Best Free Disk Cloning Software [Top-Rated Disk Cloning Software]

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In this specialist guide, I will be reviewing some of the best free disk cloning software available as of 2025. I will also be detailing some of the many issues to be aware of during the disk cloning process plus how to handle some of the more generalised disk cloning issues when migrating an existing PC across to new or dissimilar hardware.

Whilst several high-profile backup software titles do now include both disk cloning tools alongside components for making full disk image backups (backups which can also be used for cloning data to new disks), such titles are usually only available as a premium purchase. This guide therefore focuses on the range of free to use disk cloning software tools which are currently available and, in many cases, equally capable of performing the same level of disk cloning to a very safe and reliable standard.

In addition to a comprehensive list of free to use disk cloning tools (which can be viewed further down in this guide), I will also be focusing on some of the key concepts surrounding disk cloning software to be aware of. This includes how best to make use of disk cloning technology before going on to answer some key questions relating to the disk cloning process itself – Vamos.

Check out my top free disk cloning software...

Partition Master

easeus.com

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What is Disk Cloning Software?

Disk Cloning software is specialist software which can be used to create an exact (1:1) copy of a computer’s hard drive, a copy of the data which is then immediately replicated across to a secondary (often larger or faster) hard disk or SSD drive. Making an exact copy of a disk means that all existing data stored upon the original (or source) hard drive including the operating system, installed applications, system settings plus all existing user data is also copied across to the new disk during the cloning process.

NB – Free disk cloning software is especially useful when adding new or upgraded hard disks, SSDs or newer style NVMe drives to an existing PC without the requirement to reinstall the operating system or any third-party applications from scratch.

For example, when adding a new hard disk or SSD drive to an existing PC, the entire contents of the existing disk can be directly copied across to this new disk and kept exactly the same as beforehand. This means that the existing system will continue to work exactly as it did before, but with more disk space now available or a faster SSD or NVMe drive in-place to help improve overall system performance (or maybe even both).

NB – Whilst disk cloning software will work fine when migrating from an old hard drive to a new drive or SSD on an existing system, more involved work might be required when migrating an existing system across to new or otherwise dissimilar hardware. In such cases, the use of disk cloning technology with support for restoring to dissimilar hardware might be required (and I will discuss this topic in more detail later on in this guide).

Overall, there are many varied scenarios which might require the use of specialist disk cloning software. These include the upgrading of hard disks, the migrating of an existing PC system to a newer (and faster) SSD drive, easily re-provisioning a PC with a clean installation of Windows and the returning of a PC back to its default (factory) state ready for resale or recycling are just a few examples of how disk cloning software can be very useful.

Does Disk Cloning Copy Applications?

Yes, this ability to copy any applications already installed upon an existing system disk is one of the main reasons that disk cloning software is so useful, but let’s consider a commonly experienced example to provide more details on how this cloning process might actually work.

One of the biggest problems when acquiring a brand-new PC is that all user data must be migrated across from an existing PC and then any Windows applications must also then be re-installed, re-licenced and reconfigured. This process is often very time consuming at best and potentially very costly if the installation media or licencing keys for certain software is unavailable, resulting in the need to re-purchase the application in question thus taking up even more time and adding more cost to a system migration.

With specialist free disk cloning software available, as we have already discovered, the entire system in its current state (including the operating system, user data plus any installed software) can all be copied across to a new PC with very little fuss.

NB – Be aware of how any installed software might be licenced and be sure that cloning such software to a new disk or device is allowed. Generally speaking, software is licenced per device or per user (regardless of the number of devices), meaning that migrating or wholly replacing an existing disk will usually not cause any licencing issues (but always be sure to contact the developers if you are unsure).

Migrating to Dissimilar Hardware

One potential disk cloning issue which might occur when migrating an existing system onto a new or otherwise different device is that of any existing drivers installed on the current system not being compatible with the new hardware. In such cases it will be most likely be necessary to make use of specialist free disk cloning software which can accommodate the cloning (or recovery of a disk image backup) onto dissimilar hardware to solve such an issue.

Such specialist free disk cloning software will be able to automatically adapt the existing disk contents so as to either remove any proprietary hardware drivers during the cloning operation (meaning generic Windows drivers will be temporarily used at this stage) or simply allow for these drivers to be replaced (either automatically or manually) prior to the cloning operation commencing.

NB – If this issue relating to dissimilar hardware sounds like it might be relevant to your own disk cloning or PC migration issues, then please note I have marked-out any software titles supporting cloning to such dissimilar hardware in the full list of free disk cloning titles further down on this page.

Whilst not as straightforward a process as allowing for specialist software to help manage any driver issues by itself, one potential workaround to migrating to a new system with dissimilar hardware is to uninstall any drivers prior to the disk cloning operation thus ensuring maximum compatibility on the new system straight after any migration is complete.

If you are using Microsoft Windows then this will often mean simply uninstalling any device drivers (using the built-in Windows Device Manager tool or a third-party alternative) and then performing the disk cloning operation straight afterwards. Once cloning is complete, Windows will then (by itself) attempt to choose suitable device drivers for any hardware (even if they are just generic drivers temporarily) until the correct drivers can be downloaded and installed.

