Easiest Way to Clone NTFS Drive in Windows (Freeware)
Quick Navigation:
- Need to clone NTFS drive
- Best freeware to run NTFS clone in Windows
- How to clone NTFS partition step by step
- Wrapping things up
Need to clone NTFS drive
Windows PC started using the NTFS file system by default for its internal drives from Windows XP. Compared to FAT32, NTFS is more secure and robust, and it supports larger file sizes and drives. You may need to clone NTFS drive in the following situations:
- Enlarge storage space: the NTFS drive is running out of space and you want to clone it to a larger drive.
- Backup important data: you saved crucial data on the NTFS drive and you want to clone the data to an external drive as a backup.
- Replace a failing drive: If the disk containing the NTFS partition has damaged areas, you have the option to clone the crucial partition onto a fresh disk.
As there is no Windows built-in tool that owns the clone feature, you’ll need a professional cloning utility to help you clone a hard drive in NTFS file system. Find such a tool in the next part.
Best freeware to run NTFS clone in Windows
Qiling Disk Master Standard, the best free disk clone software, can be your ideal choice. Following are its main features:
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💻 Disk Clone |
It will clone the whole data disk to another disk. If you want to clone a disk containing OS, such as clone Windows 10 SSD to larger SSD, try higher editions. |
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💾 Partition Clone |
It can copy the selected partition to another partition. Besides NTFS partitions, you are able to clone partitions using the file system of FAT (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32), exFAT, etc. |
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📃 VSS Technology |
The cloning process will run in the background, so you can keep using your computer during the process. |
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🧿 Compatibility |
It supports all Windows PC operating systems including Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP. |
Just download Qiling Disk Master and follow the instructions below to copy NTFS partition without efforts.
How to clone NTFS partition step by step
Bear in mind that the destination partition will be overwritten during the cloning process, so backup files on the destination partition before cloning. Then, follow the steps thereinafter to clone an internal NTFS drive to another drive:
Step 1. Install and run Qiling Disk Master. Click “Tools and utilities”page and select “Disk Clone”.
Step 2. Select the NTFS partition you want to clone and click “Next”.
Step 3. Select another partition to store the cloned data and click “Next”.
Step 4. Confirm the operation and click “Proceed”.
>> Edit partition: you can choose the partition type (primary partition or logical partition) and drive letter for the destination partition. You can also adjust the partition size. This feature is available in the Professional edition or higher.
>> SSD Alignment: use this option to improve the reading and writing speed of the destination partition while cloning hard drive to an SSD.
>> Sector by sector clone: it will clone every sector on the source partition whether it is used or not. It requires the destination partition to be equal to or larger than the source partition.
✐ Notes:
- If the NTFS partition you choose to clone is the only partition on the disk, you can use Disk Clone to clone NTFS drive to another drive.
- If you are cloning a boot partition in NTFS format, you’d better upgrade to higher editions and use the System Clone feature. This advanced feature will automatically choose all system related partitions that need to be cloned as so to ensure a secure boot.
Wrapping things up
You can accomplish cloning NTFS drive in Windows within a few steps if you pick Qiling Disk Master. Apart from the clone feature, Qiling Disk Master is specialized backup and sync software. You can use it to backup Windows or sync QNAP NAS to OneDrive, etc.
If you want to protect unlimited computers within your company, you can pick Qiling Disk Master Technician. With the inbuilt Qiling Image Deploy tool, you are allowed to deploy/restore system image file on server-side computer to multiple client-side computers over network. Try it now to discover more!
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