Free Copy SD Card to SD Card in Windows PC [Full Tutorial]

Necessary to copy SD card to SD card Windows
What to do before cloning SD card?
Steps to free clone SD card to SD card on Windows 11/10/8/7
How to clone Raspberry Pi SD Card?
Summary

Necessary to copy SD card to SD card Windows

SD cards have become a crucial part of modern technology, used in portable devices like mobile phones, cameras, and game consoles to store data. Sometimes, it's necessary to copy data from one SD card to another, perhaps due to running out of space, needing to transfer files, or replacing an old card with a new one.

1. To upgrade SD card to a larger SD card

If your current SD card is almost full, you may want to upgrade to a larger one by copying the data from the old card to the new one.

2. To back up data on SD card

If you have saved many important files on the SD card and you want to avoid significant data loss when your SD card is damaged, copying the SD card to another SD card could be a nice option.

3. To transfer files from one SD card to another quickly, you can use a computer or a file transfer cable. First, insert the source SD card into a card reader connected to the computer, and the destination SD card into another card reader or directly into the computer if it has an SD card slot.

Cloning an entire SD card is a quicker and more convenient way to transfer files between two cards, compared to copying and pasting each file individually.

What to do before cloning SD card?

Regardless of the reason for cloning your SD card, certain steps are necessary for a smooth and satisfactory process.

Prepare an SD card reader

To start cloning, you need to plug your SD card into an SD card reader and connect the reader to your computer.

Back up anything important on the cloned SD card

Please ensure you have moved everything vital to another safe location before cloning, and consider using Qiling Disk Master Standard for the task.

Check the both SD cards' storage space

Make sure the SD card you're cloning to has enough space to hold all contents in the source SD card, and remove unnecessary files or programs if it's too full.

Find a proper SD card to SD card copier

To ensure a complete and lossless clone of an SD card, a professional cloner is required. A highly recommended freeware for this task is Qiling Disk Master Standard, which offers excellent features and is a top choice for cloning SD cards to SD cards without any data loss.

★ Wide CompatibilityThis software is compatible with Windows 11, 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows XP/Vista, and features a clear and intuitive interface that makes it easy to perform the cloning operation.
★ Flexible SD card clone methods: the"Sector-The "by-Sector clone" method on the SD card clone tool can copy both available and lost/deleted files from the source card to the destination card, whereas the "Clone Disk Quickly" method only copies the used space.
★ Bootable SD card cloneIt allows you to clone a bootable SD card, resulting in a cloned disk that can also be booted from.

Steps to free clone SD card to SD card on Windows 11,10, 8, 7

With a good understanding of Qiling Disk Master Standard, it's time to learn how to use it to copy an SD card to another SD card in Windows 10/8/7.

Free Download
Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7, 100% Secure

Step 1. Install and launch Qiling Disk Master, click "Clone" in the main interface, and select "Clone Disk".

Step 2. Select the hard drive you want to clone as the source, change the cloning mode to "Sector to Sector clone", and click "Next".

Step 3. Select another drive as the destination disk, and then click "Next".

Step 4. Then, you can check the source and destination disk in the next window.

Here, you can also click the "Settings" button to adjust the partition size on the destination disk, or tick "4k alignment" to enhance the reading and writing speed of the SSD.

Step 6. You can preview the disk cloning operation. Please click "Proceed" to clone the disk.

Here are some possible actions you might want to take after successfully copying data from one SD card to another:

Turn off your computer, remove the source and target SD cards, and plug the larger one into your portable device for an upgrade by copying SD card to a larger SD card.
To free up space on your SD card, securely format it on your computer by cloning it. This process involves copying the SD card's contents to your computer, then erasing the original SD card. Once the cloning process is complete, safely remove the SD card from your computer and plug it back into your device.

Extra info: How to clone Raspberry Pi SD Card?

Many users are searching for a way to clone or back up their Raspberry Pi SD card for quick recovery when necessary. To achieve this, it's essential to collect some important information, including the process of cloning or backing up the SD card, which can be done using various tools and techniques, such as using a USB SD card reader or a Raspberry Pi clone tool, to ensure a reliable and efficient backup of the SD card's contents.

To clone Raspberry Pi SD card in Windows

For this task, you can use Win32DiskImager.

Step 1. To clone an SD card using Win32DiskImager, first install and open the software, then select the SD card you wish to clone under the "Device" section.

Step 2. Select a destination location and filename, then click the "Read" button.

Step 3. When it is done, you will see "Read Successful" word.

To clone Raspberry Pi SD card in Linux

Step 1. To view all file systems on your system, plug the SD card into your PC, open a Terminal window by pressing "Ctrl + Alt + T", and type "sudo fdisk -l" to list all file systems present.

Step 2. To find the device name of your SD card like "/dev/sdb" based on its size, you can use the `lsblk` command in the terminal. This command lists information about all block devices (HDD, SSD, USB drives, etc.

Step 3. The command `dd` is used to copy and convert data. To write the image to another location, you can use the following command: `dd if=image_name.

"sudo dd if=/dev/sdb of=~/raspbian_backup.img"

To backup Raspberry Pi SD card in MacOS

Step 1. Insert your SD card into your Mac and launch a Terminal window. Enter "diskutil list" to get a list of all disks, and identify the ID of your SD card, such as "/dev/disk3".

Step 2. Unmount your SD card by the command "diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk3".

Step 3. The "dd" command is a powerful tool for copying and converting data. To use it to write an image to your hard disk, you can run a command like this: `dd if=source.

"sudo dd if=/dev/disk3 of=~/raspbian_backup.img"

Summary

Qiling Disk Master Standard allows copying SD cards to SD cards on Windows PCs, and also enables cloning of other mass storage devices like USB flash drives, SSDs, and HDDs. The Professional edition offers advanced disk partition management functions, including cloning GPT disks to MBR disks or vice versa, migrating OS to SSD without boot issues, and allocating free space between partitions.

If you're running Windows Server 2022/2019/2016/2012/2008, Qiling Disk Master Server can be a useful tool for managing disk partitions on these operating systems.