NB – for a more detailed guide on migrating existing PC systems to new or otherwise dissimilar hardware, please be sure to check out my guide to The Best Backup Software for Restoring to Dissimilar Hardware right here on BestBackupReviews.com.

Disk Cloning vs Disk Imaging vs System Imaging

During the process of researching suitable free disk cloning software, you might have also noticed the terms “disk imaging” or “system imaging” are regularly mentioned. These terms are sometimes (incorrectly) used interchangeably when they do, in-fact, all perform slightly different functions and have different ways of working.

These differences in terms are explained in more detail below:

Disk Cloning:

Disk Cloning is the process of making an exact (1:1) copy of a physical hard disk or SSD drive by migrating everything across to a secondary physical hard disk or SSD drive (often a newer, higher capacity or faster target disk). During this cloning process the entire operating system, any installed software plus all user data and system settings are also moved directly from the original (source) hard disk over to the new target disk with no data stored else ware during the process.

NB – Partition cloning works in a very similar way, albeit copying a partition in its entirety to a new location on the target disk instead of an entire disk in and of itself.

Disk Imaging:

Disk Imaging technology is often incorporated into many modern backup software titles and can be used to make an image-based backup of a PCs hard disk into a single file (a file which can then be stored for safe keeping and future restores). In other words, with disk imaging backups the entire source disk itself is copied (including the operating system, user settings plus any installed software) before being compressed and stored within a single file (or a series of smaller files when applicable). Once complete, this image file can then be safely stored upon a backup disk or in the cloud as a part of the backup process.

NB – Whilst this process might be classified as a “disk image backup” by many backup software developers, the process of performing such a backup and then recovering directly to a new disk has the same net effect as simply cloning the two devices (albeit a less efficient solution than when using direct disk cloning software).

System Imaging:

Sometimes you might see backup software titles advertising that they can make full system image backups amongst various other backup related features. Simply put, in cases where a PC might be made up of more than one hard disk or partition, the backup software will be able to automatically create multiple images of all connected hard disks and partitions which are in-use as a part of the same backup set (i.e., capturing the entire system in a single backup set regardless of how many disks or partitions are in use).

NB – Personally speaking, I think the confusion between disk cloning and disk imaging often comes from the fact that, whilst disk cloning could be used as a form of backup (albeit an inefficient one), disk imaging could equally be used to create a clone between two hard drives (albeit making the process slightly longer and slower than would have been the case when using dedicated disk cloning software).

For example, if I had created an image-based backup of my entire hard drive using disk imaging capable backup software and then swapped out my existing hard disk for a new one, I could then recover the entire (old) disk onto the new disk using the disk image backup I made earlier on (assuming I had some bootable recovery media to boot the system into beforehand and perform the recovery from within). This process, albeit involving slightly more work, would have the same net result as simply cloning the existing disk on to the new disk drive directly.

Likewise, I could also add a second hard disk to my system and clone my original hard disk to this secondary disk directly in order to keep said disk as a “back up” hard disk. Should I ever need to recover my PC to this original (cloned) state then I could then simply clone this secondary disk (the “back-up disk”) back onto my primary disk using some disk cloning software. This is potentially a very useful option to have when facing issues such as malware or ransomware damage to a system, but any user data would still most likely need to be backed-up else ware given that this approach, in effect, only allows for a single version of the system to be kept.

NB – Both of these aforementioned cloning methods would work fine, but it is in my opinion often much simpler to stick to disk image-based backups and direct (disk to disk) cloning for their intended purposes so as to gain the maximum benefits from each approach.

4K & 1M Disk Alignment Issues

As one of the most important, yet often misunderstood aspects of disk storage, the concept of sector and partition alignment is paramount for optimal hard disk performance and longevity. Specifically, 4K sector alignment and 1MB partition alignment are crucial, particularly so when cloning disks and dealing with the transition from traditional mechanical hard disk drives to newer solid-state technology.

Historically, mechanical disks have for a long time used 512-byte sectors. However, as disk storage density increased, manufacturers have moved to adopted “Advanced Format” drives which utilise 4096-byte (4K) sectors in the process. This shift has, in-turn, significantly improved storage efficiency and error correction capabilities of modern hard disks however, it has also introduced physical alignment challenges in the process (something which is especially important to take note of when migrating to newer SSD drives).

When cloning any hard disk or SSD device, it is essential to use specialist disk cloning software that supports 4K sector and 1MB partition alignment. Many modern free disk cloning tools handle such alignment automatically, thus ensuring the cloned disk performs optimally after any cloning operations complete without further user intervention.

4K Sector Alignment Explained

When operating systems write data to a 4K sector drive, they must align the data with the physical 4K boundaries on the disk itself. If this data is not aligned then a single logical write operation might span two physical sectors, in-turn requiring the disk to perform two read-modify-write cycles. This issue can result in significant performance degradation, particularly so for random write operations which can otherwise significantly slow down overall system responsiveness and increase storage latency.

