Skip to main content

Does cloning leave the data on the old drive?

Thread needs solution

I recently upgraded from acronis 2010 to 2012 as I'd purchased a new SSD drive and from what I researched acronis seemed to do the best job with properly aligning the partitions when performing a clone. I successfully cloned my old HDD to my new SSD and everything is working fine. What I would like to do on a periodic basis is clone my SSD back to my old HDD in case my new drive dies (so I can quickly get things back up and running).

I used to do the same thing with acronis 2010 and it worked great (meaning data would remain on both the source and target drives when cloning).

With 2012, I am worried that the data from the source drive is migrated to the target drive (as opposed to just being copied). Is this indeed the case? I ask only because when I attempted to do my backup from SSD > HDD this afternoon, the main partition from my old HDD was empty. I assume this happened when I first cloned from HDD > SSD.

Long story short, when you use the cloning feature in 2012, will the data remain on both drives when the process is completed? Thanks for any assistance...

0 Users found this helpful

A mistake by the user is one of the compelling reasons why many of us use the backup and restore method to create an identical replacement. The source disk is never at risk during as it need not be attached during a restore operation.

Yes, when cloning it is imperative that the user select their disk decisions on specifics about the disks such as capacity and/or model numbers. Choosing based on drive letters is usually a data disaster.

To answer your question, when cloning is completed, you will have two identical disks with the same data on both disks. The data will not be wiped from the source. This has not always been the case in prior versions as some past versions had the flag set to wipe the source--but now not true.

For most of us, the preferred method is to create regular full backups and the backup should include all partitions so that the entire contents of the disk is included in the backup. This type backup can then be used to create an identical duplicate replacement.

Cloning is not the safest method but if you have a good complete backup, then cloning can be pursued as you have a fall back plan if something goes wrong. Even if you pursue the backup and restore method, this too should be proofed via actual testing to make sure your procedures will see all the hardware and produce an identical disk.

If, as some folks do, you say cloning to mean making a bakup and restoring it to some drive then note that any disk restore will replace what's on the disk and any parittion restore will overwrite an existing partition unless you tspecify that it put the partition in unused space on the disk.