Question What software to use to back up an entire hard drive

[MajorPager]

Hello all, I have an old Lenovo laptop that I want to back up the main and recovery partitions of the drive to put onto a new drive but I don't know how to do so.

I cannot use the OS on it to do so since the hard drive is so slow, so I would like some recommendations on what software to use for it.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[Bob.B]

Hello all, I have an old Lenovo laptop that I want to back up the main and recovery partitions of the drive to put onto a new drive but I don't know how to do so.

I cannot use the OS on it to do so since the hard drive is so slow, so I would like some recommendations on what software to use for it.

Any help is appreciated!

If the source hdd is having problems you might want to copy out the important stuff to some separate media before trying to do a full copy.

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"I cannot use the OS on it to do so since the hard drive is so slow,"

Sometimes "slow" is good.

With the objective of backing up important data I would worry less about speed and more about achieving/completing a reliable backup.

Start the backup and wait it out.

Verify that the backup is recoverable and readable.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[Misgar]

I have an old Lenovo laptop that I want to back up the main and recovery partitions of the drive to put onto a new drive but I don't know how to do so.

After following @Ralston18's recommendation to back up all important files (to an external drive) you could try Macrium Reflect's (30 day free trial) and "clone" your laptop's drive to a new drive in a USB caddy.
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

It's common practice to upgrade old laptops and give them a new lease of life, by swapping the old hard drive for a new faster SSD. Caution: If the old drive or files are badly damaged, cloning might not be possible.

This article describes how it might be possible to upgrade your old laptop with a new faster SSD.
https://darwinsdata.com/can-i-replace-my-2-5-inch-hdd-with-ssd/

You'd need something similar to this caddy as a temporary location for the new SATA SSD during cloning and as a permanent location for the old hard disk after removal from the laptop:
https://www.amazon.com/KingData-Enclosure-External-Tool-Free-Indicator/dp/B0C9YLKFT5

This 500GB SATA SSD with DRAM cache would make a good candidate for a Windows boot drive:
https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-500GB-Internal-MZ-77E500B-AM/dp/B08QBMD6P4

Other 870 EVO capacities exist between 250GB and 4TB, but the large sizes get expensive. Cheaper SSDs exist, but they don't have DRAM cache so are less suitable for Windows.

If your budget is limited, you could buy a DRAM-less SSD and it would still work as a Windows drive, but it would be slightly slower and could wear out sooner. I boot a number of ancient PCs from DRAM-less SSDs. Not ideal but I save hundreds of dollars spread over many systems. 20 drives with DRAM would cost me a fortune.
https://www.amazon.com/Patriot-P220-Internal-Solid-State/dp/B0BS9W92M1

If you need advice on the exact steps involved in cloning, other people on Tom's will provide detailed information.

Alternatively, if you don't want to upgrade your laptop, you can still use cloning software to create an "image" of the entire hard disk. You'll need a large external USB disk or memory stick for the image file. The image can be written back to a new drive at any time for an exact copy of the old drive (at the time of cloning) or interrogated to retrieve individual files.

 

[USAFRet]

Specific steps:

Assuming you have another drive (any type of drive) with sufficient free space to hold the entirety of your current OS drive:

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect
2. Run that, and create a Rescue CD or USB (you'll use this later). "Other Tasks". Create this on a small USB flash drive or DVD.
3. In the Macrium client, create an Image to some other drive. External USB HDD, maybe. Select all partitions. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage
4. When done, power OFF.
5. Swap the 2 drives
6. Boot up from the Rescue USB you created earlier.
7. Restore (on the toolbar), and tell it where the Image is that you created in step 3, and which drive to apply it to...the new SSD.
8. Go, and wait until it finishes.
9. That's all...this should work.

 

[JayGau]

If you use Macrium Reflect and need it again in 31 days you gonna have to pay.

There's a free, perfectly good and efficient open source software to do this that is called Clonezilla. I have been using it for 4 years (both personally and professionally) and it works wonderfully well.

 

[USAFRet]

If you use Macrium Reflect and need it again in 31 days you gonna have to pay.

There's a free, perfectly good and efficient open source software to do this that is called Clonezilla. I have been using it for 4 years (both personally and professionally) and it works wonderfully well.

Clonezilla is/was good in its day.

Given its limitations on drive sizes (target must be equal or larger than source), I abandoned it and went to Macrium.

 

[geofelt]

If your new/larger drive is a Samsung SSD, I favor using the samsung magician ssd migration tool.
App and instructions here:

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

semiconductor.samsung.com

You can do the copy with a ssd attached via a usb to sata cable.
When done, remove the original drive and replace with the new/larger drive.
The source drive will be unchanged.
Youtube should have a video of how to replace a drive for your particular laptop.
Some are trivially easy, and other laptops are nasty.