Correct 4K alignment ensures that logical writes to a disk align perfectly with the physical sectors upon it, thus eliminating the need for additional read-modify-write operations which would otherwise occur on an unoptimized disk. Modern operating systems like Windows 7 and later, as well as modern Linux distributions, all typically handle 4K alignment automatically during installation.

1MB Partition Alignment Explained

In conjunction with 4K sector alignment, 1MB partition alignment is equally important when it comes to optimising the performance of a physical drive (both mechanical or solid-state). This specific type of alignment refers to the starting offset of a physical partition on a disk. Modern operating systems and partitioning tools typically align partitions to a 1MB boundary (this is 2048 sectors of 512 bytes, or 256 sectors of 4096 bytes).

1MB partition alignment also ensures that partitions are properly aligned with the underlying 4K sectors as well, further optimising performance of a hard disk or SSD drive (something which is especially important for SSD drives which rely heavily on block-level operations).

SSD Drives and 4K Alignment

It should be noted that SSD drives are highly sensitive to alignment issues. Such issues involving misaligned partitions can lead to excessive write amplification (where the drive performs more write operations than necessary) which both degrades performance and reduces the lifespan of the SSD.

SSD drives utilise a technology called flash memory which is organised into blocks and pages. When writing data to an SSD device, the drive must first erase an entire block before writing new data. Misaligned partitions can force the SSD to erase and rewrite larger blocks than necessary, increasing “wear and tear” on the drive in the process.

NB – Whilst SSD drives have no mechanical moving parts, they still have a duty cycle which cumulates in a typical lifespan often referred to as the drive’s TBW (total bytes written). With this in mind, ensuring correct SSD alignment is of key importance in expanding SSD drive lifespans.

Checking 4K Alignment after Disk Cloning

Whilst modern disk cloning software will handle 4k sector alignment automatically during the cloning process, checking if a hard disk or SSD drive is correctly aligned remains a relatively simple task. Even when making use of specialist disk cloning software it is still advisable to double check that disks are correctly aligned, especially so if any issues were encountered during the disk cloning process.

Once of the simplest methods for checking disk sector alignment on a Windows device is via the msinfo32 system utility (as can be seen below). To access this tool, simply press the Windows key + R to open the Windows Run dialogue box and then type in msinfo32 and then press “OK” to open the tool.

With the msinfo32 tool now open, navigate using the tool to Components > Storage > Disks via the left navigation menu and then locate the disk to be checked in the right-side panel (a panel which will list all attached hard disks and SSD drives). Once the disk has been located, take note of the Partition Starting Offset value associated with this disk.

On modern hard disks and SSD drives, the Starting Offset Value (as can be seen above) should be dividable by exactly 4096 to indicate a correctly aligned drive. This means, with the help of a calculator, simply dividing the Starting Offset Value by 4096 with a resulting whole number being returned will confirm that the disk is correctly 4K sector aligned.

NB – Alternatively, certain tools (including EaseUS Partition Master) contain specialist disk alignment checking tools which make for a slightly easier and more convenient means of checking such a metric).

Overall, correct 4K sector and 1MB partition alignment are crucial for optimal disk performance and longevity, especially so when dealing with SSD drives. During the disk cloning process, it is essential that the cloned target disk maintains proper alignment and using specialist disk cloning software capable of applying and verifying such alignment is often the safest and most reliable way of achieving this.

Considerations when Cloning to NVMe Disks

The cloning of conventional hard disks and SATA based SSD drives to the newer style NVMe based drives is in many cases a relatively straightforward process, however, there are still some potential issues which could arise during such a process. Such NVMe related cloning issues could be caused by a variety of factors including the type of disk cloning software being used not properly supporting the newly available Gen 4 NVMe hardware, NVMe drivers being different to more the conventionally available SATA drivers plus the configuration of the operating system which is being cloned amongst various other cloning related factors.

One of the most common problems encountered after cloning mechanical or SATA based SSD disks across to NVMe drives is boot failure when attempting to boot from the newly cloned NVMe disk. Such failures can happen for a number of reasons, but one of the most common being that the NVMe drive is not configured to be the default boot drive after the cloning process has completed (this can be easily fixed by changing the boot order of any attached disks in the system BIOS or UEFI settings after the cloning operation is complete).

NB – In addition to configuring the BIOS or UEFI settings after an NVMe disk cloning operation has completed, I would always advise physically removing (and keeping safe) the source disk which has been cloned from so as to ensure the cloning process has definitely worked correctly and that the new NVMe drive is indeed the drive in use.

Another common problem when cloning to newer style NVMe drives is that of driver incompatibility arising after the cloning process has completed. NVMe drives use a different driver than the more traditional and commonly encountered SATA based SSD drives for which they are rapidly replacing in many modern PC systems and, if the correct driver is not installed, the operating system itself might not be able to recognize the new NVMe drive after the disk cloning process has completed.

