Question Cloning my WIN 11 "C" drive

[Doug662]

I Have never cloned a drive before and I have a question. It took a little more than an hour to do. I used Ease Us Disk Copy to do this.
i used a USB 1TB external drive. When I go into "My PC" it looks exactly like my "C" drive and I can open files on it run a program etc. Should I try to boot from it? Or, just un hook the drive and store it? I went in to the BIOS, but it must be the settings I have with my TV/monitor because the BIOS will not fit the page and I was not sure what to do. I did see in the BIOS A bootable drive (something like that). I have allot of expensive software that I can't loose and this was my reasoning behind this. How would you go about resizing the BIOS so all can be seen?

All help would be helpful.








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[USAFRet]

I Have never cloned a drive before and I have a question. It took a little more than an hour to do. I used Ease Us Disk Copy to do this.
i used a USB 1TB external drive. When I go into "My PC" it looks exactly like my "C" drive and I can open files on it run a program etc. Should I try to boot from it? Or, just un hook the drive and store it? I went in to the BIOS, but it must be the settings I have with my TV/monitor because the BIOS will not fit the page and I was not sure what to do. I did see in the BIOS A bootable drive (something like that). I have allot of expensive software that I can't loose and this was my reasoning behind this. How would you go about resizing the BIOS so all can be seen?

All help would be helpful.








0

You're doing it wrong.

A "clone" is for moving to a new internal drive, replacing the original.
You can't 'clone'; to an external and hope to boot from it.

What you really wanted to do was an Image. Your clone thing is OK, but there are better ways of storing things away for potential future use.

 

[Doug662]

You're doing it wrong.

A "clone" is for moving to a new internal drive, replacing the original.
You can't 'clone'; to an external and hope to boot from it.

What you really wanted to do was an Image. Your clone thing is OK, but there are better ways of storing things away for potential future use.

Ok maybe clone was my word. What I had in mind was moving to a new hard drive if something happened. Is this drive good for anything the way i did? I saw in the BIOS when looked there being a bootable drive. Also do you have any insight as to how to get the BIOS to fit the screen?

 

[Doug662]

Ok maybe clone was my word. What I had in mind was moving to a new hard drive if something happened. Is this drive good for anything the way i did? I saw in the BIOS when looked there being a bootable drive. Also do you have any insight as to how to get the BIOS to fit the screen?

 

[USAFRet]

Ok maybe clone was my word. What I had in mind was moving to a new hard drive if something happened. Is this drive good for anything the way i did? I saw in the BIOS when looked there being a bootable drive. Also do you have any insight as to how to get the BIOS to fit the screen?

What is the original configuration?
What do you want the end state to be?
What drives are you working with, and what motherboard?

 

[Doug662]

What is the original configuration?
What do you want the end state to be?
What drives are you working with, and w

 

[Doug662]

When you say original I guess you mean my drive set up. It is a a Western Digital I believe 1TB. I just want to if I loose my "C" drive, I could buy another new one and move these files over and OS over. My back up drive is a Western Digital also. This a PC is an Acer machine. I am not sure about the mother board.

I read last night that what I was doing would work. And, I even bought the software they suggested. I really can't see all of the BIOS screen because of the resolution .

thank you for helping

 

[USAFRet]

When you say original I guess you mean my drive set up. It is a a Western Digital I believe 1TB. I just want to if I loose my "C" drive, I could buy another new one and move these files over and OS over. My back up drive is a Western Digital also. This a PC is an Acer machine. I am not sure about the mother board.

I read last night that what I was doing would work. And, I even bought the software they suggested. I really can't see all of the BIOS screen because of the resolution .

thank you for helping

For cloning, you don't clone to an external and then hope to boot from that while it is still external.

You clone to the new drive, then replace the old one internally, and boot from the new one.

HDD, SSD, size, etc, etc?

Again, cloning is for moving to a new drive right now.
For full drive backups, Images are the desired thing.

