At any moment, when we least expect it, our personal computer or server could suffer a disaster and become unusable. If the hard drive fails, we risk losing all the information stored on it, which can be highly detrimental. When this happens, if we have a backup, the recovery process will be much simpler. However, to do this, it is crucial to use a program that allows us to clone hard drives.
There are many options on the market today, but we will focus on what we believe are the best options available.
Why Clone a Hard Drive?
Before we start discussing the programs, it’s important to understand the reasons why you might want to clone a hard drive. The first thing to know is that when a drive is cloned, all information is copied, including empty space, resulting in an identical copy of the original hard drive. This way, we create a complete image of the original drive, and when it’s restored, everything will be exactly as it was.
Cloning a hard drive can be useful in the following situations:
- Replacing an old hard drive with a new one.
- Upgrading to a larger hard drive and transferring all data to it.
- Upgrading from a standard HDD to an SSD to improve performance.
- Creating a literal backup of your PC.
When restoring a system, having a cloned drive can save a lot of time, as there is no need to reinstall anything; the state will be identical to how it was before the hard drive was changed.
This can be particularly beneficial for servers, where the configuration might be complex, and having a clone can significantly speed up the time needed to get it back online.
Best Programs for Cloning Hard Drives
Let’s take a look at some of the best programs available for hard drive cloning.
Clonezilla
Clonezilla is one of the most popular tools among users because it is free and open-source. It operates more like a Linux-based bootable distribution rather than a traditional application. Clonezilla allows bit-by-bit copying and supports a wide range of file systems. It also enables multiple clones at once, with the capability to clone up to 40 machines simultaneously.
The main drawback of Clonezilla is its lack of a graphical interface, which can make it challenging to use. Additionally, a live system must be booted to use it.
Fog
Fog is a project designed to manage and clone images across computers within a network using a web interface. Unlike Clonezilla, Fog is not a bootable GNU/Linux console application but a network-based and web-based system for managing tasks like cloning.
Fog allows remote deployment of disk images, making it ideal for corporate or educational environments where rapid cloning is required.
It is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, and several GNU/Linux distributions.
Redo Backup
Redo Backup is a very versatile tool, similar to Clonezilla, designed to run from a USB flash drive or CD/DVD. Since it doesn’t need to be installed on the system, it can be used to back up and restore all operating systems, making it an excellent choice for being prepared for any catastrophic issue.
Redo Backup includes a full range of useful disk management tools, such as GParted (a partition editing application), TestDisk (a free and open-source data recovery utility), and hdparm (a command-line program for configuring and viewing ATA hard drive hardware parameters and performance testing). In addition to disk management tools, Redo Rescue also includes the Chromium web browser, which can be indispensable for troubleshooting.
Its user-friendly interface makes it easy to use, allowing the process to be completed in just a few steps.