NB – Whilst this issue can usually be fixed by simply installing the latest NVMe driver from the disk manufacturer’s website, users of modern Windows systems will most likely find the operating system itself can temporarily make use of generic NVMe drivers before the system then automatically downloads and installs the correct NVMe drives a little later on.

Another issue to be aware of when cloning to NVMe drives is that of 4K sector size related issues which can arise when cloning from older style SATA based disks and SSD drives to the newer style NVMe based SSD drives which are starting to becoming very popular in newer PC systems.

Such sector size issues can be become very problematic due to newer NVMe drives often using a different sector size than is used by the more traditional SATA drives which they are typically replacing. This means that whilst a sector size of 4096 bytes is typically used for newer style NVMe drives, older style SATA disks from which such NVMe drives are often cloned from will often make use of 512-byte sectors meaning problems will occur if the disk cloning software in use is not designed to handle such issues correctly.

As with many of the other commonly encountered disk cloning issues you might be forced to address, issues pertaining to the cloning of data from older style SATA drives to newer style NVMe drives (and, in particular, the 4K sector size issue just discussed) can effectively be mitigated via the use of professionally built disk cloning software, several titles of which are listed towards the end of this very guide.

How Effective is Free Disk Cloning Software?

Free disk cloning software will appeal to many PC users with a specific use case in mind, this could be the replacement of a small capacity drive with a larger one, the upgrading of an existing system across to a newer SSD drive or even as a form of full system image backup in certain cases.

Whilst free disk cloning software can be of great help in all of these commonly encountered scenarios, given how useful and powerful such disk cloning software is, it is always worth considering the benefits which could come from a premium upgrade.

Below are just a few of many reasons why it might be worth considering an upgrade from free to premium disk cloning software, especially so if you are a regular PC user wanting to make the most of your existing system hardware.

1) More advanced cloning settings

Free disk cloning titles often focus on the cloning of an entire disk with a basic set of predetermined settings applied. Whilst this approach can be very effective for basic cloning tasks (such as a straight clone form one disk to another), such software will often lack the more granular control provided by a premium disk cloning solution.

Premium disk cloning software titles often provide much greater control over the actual cloning process versus this “one size fits all” approach often seen in the free to use alternatives. This additional functionality can include the ability to use sector-by-sector cloning technology, “hot” disk cloning technology (for cloning a running system), automatically resizing partitions to fit a larger disk (or leave them in tact), the ability to exclude selected files or file-types and even advanced management of the boot sector for the resulting target drive amongst various other advanced features.

2) Faster cloning performance

Premium disk cloning software titles often feature additional running modes meaning disk cloning tasks can be completed much faster in certain circumstances (such as when handling large drives with a lot of free space to manage). Add on to this (mentioned above) that premium titles often include many advanced options such as being able to exclude certain file types from the cloning operation and premium disk cloning software can become very useful when a quick and efficient disk cloning operation is required.

3) Additional disk compatibility

Whereas some free to use disk cloning software titles might make us of technology which is one or more generations behind that of the latest premium titles, such premium titles will often benefit from the latest drive and drives support and should (in theory at least) provide the maximum compatibility for the latest hard drives including PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD drives amongst many other new additions to the market.

If you are making use of the latest and fastest new drives and drive types or facing issues when attempting to clone such drives using existing free to use disk cloning software then it is always worth considering a premium alternative which will benefit from being constantly updated with the latest disk drive support.

4) Additional disk related tools & utilities

Generally speaking, premium disk cloning software will come as a part of a suite of disk management or data backup software which sees many additional disk utilities also included alongside it. Such additional tools and disk utilities can often include secure disk and partition data wiping tools, disk partition management tools, data recovery tools, disk health checking and repair tools plus disk benchmarking and performance tools amongst many others.

One great example of the benefits resulting from such premium disk cloning software comes from Acronis. Not only do Acronis feature their excellent disk cloning module within the latest edition of the Cyber Protection Home Office backup suite (formally Acronis True Image), but bundled in with this suite are many additional tools including a full disk imaging backup application, support for migrating systems to dissimilar hardware, bootable rescue media, system cleaning utilities, “Try & Decide” functionality, secure disk wiping plus use of the Acronis Secure Zone technology amongst other included features.

Overall, if you frequently perform disk cloning and system migration related work, require advanced cloning features and configurations, prioritise speedy and efficient cloning jobs and value comprehensive disk and driver support, then upgrading to premium disk cloning software could become a very worthwhile investment.

NB – Premium disk cloning software will usually be bundled within either premium backup software or premium disk and partition management software. For this reason, it is always worthwhile to check out exactly what premium features will be included within such offerings as this will differ between different software developers and whether you are purchasing primarily disk partition management or disk backup software.

Using Live CDs vs Installed software

The decision to make use of locally installed disk cloning software versus disk cloning software built-into a live CD (or other bootable media) could prove to be an important one.

Generally speaking, locally installed cloning software usually comes as a component inside of a larger tool, often a disk management suite or data backup solution which can be used for performing other related disk imaging and system maintenance tasks. Live CDs, on the other hand, often contain a core set of tools for performing direct disk-to-disk cloning or recovering a system from an existing disk image backup.

