Best imaging software

[Jonathan Lucas]

Hey guys, Just bought a larger capacity SSD to replace my smaller one. My system is running well, and cant really afford much downtime reinstalling etc..

Can anyone recommend a straightforward imaging software? I heard Acronis is good. 

 

Thanks so much in advance!!

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Acronis is the personal only one I know of. But I always go fresh with every upgrade. It's good practice.

[briango]

I've used Acronis for over 10 years and I love it.  For a single computer license it's $49.99.  Use the code 'BRITEC_SPECIAL' and you should be able to get it for $29.99.

 

 

[Jonathan Lucas]

37 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Acronis is the personal only one I know of. But I always go fresh with every upgrade. It's good practice.

I understand what best practices are, but my rig is running ok. I am still on a Phenom 965 with 12 gig of RAM. I am about to build a fresh AMD system soon. I use my computer for a living, so I am not in a position to take the time to fresh install.
Thanks so much for your feedback.

[Jonathan Lucas]

36 minutes ago, briango said:

I've used Acronis for over 10 years and I love it.  For a single computer license it's $49.99.  Use the code 'BRITEC_SPECIAL' and you should be able to get it for $29.99.

 

 

Oh, so I cant use Acronis on ANY other machine than my own? I would actually like to have it as a tool for my business. 

[Jonathan Lucas]

Also, thanks so much for the promo code!! I will have a look at their options and see. How does Acronis know you are using it on another machine? I could use this tool for clients and other special situations.

[briango]

13 minutes ago, Jonathan Lucas said:

Also, thanks so much for the promo code!! I will have a look at their options and see. How does Acronis know you are using it on another machine? I could use this tool for clients and other special situations.

You're welcome.  It registers the pc it's installed on, and it leaves something running in the background to schedule backups.  You can create bootable rescue media (usb, or cd) and use that to clone one hard drive to another on whatever pc you want.  I've upgraded a lot of older laptops over to ssd with it.  

[sc302 Veteran]

This is pretty decent and cheap. 
 

https://www.amazon.com/Apricorn-Notebook-Upgrade-Connection-ASW-USB3-25/dp/B005C983NA/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=hard+drive+clone+kit&qid=1590810911&sprefix=hard+drive+cl&sr=8-3

[Jonathan Lucas]

I do not want backup of any kind. I just want a utility to clone a harddisk using a USB bootable device that detects the source drive, and target drive. Thats it

Further, I am reading Acronis only supports imaging from MBR. I need UEFI as well.

[adrynalyne]

Low low price of free

 

https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

[xMorpheousx416]

I'm with Adrynalyne on this one... can't beat Macrium Reflect. 

 

I just used it to clone a 1TB HDD to a 1TB SSD.

Just grab the Home version, it's free..install, follow the steps to literally drag and drop the partitions and click Finish.

When it's done, you turn off your computer, swap drives and turn it back on again.

 

The program even turns on the SSD features for you so Windows has no issue with them.

[adrynalyne]

And I can confirm it supports uefi. 

[+BudMan MVC]

What SSD did you buy, most if not all of the major players supply migration to new disk for FREE..

 

Example: 

https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

 

The data migration tool.. Many of them are specific Acronis versions for that maker..

 

 

[metallithrax]

https://www.aomeitech.com/aomei-backupper.html

[+BudMan MVC]

^ system clone is not FREE in that... Again... What SSD did you buy??  Pretty much all of the makers give you a tool for FREE to migrate your disk to your shiny new SSD..

[cork1958]

7 hours ago, adrynalyne said:

Low low price of free

 

https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

Glad I clicked this topic. Need to swap hard drives in a couple desktops and had wondered about the same thing. I have used Macrium before but forgot about it. I know crucial has a tool for cloning, but the one time I used it, it didn't work very well.

 

Thanks 

[+Elі Subscriber²]

A few years back when I used to use Windows I remember using Macrium Reflect, it absolutely NEVER ever failed on me, while I did have corruption issues with the others.

[kiddingguy]

EaseUS Partition Master Professional is also working fine for cloning.

 

I haven't used it to migrate OS'es though.

I always think that drivers, different SSD/HDD etc. require the original OS to be fully reinstalled "just to make it work" with the new hardware (drives) and to reset all connections between other hardware components and the already installed Windows-version. I might be wrong though...

