Can I Copy Windows to an External Hard Drive?
Why Need to Copy OS to External Hard Drive?
Operating systems, such as Windows 7-11, power computers and store important data, but they can suddenly crash or break, disrupting daily use.
Users copy their operating system to an external hard drive to keep their data safe, allowing them to quickly switch to the copied OS if their computer crashes, thus avoiding the need to reinstall Windows and saving time and effort.
You can try the new system without committing to it, and if you don't like it, you can easily revert back to your old operating system and recover your data.
Best Software to Clone Windows to External Hard Drive
To clone Windows to an external hard drive using Qiling Disk Master Professional, you can follow these steps: First, download and install the software, then plug in the external hard drive and select the clone system option. Next, choose the source and target drives, and the software will guide you through the cloning process. This method is recommended for its simplicity and effectiveness.
Here are some useful features that you can enjoy:
- AOMEI Backupper offers three cloning options: System Clone, Disk Clone, and Partition Clone, allowing you to meet your different needs. To clone Windows to an external hard drive, you can choose System Clone or Disk Clone, depending on whether you want to include all items or just the operating system, and considering the storage space of the target disk.
- This tool enables the cloning of an operating system between different partition styles, including MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR, while also ensuring secure boot functionality.
- It can clone hard drives or solid-state drives of various types, including SATA, NVMe, PCIe, M.2, and others.
- This software is capable of cloning all brands of disks, including Samsung, WD, SanDisk, Seagate, and PNY, allowing for the creation of exact duplicates of any disk.
How to Copy Operating System to External Hard Drive Step by Step
Download and install Qiling Disk Master Professional, noting that the free trial version's clone features can only be demonstrated and require a full version upgrade to use.
To clone a Windows 10 system to an external hard drive, follow these steps: first, ensure the external drive is large enough to hold the Windows 10 system's files. Next, create a bootable USB drive using the Windows 10 installation media, and then use the built-in Windows 10 feature called "Windows To Go" to create a portable version of the system on the external drive. This process involves creating a bootable USB drive, preparing the external drive, and then using the Windows To Go feature to clone the system. Alternatively, users can use third-party software like Qiling Disk Master Server for server users, or follow the detailed steps below for a more detailed guide.
Step 1. Launch Qiling Disk Master. Select "System Clone" under the "Clone" tab, as shown in the attached picture.
Step 2. Select the destination partition for cloning the system, such as "Disk1", and click "Next".
After clicking "Next", a window will appear, reminding you that the destination partition will be overwritten or deleted. If the partition is empty, click "OK" to proceed, or click "Cancel" to cancel the operation and back up important data first.
Step 3. Confirm the source and destination partitions, and click "Proceed" to copy Windows XP/7 to an external hard drive. If transferring to an SSD, check the "SSD Alignment" option for optimized performance.
You can set up more by accessing the options in the bottom left corner.
- The "sector by sector clone" method clones all sectors from the source partition to the destination partition, taking more time to complete.
- When cloning a disk to a larger disk, you have the option to "Make full use of disk space", which allows you to extend the system partition size to utilize the unallocated space on the larger disk.
After setting up the program, you can leave it to finish the process in the background. Once the process reaches 100%, click "Finish" to complete the system clone. You've successfully cloned the system.
Bonus Tip: How to Backup OS to External Hard Drive
Qiling Disk Master allows you to create a system image using the "System Backup" feature, which can be done while working without interrupting your tasks. This system image can be used to restore your computer to a previous state if it becomes unresponsive or stops working, providing a backup solution for your computer OS.
Summary
Copying an operating system to an external hard drive with Qiling Disk Master is extremely simple. Additionally, the tool can enhance SSD performance using 4k alignment technology and make the most of disk space, allowing for system partition size extension.
This software allows you to clone an SSD to a larger SSD in Windows 10, replace laptop HDD with SSD, clone SATA to NVMe, and clone hard drive to Samsung SSD, among other features, making it a useful tool for data protection.
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