This means if you are simply wanting to make a single (one-off) clone of a hard disk or partition (for example to migrate an existing system to a newer, faster or larger hard disk or SSD dive) then cloning software running form a bootable Live CD will most likely be sufficient (and not require any further disk space be consumed). On the other hand, if you envision yourself regularly cloning disks, making disk image-based backups or requiring some of the many disk and partition related management tools which often come alongside disk cloning tools then the locally installed option will likely be preferable.

Even if you do decide that a locally installed disk cloning tool is the best choice under your own circumstances, many of these locally installed tools will come with bootable media builders included and making use of such bootable media (e.g. live CDs) can still be highly useful. For example, not only does such bootable media often allow for both disk cloning and disk image-based backups to be made without having to first boot the PC, but can also be used to help recover existing disk image backups on to new or otherwise different hardware (and can also make for a great way of easily migrating to a new PC).

Disk Cloning FAQs

Does Windows 10 or Windows 11 have built-in disk cloning software?

No, neither Windows 10 nor Windows 11 contain any built-in disk cloning software as of the time of last updating this guide in 2025. This means if you do wish to clone a hard disk containing a Windows 10 or Windows 11 operating system then specialist third-party disk cloning software must be used.

This is not too much of a problem, however, as you will see further down in this guide where I have collated together some reviews of my favourite free disk cloning software titles meaning this can be performed at very little or zero cost.

Can a hard disk be cloned for free?

Whilst Windows doesn’t include its own built-in disk cloning utility, there are various free third-party disk cloning tools available. Popular Windows focused tools like EaseUS Partition Master, AOMEI Partition Assistant, HDClone and DiskGenius make such disk cloning jobs straightforward whilst live CD based tools including Clonezilla and GParted allow for cloning without first having to boot up a device.

Can Windows 10 or Windows 11 be cloned to an SSD drive?

Yes, both Windows 10 and Windows 11 will run absolutely fine on a solid state drive (SSD) and both provide full support for such hardware.

SSD disk drives have become popular in recent years due to the increased performance they provide alongside the continuously deceasing costs and larger capacities available as the technology itself becomes ever more advanced. If you are currently running Windows 10 or Windows 11 on an older style mechanical hard disk then I would strongly recommend looking into an SSD upgrade as soon as possible for a smoother and faster Windows PC.

Is it better to clone or image a hard disk?

The decision of whether to use disk cloning or disk image-based backups depends upon the exact process being executed and the intended result. If you are simply wanting to make a copy of an existing hard disk to a new or secondary disk (e.g. when migrating an existing system from a mechanical disk to a newer SSD drive) then disk cloning would be the most efficient solution. On the other hand, should you wish to keep multiple copies of said original disk and potentially store these versions longer term (i.e. full disk backups) then disk imaging-based backup software will be the best solution.

NB – Remember, although usually a longer process then direct disk-to-disk cloning, making a disk image backup of a hard disk and then resorting this same image to a secondary disk will provide the same net result as direct disk-to-disk cloning.

Does cloning a hard disk also make it bootable?

Generally speaking, when cloning an existing (and working) system disk, everything on said disk will be copied across to the new hard disk meaning the new disk will also be bootable by default.

If you do perform such cloning operations then always be sure to either remove the old hard disk form the PC before then re-booting to the new (cloned) disk or, alternatively, using the motherboard’s BIOS or UEFI settings, change the device boot order so as to ensure the new disk will be booted from first.

NB – It can be easy to forget to change the boot order after a disk cloning operation has taken place and this means there is a risk you could end up booting into the original (old) disk as a result. Being this the case, I would always recommend physically removing the old disk drive after a cloning operation is complete (when feasible to do so) to help reduce the risk of this issue occurring.

Does cloning a hard disk or SSD drive also copy the operating system?

Yes, cloning a disk drive will copy across all data on a 1:1 basis, including the existing operating system itself.

This means everything on an existing hard disk, including the operating system, installed software applications, user documents plus any system configuration settings will also be copied across to the new disk during the cloning process.

Should a hard disk be wiped clean before cloning?

In most circumstances there is usually no requirement nor meaningful benefit in wiping clean a hard disk before cloning an existing disk drive across to it.

One possible exception to this rule is when the newly cloned disk is potentially being passed on to another person, recycled or otherwise sold. in such cases it might be wise to perform a secure wiping of the disk and all data upon it prior to commencing the disk cloning process.

NB – Cloning the contents of one disk drive onto another will not guarantee that all data on the target drive is securely erased during the process (specialist disk wiping software must still be used to guarantee such a result).

What is sector-by-sector disk cloning (and should I be using it)?

When cloning a disk under normal circumstances, the free disk cloning software in-use will most likely streamline the cloning process by automatically detecting and omitting any bad sectors or free disk space on the source disk. This optimised running mode (which is usually the default cloning mode in many applications) often results in a quicker cloning operation whilst importantly still ensuring that all important data is copied across to the new disk.

