Skip to main content

When cloning a drive, do both drives need to be connected to the PC?

Thread solved

Hi,

I want to upgrade my SATA drive to a SSD drive and I want to purchase the following item to make it easier to connect the drive.

- StarTech-com-SATA-USB-Cable-USB3S2SAT3CB

My question is, do I need to purchase 2 of these to connect both drives to clone or does Acronis first back-up the source drive and then I can switch and put in the destination drive to complete the cloning process?

Thank you!

0 Users found this helpful

If you use Backup & Recovery and forget about using Cloning, then you don't need any external USB connectors or drives other than a standard external USB storage drive to write the backup image to.

Cloning will always require that both Source and Target drives are present.

It is always highly recommended to make a Backup before attempting to Clone, so you are already half-way there at that point, plus once the backup is created, the source drive can be removed and set aside for safety, and the Recovery (done using Acronis rescue media) done to the new SSD drive installed to replace the HDD.

See KB 63226: Acronis True Image 2020: how to create bootable media and

KB 59877: Acronis True Image: how to distinguish between UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot modes of Acronis Bootable Media

KB 63239: Acronis True Image 2020: how to back up entire computer

KB 63252: Acronis True Image 2020: how to back up files or disks

KB 63295: Acronis True Image 2020: How to restore your computer with WinPE-based or WinRE-based media

I never use Clone operation. Backup and restore is a much safer bet.

I would create a full disk mode backup. Then, remove the old drive and install the new drive, and restore the backup to the new drive.

As Steve says, using backup and restore means that both drives do not need to be connected concurrently. Backup and restore is safer and more flexible than cloning.

+1

Ian