 

[Lafong]

You won't know if your clone was successful until you attempt to boot from it.

Maybe it was; maybe not.

If it was successful, you could then put the cloned drive into your closet and at some later date put it back in the PC and boot from it.

Is that what you are trying to do?

Depending on the details of your motive, imaging may be a better idea than cloning.

Imaging is best for "disaster recovery".

Cloning best used for immediate move from one drive to another...simple drive replacement. NOT disaster recovery.

 

[Doug662]

So, this drive , is it good for saving data on? And once again what do I do about the resolution in the BIOS. I googled this last night and trusted what I was reading was correct. All My BIAB and iZotope files and VSX and other audio programs I want to be safe.

 

[Doug662]

You won't know if your clone was successful until you attempt to boot from it.

Maybe it was; maybe not.

If it was successful, you could then put the cloned drive into your closet and at some later date put it back in the PC and boot from it.

Is that what you are trying to do?

Depending on the details of your motive, imaging may be a better idea than cloning.

Imaging is best for "disaster recovery".

Cloning best used for immediate move from one drive to another...simple drive replacement. NOT disaster recovery.

Yes. When I went in to the BIOS last night it stated a boot drive that was not in the 1 order. But like I am saying I cannot read everything.

 

[Doug662]

Yes. When I went in to the BIOS last night it stated a boot drive that was not in the 1 order. But like I am saying I cannot read everything.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Disk Genius is another great OS migration tool. My personal favorite free option.

https://www.diskgenius.com/free.php

 

[USAFRet]

Yes. When I went in to the BIOS last night it stated a boot drive that was not in the 1 order. But like I am saying I cannot read everything.

What are you actually wanting to do?

Clone to and use a different drive?
Or a backup, for safekeeping?

Different things, done differently.

 

[Doug662]

A back up for safe keeping. Sorry to be so green and things have changed since I last built a PC and I was not up on software to begin with. I want this as a crash happens I can buy a new drive and load these files on to it

 

[Lafong]

I went in to the BIOS, but it must be the settings I have with my TV/monitor because the BIOS will not fit the page and I was not sure what to do.................. How would you go about resizing the BIOS so all can be seen?

Is this your primary complaint?

Is this your only complaint?

Your cloned drive may not even boot for all we know.

 

[Lafong]

A back up for safe keeping. Sorry to be so green and things have changed since I last built a PC and I was not up on software to begin with. I want this as a crash happens I can buy a new drive and load these files on to it

Cloning probably not the best strategy for if a "crash happens".

Feasible, but not ideal for a bunch of reasons.

 

[USAFRet]

A back up for safe keeping. Sorry to be so green and things have changed since I last built a PC and I was not up on software to begin with. I want this as a crash happens I can buy a new drive and load these files on to it

Then this is what an Image is for.

You can do this with a 'clone', but there are better options.

But with this external as it is, you can't just boot from it.

 

[dev_cyberpunk]

A "clone" is for moving to a new internal drive, replacing the original.
You can't 'clone'; to an external and hope to boot from it.

Sure you can. Just that you have to clone it a certain way (binary) and the bios supports boot usb hard disk.
with linux:
find the drives:

lsblk

Then dismount the source drive:

sudo unmount /dev/sda

Then copy it.

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sbd status=progress

Ubuntu will auto dismount the source drive, so you can skip the first two steps.

Btw, one day windows will be shareware.

 

[steveb1976]

open up your pc.. unplug the "original drive" and attach leads to the new drive (or nvme depending on how you have it setup). the pc will only detect the new drive connected and will boot from that as it will see its "identicle" to what was in there. . . if sucessful. you can leave the "unconnected original drive " in place or remove and store for if you need an emergency back up...(technically you could install in the external caddy and attach it once you boot into windows. and copy new save files daily. if thats what you was planning)

 

[Misgar]

You can't 'clone'; to an external and hope to boot from it.