If it is the case that any bad hard disk sectors or any existing free space are also to be copied across (1:1) to the new disk (e.g., this could be for additional data security purposes or forensic examination work) then disk cloning software supporting sector-by-sector cloning should be used and the sector-by-sector option specified before disk cloning commences.

Do both hard disks need to be the same size when cloning?

No, disk cloning software will automatically adjust a cloned disk to make use of any larger target hard disks when asked to do so (something which is usually done by default and, if turned off, will simply leave any free space on the larger target disk unallocated).

Cloning from a larger hard disk to a smaller disk is also possible, however, the part of the disk which is in-use (i.e., actually containing data) must be smaller than the total size of the smaller (newer) disk being cloned to for this approach to be successful

Is it necessary to use Windows, Mac OS or Linux specific disk cloning software?

No, it is not necessary to use disk cloning software specific to any individual operating system in order to clone a hard disk, partition or SSD drive.

Whilst disk cloning software which is specially designed for a particular operating system can often be more user friendly and provide specialised features designed for that operating system, the core disk cloning functionality will not be fundamentally enhanced. This means that whilst free disk cloning tools which can be installed on certain operating systems (e.g. Windows 11) can be very useful, a disk cloning tool which can be run from a live CD or bootable USB flash drive will often still provide a similar level of functionality.

What Happened to Macrium Reflect Free?

For many years a free-to-use edition of Macrium Reflect was made available and was widely recognised as some of the best free disk cloning software for Windows. As a result of this, you might be wondering why this software is no longer featured on the below list of free to use disk cloning software titles.

Unfortunately, as of early 2023, the decision was made to discontinue making Macrium Reflect Free available for download and instead only the premium edition of the software (currently Macrium Reflect Home X) is being offered by the developers.

Whilst I certainly hope Macrium eventually do decide to reverse this decision and make a free to use edition of Reflect available again (it really was an excellent disk cloning tool), anyone seeking the Reflect disk cloning capabilities will, unfortunately, have to purchase the premium edition of the software (this is currently Macrium Reflect Home version X which is priced from $49.99 per year).

Can an SSD drive be cloned to a mechanical hard disk?

Yes, an SSD drive can be safely and effectively cloned to a mechanical hard disk drive with the use of specialist disk cloning software.

Whilst such an operation is technically possible, it should be noted that moving from an SSD drive to a mechanical disk drive will bring several advantages and disadvantages with it. Mechanical Disk drives typically operate much slower than SSD drives however, such drives also tend to offer much higher total storage capacities and a much lower cost per GB than their SSD counterparts.

Does cloning to an SSD drive negatively affect its lifespan?

Whilst cloning to an SSD drive often involves writing a significant amount of data, modern SSD drives feature very high endurance ratings meaning such operations will almost certainly cause negligible levels of wear relative to the overall life of the SSD.

TBW (total bytes written) endurance for an SSD drive shows the typical duty cycle of a device involving the total amount of data which it can sustain being written to it over its lifetime. Whilst this can provide a good metric as to how much data can be written to an SSD drive (and in turn, how long a device will last with typical usage), some drives will last much longer than this figure in the same way that some mechanical hard drives will fail much earlier than others (all things being equal).

NB – When cloning to an SSD drive, make sure that “sector-by-sector” cloning is disabled (unless it is really needed) as this will help reduce the total amount of data written to the drive and, in-turn, produce less wear on the device.

Best Free Disk Cloning Software

Hopefully, by this point, you will understand a little better the benefits of using specialist disk cloning software. As was mentioned a little earlier on, neither Windows 10 nor Windows 11 include any dedicated disk cloning tools built-in by default, this means if you are looking to clone a Windows system to a new disk or SSD drive for free, then you must first obtain such free cloning software from a third-party developer, some of which as are listed below.

As always when selecting new software, be sure to always carefully check the details of each free disk cloning solution listed below very carefully before using it and if you are planning to make any purchases or upgrades, always try to take advantage of any free trials (whenever possible) to make sure any given solution meets your own requirements.

1) EaseUS Partition Master Free

Partition Master Free is a very impressive (and 100% free to use) disk cloning and disk partition management tool from highly rated software developers, EaseUS.

One of the key functions of Partition Master is that it allows for the easy cloning of both individual partitions as well as entire hard disk drives directly across to any new target disks or SSD drives. It also has the ability to merge, resize or move (as well as re-order) any existing partitions found on an active disk making it a very powerful piece of free disk cloning technology which is capable of performing many commonly used disk management functions.

Other related functionality included within Partition Master includes the software being able to automatically optimise disk cloning operations for both SSD and newer style NVMe disk drives (with 4K alignment support), perform file system integrity checks, change partition names and labels within Windows systems and even perform secure disk wiping tasks when required to securely erase an entire disk or partition plus any data which might be stored upon it.

Whilst this free edition of Partition Master is a very capable tool with many disk cloning features included, an upgraded version also exists in the form of Partition Master Pro. This upgraded edition builds upon the free offering and brings with it lots of additional functionality including support for re-sizing dynamic volumes, converting dynamic volumes back to basic volumes, support for Windows storage spaces and also includes tools for building advanced WinPE recovery media amongst many other premium additions.

