Want Clone hard but windows not installed
I am going to clone my hard disk with another one. The new one hard have no windows on it. My question is do i need windows in order to clone ?


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It is not 100% clear to me what you wish to do.
If the existing drive that you want to clone has Windows installed on it, it can be cloned to an empty drive.
However before cloning make a disks and partitions backup of the existing drive in case something goes amiss. Rather than cloning I prefer to backup and restore to the new drive.
For the clone to work, the new hard disk must be attached to either a SATA port M.2 port; if it is attached by USB or Thunderbolt port, because of restrictions imposed by Microsoft it will not boot, as it will be considered a removable storage device.
Ian
Edit: Looks like Steve beat me to the punch on this one - yet again!
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IanL-S wrote:However before cloning make a disks and partitions backup of the existing drive in case something goes amiss. Rather than cloning I prefer to backup and restore to the new drive.
Sorry i am kinda new with this software. Can you tell me What's the benefit of cloning with this software and making partitions backup of existing drive ?
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Alex . wrote:Sorry i am kinda new with this software. Can you tell me What's the benefit of cloning with this software and making partitions backup of existing drive ?
Backup & Recovery is safer than Cloning because it does not need both the original and new drives to be connected together. A Backup is stored on a third, backup drive, then recovered from that backup drive to the new drive, with the original drive removed and set aside, away from any harm, change or mistakes.
Cloning can work successfully provided great care is taken, especially that the correct source and target drives are selected, (even more important if multiple drives are installed).
Unfortunately, the forums show that users can get cloning wrong and the end result is often a system that can't boot from either drive! An example was posted earlier today with a user angry about his system being trashed after clone went wrong for some reason (yet unknown)!
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Steve Smith wrote:Alex . wrote:Sorry i am kinda new with this software. Can you tell me What's the benefit of cloning with this software and making partitions backup of existing drive ?
Backup & Recovery is safer than Cloning because it does not need both the original and new drives to be connected together. A Backup is stored on a third, backup drive, then recovered from that backup drive to the new drive, with the original drive removed and set aside, away from any harm, change or mistakes.
Cloning can work successfully provided great care is taken, especially that the correct source and target drives are selected, (even more important if multiple drives are installed).
Unfortunately, the forums show that users can get cloning wrong and the end result is often a system that can't boot from either drive! An example was posted earlier today with a user angry about his system being trashed after clone went wrong for some reason (yet unknown)!
Thank you for your guidelines. I rather make a backup than cloning
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Alex, just one further important note that applies to both cloning and recovery, which is that the BIOS mode of the system OS must be observed when using the Acronis rescue media to boot from.
Run the command: msinfo32 in Windows to check the BIOS mode - this will show as either UEFI or else Legacy (or a disk drive make/model).
KB 65539: Acronis True Image 2021: How to restore your computer with WinPE-based or WinRE-based media
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Steve Smith wrote:Alex, just one further important note that applies to both cloning and recovery, which is that the BIOS mode of the system OS must be observed when using the Acronis rescue media to boot from.
Run the command: msinfo32 in Windows to check the BIOS mode - this will show as either UEFI or else Legacy (or a disk drive make/model).
KB 65539: Acronis True Image 2021: How to restore your computer with WinPE-based or WinRE-based media
I see thanks for the tips btw i checked and its Legacy
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