Laptops How to clone internal ssd to external ssd on laptop?

S

solo_wing

Adept
Hi,
Basically I have been reading that people install 2 ssds and clone it to make sure incase one ssd fails they don't loose data.

I just bought an portable ssd T5(samsung)

And wanted to see if I can make a clone on external also?
And wanted some guidance.

Also if I do clone it wi my ssd still can be used for transferring and reading like normal ?

Or any advice would be appreciated on how to best utlize the external ssd for backup of the laptop?
 
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You cannot clone boot ssd to an external. Cloning will work but booting wont but your all data will get cloned if any partitions etc. are there.. SO cloning will definitely happen without the guarantee of getting the external ssd getting booted to windows.
 
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nRiTeCh said:
You cannot clone boot ssd to an external. Cloning will work but booting wont but your all data will get cloned if any partitions etc. are there.. SO cloning will definitely happen without the guarantee of getting the external ssd getting booted to windows.
Click to expand...
Okay.
In that case will just make a backup image .
Thanks .
 
Yes, better to take periodic backups in the form of partition images with something like Macrium Backup Free. Also keep a rescue disk handy in case you need to restore during boot failures.
 
nRiTeCh said:
You cannot clone boot ssd to an external. Cloning will work but booting wont but your all data will get cloned if any partitions etc. are there.. SO cloning will definitely happen without the guarantee of getting the external ssd getting booted to windows.
Click to expand...

Depending on the cloning software (and technique), there is no such restriction. An external storage device is perfectly capable of being used as a bootable device, as long as the firmware of the target device supports booting from the said interface (which is USB in most cases).

With that said, the "incase one ssd fails they don't loose data" part can be solved using an imaging backup solution, preferably incremental (as suggested by both @nRiTeCh and @ibose). The "cloning" verbatim isn't applicable here.
 
Titokhan said:
Depending on the cloning software (and technique), there is no such restriction. An external storage device is perfectly capable of being used as a bootable device, as long as the firmware of the target device supports booting from the said interface (which is USB in most cases).
Click to expand...
Hence I said it may or may not work considering few factors..
 
solo_wing said:
Hi,
Basically I have been reading that people install 2 ssds and clone it to make sure incase one ssd fails they don't loose data.

I just bought an portable ssd T5(samsung)

And wanted to see if I can make a clone on external also?
And wanted some guidance.

Also if I do clone it wi my ssd still can be used for transferring and reading like normal ?

Or any advice would be appreciated on how to best utlize the external ssd for backup of the laptop?
Click to expand...
Use aomei backupper it'll clone boot data and system also but requires registration. Individual drive backup works in the free version IIRC
 
Hi All,
So manage to get a ssd for laptop.
Receiving soon.

now it should be easy to clone the c folder I believe. So can some please guide me in easy steps.

Also my laptop c folder is 124gb . And my ssd is 256gb ? Will I still be able to use the remaining approx 130gb?
 
solo_wing said:
Hi All,
So manage to get a ssd for laptop.
Receiving soon.

now it should be easy to clone the c folder I believe. So can some please guide me in easy steps.

Also my laptop c folder is 124gb . And my ssd is 256gb ? Will I still be able to use the remaining approx 130gb?
Click to expand...
u cannot just copy data over. You need to clone your drive using software like Clonezilla or Acronis or Macrium reflect. Only this way you can retain your bootable windows copy.

Yes, you can use your leftover space after the clone. It will be unallocated so you can merge it into the existing partition or create new whatever you wish.
 
enthusiast29 said:
u cannot just copy data over. You need to clone your drive using software like Clonezilla or Acronis or Macrium reflect. Only this way you can retain your bootable windows copy.

Yes, you can use your leftover space after the clone. It will be unallocated so you can merge it into the existing partition or create new whatever you wish.
Click to expand...
Hmmm.

Are they free software? Or how much I need to pay?

Thanks .
 
enthusiast29 said:
You can google bro :)

Clonezilla is open source and Macrium has a free version. Acronis is paid but there are other ways (bootable ISO via torrent is best). I can't provide links here but I'm sure you can find yourself.
Click to expand...
Cool. Thanks again .

As for Google yes it works too but sometimes having that personal experience of people make things much simpler.
 
If you can use a ubuntu bootable usb, you can make a copy using dd. You have to identify the disks properly. Don't do it if you don't feel confident about it. If you run it other way around, you may end up losing the data.

www.howtoforge.com

How to clone disks with Linux dd command

In this tutorial well refer to a practical example of Linux dd command that can be used by system administrators to migrate or clone a Windows Operat...
www.howtoforge.com
 
solo_wing said:
Also my laptop c folder is 124gb . And my ssd is 256gb ? Will I still be able to use the remaining approx 130gb?
Click to expand...
If using Macrium, you can just pick and drop the partition you want to clone into the destination drive. You can even resize the said partition in the destination drive by sliding the partition boundary using the mouse. Its very user friendly imo. Watch some youtube videos for a better understanding.
 
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