Full Review

EaseUS Partition Master Free is 100% free-to-use whilst the upgraded EaseUS Partition Master Pro is priced from just $39.95 / year with a lifetime licence (with free upgrades included) also available from just $79.95. More information on both editions of Partition Master can be found via the official EaseUS website.

2) AOMEI Partition Assistant

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is a powerful disk cloning and disk partition management tool which, as with all of the disk cloning software featured on this page, is 100% free-to-use.

Featuring many useful disk management utilities which are built directly into the software itself, Partition Assistant allows for the direct cloning of hard disks and SSD drives. Alongside this, additional functionality for resizing, merging, splitting and formatting of disk partitions plus additional tools for checking partitions and performing disk surface tests is also available. Partition Assistant also contains other useful tools including partial use of the disk cloning wizard utility, use of the PC Cleaner tool, the ability to convert between MBR and GPT disks plus the ability to convert between FAT32 and NTFS volumes amongst many other free features.

Also available alongside this free edition of Partition Assistant Standard is the upgraded and fully featured edition of the tool, Partition Assistant Professional. This premium edition builds upon the free-to-use offering and brings with it additional features including support for directly migrating active operating system disks between disk types (e.g., cloning and converting MBR disks to GPT disks), secure SSD erasure tools, full use of the partition wizard migration module plus use of the bootable recovery media tools amongst many other premium additions.

Full Review

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is 100% free-to-use with the upgraded Partition Assistant Professional edition priced from just $49.95 / year or a one-off price of just $69.95 including free lifetime upgrades. More information on both editions of Partition Assistant can be found via the official AOMEI website.

3) DiskGenius

DiskGenius is a highly functional and free-to-use disk management utility for Windows PC users. It is a tool which, amongst many other disk related features, also provides the ability to directly clone hard disks and migrate existing systems across to new disks or SSD drives with ease.

Whilst an upgraded premium edition of DiskGenius does also exist, this free version is still very powerful and features many useful disk and partition management features alongside the core disk cloning and disk migration tools which see it feature in this guide to the best free disk cloning software. This means with DiskGenius Free we can split, move, resize, hide and unhide partitions, migrate entire disks to new disks (with SSD 4K optimisation supported), create disk image-based backups of entire disks and partitions to a file and, via the bootable recovery media builder, restore systems from these same disk image backups before booting into windows.

Other tools included in DiskGenius Free include those for securely wiping entire disk drives, partitions and SSDs, tools for the verification and repair of bad disk sectors, the monitoring of hard drive SMART information plus the ability to convert MBR disks to GPT and vice versa amongst many other included additions.

The upgraded premium edition of DiskGenius, DiskGenius Standard, brings plenty of additional functionality over and above that found in the free edition including sector-by-sector cloning, file and partition recovery tools, support for cloning dynamic disks plus the ability to convert dynamic disks back to basic disks amongst various others.

Full Review

DiskGenius Free is 100% free-to-use with the upgraded DiskGenius Standard edition priced from just $69.90 with free lifetime upgrades included. More information on all DiskGenius software can be found via the official DiskGenius website.

4) MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a comprehensive disk and partition management tool for Windows systems which, as with all of the software featured in this guide, contains many great disk cloning capabilities and is also 100% free to use.

Partition Wizard allows both full disks and individual partitions to be cloned to new hardware as well as the resizing, reordering, creating, merging, formatting and splitting of any partitions on the disks as might be necessary as well.

Unfortunately, as of this latest version of the tool, MiniTool have set some restrictions on the free version meaning an active system disk cannot be copied nor can such active system disks be migrated directly across to SSD drives or converted from MBR to GPT disk types (along with a few other restrictions present in this current free edition).

Also available in addition to this limited free edition of the software is MiniTool Partition Assistant Pro, an upgraded edition of the application with many additional features making for a fully-functional disk cloning and disk management tool. Additions which can be found in the Pro edition include support for cloning active system disks and migrating directly to SSD drives (with 4K alignment support), full support for managing dynamic disks, WinPE recovery tools, the ability to convert from NTFS to FAT plus many more disk management utilities making for a big upgrade from the free edition overall.

Full Review

MiniTool Partition Wizard is 100% free-to-use with the upgraded Partition Wizard Pro priced from just $59 / year or from $159 for a perpetual licence with free lifetime upgrades included. More information on both the Free and Pro editions of MiniTool Partition Assistant can be found via the official MiniTool website.

5) HDClone X.6

HDClone is the highly functional, free and dependable disk cloning software from advanced PC utility software developers, Miray Software.

As the free edition of some of the more powerful premium editions of HDClone X.6, HDClone still provides a lot of highly functional direct disk-to-disk cloning functionality thus rightfully earning it a place on this list. Such core disk cloning functionality available includes support for full (physical) disk-to-disk cloning operations (with SSD 4K support), hot copy cloning technology for cloning live PCs, automatic upsizing for optimising larger target disks during the cloning process plus support for saving disk images as files for safe keeping on external media.

