time depending on how much data you have in your source drive.

Cloning a hard drive with bad sectors

If your hard drive has bad sectors, it may not be possible to access it but you might still be able to clone it. In such a case, the cloning process will skip the bad sectors and copy the rest, which you can then access on your other drive.

  1. Connect the disk with bad sectors and your target drive to your PC.
  2. Open DiskGenius and click on the 'Tools' menu and then on the 'Copy Sectors' option.
  1. In the pop-up menu that appears, click on the 'Source Disk' option and you will get a pop-up. Navigate to the source disk in the pop-up that has bad sectors and select it before clicking on the 'OK' button.
  1. Then, click on the 'Target Disk' option and select where you want to clone your disk in the same manner.
  1. Next, choose what to do with the bad sectors, depending on the available options. You can skip copying specific sectors, copy each sector one at a time, or skip copying a large section of sectors entirely. Click on the option you want to select.
  1. Click on the 'Copy' button to start the process. It may take some time if there are too many bad sectors or your drive is very slow. Similarly, copying each sector one at a time will take considerable time.

Cloning a hard drive is quite easy and can help avoid hassle if you want to transfer all the data from one drive to another without wasting time copy-pasting the contents. However, we recommend backing up your files in case something goes wrong. Additionally, when selecting a cloning tool, go through the user reviews to know how well they perform and which one might suit you best.