Best USB Clone Tool to Copy and Transfer Your Files & OS
Quick Navigation:
- In need of USB clone tool
- Best USB clone tool for Windows 11/10/8/7
- How to clone USB drive (even boot drive)
- The End
Cloning a USB drive can be a straightforward process, and I'd be happy to guide you through it. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to clone a bootable USB drive to another using a USB clone tool.
In need of USB clone tool
A USB flash drive or pen drive can be used for a lot of things. It allows you to keep important files outside of operating system, run portable version of programs and games, create Windows recovery disk, create Windows installation media, try open-source operating system, etc.
As it is cheap and convenient, many users have one or more USB drives for a certain purpose, and in some cases, a USB clone tool is in need to create an intact copy of the USB for backup or migration:
▪ Copy your USB drive as a backup: Since USB drives are small and light, they are easily lost. And with numerous times of plug-in and plug-out, your USB drive can get poor connection, or infected by virus from a computer. To avoid unwantted data loss, you can keep a USB duplication as backup.
▪ Clone a bootable USB drive for migration: Cloning is different from just copying and pasting the files from one to another. Simply copying may skip some crucial files, causing portable programs corrupted or OS unbootable. A USB drive clone can migrate everything to another drive without affecting the original functionality.
▪ Disk maintenance and upgrades: Users may seek to upgrade their USB drives to larger capacities or replace damaged drives without losing data. Also, when some of the USB hard drive failure symptoms occur, we should clone this drive to another good working USB drive just in case.
Then, how to duplicate a USB drive, especially a boot drive? It seems easy to copy files from USB to another USB via copy and paste. However, it only works when your USB is just a data storage device.
If your USB is a bootable drive, you can't copy and paste the master boot record (MBR) and other boot-related files; And if your USB drive contains huge amounts of data, the copy process can get lengthy and problematic.
In these cases, an adequate USB clone software is what you need.
Best USB clone tool for Windows 11/10/8/7
To make sure all the data on the USB drive successfully cloned to another, you need to use a professional USB disk clone tool. That is when Qiling Disk Master Professional comes into play.
It is a reliable utility that allows you to clone or backup bootable USB drive or other kinds of USB disks to different places such as another USB drive or internal hard drive.
▶ If you want an exact copy of the original USB drive, you can use the sector by sector clone option to even clone the unused space.
▶ The default intelligent-sector cloning mode empowers you to copy only used sectors, and therefore allows for cloning larger drive to a smaller drive without the need to shrink the source drive.
▶ If your bootable USB does not work, you can create a bootable media with a USB drive or CD/DVD on another computer with Windows installed. It works as a boot drive to boot your computer into WinPE.
▶ This USB drive clone tool works on any Windows computer, including Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP.
Before you start, please download and install the software:
If your computer is running a server edition of Windows, such as Windows Server 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012, or earlier versions, you can use the server edition of the USB drive clone tool.
How to clone USB drive (even boot drive)
Whether you want to upgrade your USB drive or create multiple bootable USB drives, Qiling Disk Master is the perfect tool for the job. This software makes it easy to clone your USB drive, and you don't have to worry about the boot-related files, as it takes care of them for you.
To clone a USB flash drive with Qiling Disk Master:
✍Note: Before cloning your USB drive with Qiling Disk Master, it's essential to create a backup of any important data on the target drive. This is because the cloning process will overwrite all data on the target drive. To avoid losing any valuable information, create a backup of your data before proceeding with the cloning process.
Step-by-step tutorial to clone USB bootable drive:
1. Install Qiling Disk Master on a working Windows 11/10/8/7 computer. Connect two USB drives to this computer, the source drive and the destination drive.
2. Open Qiling Disk Master. Click Clone and select Disk Clone. Disk Clone will clone all the data on this drive including hidden partitions.
💬Tips: If you need to only clone one partition on this USB drive, you can select Partition Clone. If you want to clone your system to one USB drive, you can choose System Clone.
3. Select the bootable USB flash drive that you want to clone as the source disk and specify another USB drive as the destination disk to receive the clone. You can also clone USB drive to an SSD or HDD.
4. Confirm information and click Proceed to start cloning bootable USB drive.
✍Notes:
When cloning a USB drive to an SSD, it's a good idea to check the SSD Alignment option to ensure optimal performance. This setting helps to properly align the data on the SSD, which can lead to improved read and write speeds.
If you need to resize partitions on the destination disk during the cloning process, you can click on the Edit Partitions option. This will allow you to adjust the size and layout of the partitions on the SSD, ensuring that they match the configuration of the source USB drive.
- Copy without resizing partitions: It will not resize the partition size.
- Add unused space to all partitions: To optimize the storage space on your target disk, you can utilize the Edit Partitions feature. This will allow you to redistribute the unallocated space to each partition on the target disk, ensuring that they are properly sized for the disk's capacity.
- Manually adjust partition size: The Edit Partitions feature offers the flexibility to redistribute unallocated space to any partition on the target disk. This means you can choose which partition you'd like to allocate the unallocated space to, ensuring that each partition is properly sized for the disk's capacity.
When attempting to clone to a smaller drive, the Sector By Sector Clone option is not available. As a result, the Edit Partitions feature also becomes inaccessible. This is because the Sector By Sector Clone requires the target drive to be at least as large as the source drive, and attempting to clone to a smaller drive would not be possible.
When cloning a USB bootable drive in Windows 11/10/8/7, you can continue to use your computer for other tasks, and you can also edit files on the USB drive that is being cloned. This means that the cloning process does not freeze your computer, allowing you to stay productive while the cloning operation is in progress.
Qiling Disk Master not only serves as a USB cloning tool but also functions as a USB image tool, allowing you to create a backup image of your USB drive. Additionally, it can be used as an M.2 SSD cloner, making it possible to migrate Windows 10 to an M.2 SSD, clone an M.2 SSD to another M.2 SSD, and more. This versatility makes Qiling Disk Master a valuable tool for various disk management and cloning tasks. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask.
The End
To clone a USB flash drive to another USB drive or HDD/SSD, a reliable USB clone tool is necessary. Qiling Disk Master is a highly recommended tool that can simplify the process. With its user-friendly interface and advanced features, you can easily clone your USB drive to another device, making it a valuable asset for various disk management and cloning tasks. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask.
Qiling Disk Master is a powerful tool that can help you clone a USB flash drive, including a bootable USB. Its features, such as "Edit Partitions" and "SSD Alignment", can also help reduce unnecessary trouble. Download Qiling Disk Master and try it for yourself to experience its capabilities. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask.
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