Plus once in a time a full reinstall/reset of your Windows 10 PC is also worth it to get rid of all garbage and uninstalled/updated software which left traces in registry & folders.

[devHead]

I have only ever used Macrium Reflect free for cloning.  In fact, I just recently purchased a new SSD and successfully cloned by old drive to the new one.  I have never had any issues with it.  And it's free.

1 hour ago, kiddingguy said:

EaseUS Partition Master Professional is also working fine for cloning.

 

I haven't used it to migrate OS'es though.

I always think that drivers, different SSD/HDD etc. require the original OS to be fully reinstalled "just to make it work" with the new hardware (drives) and to reset all connections between other hardware components and the already installed Windows-version. I might be wrong though...

Plus once in a time a full reinstall/reset of your Windows 10 PC is also worth it to get rid of all garbage and uninstalled/updated software which left traces in registry & folders.

I have always been able to clone from one drive to another, and Windows doesn't even miss a beat.  Cloning a drive is just that; you are simply moving the entire disk image to another drive.  There are no differences other than you have a new drive and more space.

[devHead]

1 hour ago, BudMan said:

^ system clone is not FREE in that... Again... What SSD did you buy??  Pretty much all of the makers give you a tool for FREE to migrate your disk to your shiny new SSD..

Really?  I have bought both Samsung and WD SSDs and neither ever came with free cloning software.  Macrium Reflect is free and it clones for free.

9 hours ago, Jonathan Lucas said:

I do not want backup of any kind. I just want a utility to clone a harddisk using a USB bootable device that detects the source drive, and target drive. Thats it

Further, I am reading Acronis only supports imaging from MBR. I need UEFI as well.

Macrium Reflect will do will do either.  The last one I did (a few weeks ago) was from GPT to GPT drive.  Everything went without a hitch.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

19 minutes ago, devHead said:

Really?  I have bought both Samsung and WD SSDs and neither ever came with free cloning software.  Macrium Reflect is free and it clones for free.

Samsung and WD software is usually on their site, not on a CD/DVD/PenDrive.

[sc302 Veteran]

7 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Samsung and WD software is usually on their site, not on a CD/DVD/PenDrive.

Samsung used to come with a cd.  But to my knowledge the caveat to using the clone software is that you have a pro drive not an evo.   Dealt with a lot of pro’s and a few evo’s, the 840-850 evo would not work.  This may have changed in the past year or so, I haven’t had to touch an evo in a while. 
 

look at the data migration heading in the below link for the download and instructions. 

https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

[Barney T. Administrators]

Moved to Software subforum

[+Fahim S. MVC]

1 hour ago, sc302 said:

Samsung used to come with a cd.  But to my knowledge the caveat to using the clone software is that you have a pro drive not an evo.   Dealt with a lot of pro’s and a few evo’s, the 840-850 evo would not work.  This may have changed in the past year or so, I haven’t had to touch an evo in a while. 
 

look at the data migration heading in the below link for the download and instructions. 

https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

I got the software with my Evo drive.  Worked fine.

[Jonathan Lucas]

I came across a Samsung EVO 860, and Budman dropped a link. This will do, but I am in the field as well, and I have come across this scenario many times. I have always just re-installed, installed drivers, software etc and charged for the time. I am looking for a cloning software that will support MBR, and UEFI. If I sell a customer on an SSD, I would rather clone in order to keep all the software and such. 

 

I want to be able to boot from a USB key, have the software detect the drives, select the source disk, then select the destination drive, kick back, and wait.

 

Is this alot to ask?

[adrynalyne]

28 minutes ago, Jonathan Lucas said:

I came across a Samsung EVO 860, and Budman dropped a link. This will do, but I am in the field as well, and I have come across this scenario many times. I have always just re-installed, installed drivers, software etc and charged for the time. I am looking for a cloning software that will support MBR, and UEFI. If I sell a customer on an SSD, I would rather clone in order to keep all the software and such. 

 

I want to be able to boot from a USB key, have the software detect the drives, select the source disk, then select the destination drive, kick back, and wait.

 

Is this alot to ask?

No it’s not. But since I already recommended something and it’s been discussed, is reading a lot to ask?