I've cloned Windows 10 to Sandisk 128GB UltraFit memory sticks and booted up laptops (from USB) using WinToUSB. Not 100% foolproof but useful if you want a portable Windows installation. When you transfer the USB stick to a new PC, it finds new hardware and loads enough drivers to boot up (most of the time).

https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/

Windows To Go (Portable Windows) Creator​

WinToUSB allows you to install & run fully-functional Windows on an external HDD/SSD, USB flash drive or Thunderbolt drive, which means you can carry the portable Windows drive to anywhere and use it on any computer.

• Faster installation and cloning speed compared to competing products
• Support any edition of Windows 11/10/8/7 (X64/X86/ARM64) and Windows Server 2008 or later
• Creation of Windows To Go from ISO, WIM, ESD, SWM, VHD(X) or CD/DVD drive
• Creation of Windows To Go from system backup image produced by Hasleo Backup Suite
• Clone currently running Windows to USB/Thunderbolt drive
• Creation of Windows To Go on Non-Certified Windows To Go drive
• Create BitLocker encrypted Windows To Go
• Create portable Windows for Mac computers
• Support for creating VHD(X)-based Windows To Go

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, WinToUSB is/was a thing. It usually works.

That is not what happened here, nor was it the plan.

 

[Misgar]

A back up for safe keeping.

This was my plan when I cloned my Windows laptop drive to a USB memory stick when I went trekking in the Himalaya.

I wanted an option to boot my laptop from USB into Windows, if the internal spinning hard disk failed (a distinct possibility in rough terrain). It can be difficult to disassemble a laptop in adverse conditions to replace a dead drive, assuming you've taken a spare.

A WinToUSB bootable USB clone allowed me the option to continue backing up hundreds of GB of RAW + JPG files with relative ease.

Most of my clones these days are performed using Macrium Reflect and then I swap the source and destination drives internally. However, I still keep a WinToUSB memory stick handy to boot the occasional faulty system.

I really can't see all of the BIOS screen because of the resolution .

It seems your computer's graphics output is set to a resolution that's too high for your TV which is acting as a monitor.

Please can you tell us the manufacturer and the model number of your TV/monitor.

Also, do you have the exact model number for your computer (and your graphics card too if you have a discrete card).

The whole of the BIOS screen should be readable, but perhaps your TV is an old (low resolution) device or your video cable is incapable of working at the TV's maximum resolution.

Do you know if the cable between the computer and the TV is:

1). HDMI
2). DVI
3). DisplayPort
4). VGA
5). Something else?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_connectors

Ideally, you should try another monitor and see if the whole BIOS screen becomes visible.

If you're using a very old HDMI cable, it might be worth trying a modern cable. It tends to be the more esoteric UHD/4K high refresh rate resolutions which don't work on ancient HDMI cables, but that's usually only after you've booted into Windows and if your graphics card supports 4K/UHD.

i used a USB 1TB external drive.

If you managed to successfully clone your C: drive to the 1TB external drive, then if your internal C: drive becomes corrupted, remove it and fit the 1TB drive in its place. If you're lucky, the PC will boot up (albeit more slowly?) from the 1TB drive, when it is mounted inside the computer.

That's the general idea behind cloning (when it works). You are making an exact copy of your existing bootable drive.

What you do with the cloned drive is a different matter. You can clone a old small drive to a new much bigger drive; useful if you're running out of drive space. Alternatively, you can keep the cloned drive securely for emergencies (see below).

A cloned drive is a snapshot in time. If your clone was created exactly one year ago and you swap it for the current drive, your computer will move back to January 2024 and everything you've done since then will vanish. That's why you should regularly copy all important files to at least two other devices (ignoring any clones).

Backup to external hard disks, portable SSDs, USB memory sticks, another computer, even the Cloud. Just make plenty of backups.

You can reinstall Windows and programs relatively easily on a new drive in a few hours, but you cannot get your data back if you don't have a working backup copy (or two).