Whilst HDClone is (understandably) lacking some of the more advanced cloning functionality found in the premium editions of this same software line, it should be noted that it is still a powerful tool which is more than capable of reliably cloning a physical disk or SSD drive (with 4K support) to a faster or larger disk.

Included within this free edition of the software is the choice of using either an installed desktop application, a portable version of the same software (no installation required) or use of the excellent HDClone bootable media. For anyone seeking additional disk cloning functionality, Miray offer several premium editions of HDClone which include functionality such as support for cloning individual partitions between disks, advanced compression and encryption plus use of advanced image file formats including VMDK, VHD(X) and VDI.

Full Review

HDClone X.6 is 100% free for personal, non-commercial use and available for both Windows and Linux devices alongside a bootable (“Live CD”) version. Premium editions start with HDClone Basic priced at a one-off cost of €16.72 with more info on the full HDClone offering available via the official Miray Software website.

6) Hasleo Disk Clone

Disk Clone is the specialist, highly usable and (importantly) free to use disk cloning tool from system utility experts, Hasleo Software.

Focused on delivering a core set of commonly used disk cloning tasks (including full system, full disk and individual partition cloning), Disk Clone is a highly specific tool with very little non-cloning functionality available. This focused approach means it is quick and straightforward to start disk cloning operations whilst also making the software really easy to use with a wizard-style interface guiding users through the various cloning features available.

Disk Clone provides three main cloning functions including the cloning of entire PCs, cloning of individual hard disks or SSD drives and even cloning of individual partitions with full 1M and 4K sector support as applicable. Whilst this core functionality is available in the free version, more advanced options including converting GPT disks to MBR during cloning and maintaining unused contiguous space on target disks is available in the premium edition which also supports commercial use.

Also available within Disk Clone is a powerful WinPE based bootable recovery environment with support for integrating custom drivers and sector-by-sector cloning. This means the recovery environment is a great choice for cloning a disk from within an unbootable system prior to migrating data to new disks or even new or different hardware.

Full Review

Hasleo Disk Clone is 100% free for non-business (home-based) users with a premium edition featuring various advanced cloning options and allowing business use for just $34.95 (with lifetime free upgrades). More information on both the free and premium editions of Hasleo Disk Clone can be found at the official Hasleo website.

7) MultiDrive

Newly released as of 2025, MultiDrive is the free-to-use disk imaging and disk cloning software utility for Windows PCs from data recovery experts, Atola.

Despite being new, the team behind MultiDrive have clearly worked very hard to get the basics just right, this has resulted in a tool which is not only very easy to use, but also reliable and effective in its core operation. This means MultiDrive can be used to clone or image hard disks whilst automatically implementing 4K SSD alignment, automatic bad sector handling plus comprehensive sector-by-sector imaging, all of which are all set in place by default.

Disk cloning and disk imaging aside and some notable additional features of MultiDrive include command line operation (ideal for remotely cloning or imaging disks on a networked PC), silent software installation, support for both raw (native) and ZIP-based imaging file formats plus a nicely designed and informative job status monitoring view.

Also included within MultiDrive is a secure disk erasure tool which allows for securely wiping all contents of a disk or SSD drive. Furthermore, MultiDrive developers Atola have committed to always keeping free this current set of disk cloning and imaging features available, even if a premium edition of this software is developed in the future.

Full Review

MultiDrive is 100% free for both personal and commercial use and the developers have confirmed the core disk cloning and imaging features will always remain free. Further information on the tool itself plus some of the more advanced features including command line operation and secure data erasure can be found via the official MultiDrive website.

8) DriveImage XML

DriveImage XML is a free, simple and lightweight disk cloning solution for Windows PCs. It allows users to create image files of their hard disks and SSD devices for backup or purposes alongside support for direct disk-to-disk cloning and migration processes.

What makes DriveImage XML a great free disk cloning tool is that it offers Windows PC users the ability to easily clone between two physical disks with ease whilst also being able to take advantage of disk image-based backups. This means DriveImage XML can be used to create an image file of any source hard disk within a PC which can then be stored for use at a later date.

These image files which can also be used to recover all data from an existing disk onto brand new disks or SSD devices at a later date in the case of migrating over to a new PC. This, in-turn, gives DiskImage XML an edge over other direct disk cloning tools without disk imaging functionality which are only useful when migrating to a new disk which is physically present at the time of the operation.

Also provided is use of disk image compression technology to help maximise any disk storage space which might be available alongside the use of VSS (hot copy) technology for backing-up or cloning disks which are currently in use at the time of cloning. Support is also available for adjusting and resizing hard disk partitions during the cloning process when necessary, something which can be useful when migrating to larger disks or SSD drives with additional free space available.

Full Review

DriveImage XML offers a solid and highly focused disk cloning solution which is free for non-commercial usage. More information on the software itself and the commercial edition which is also available can be found via the official DriveImage XML website.

9) Clonezilla

Clonezilla is an open-source disk imaging and disk cloning application which is both 100% free to use and (unlike most other disk cloning software) runs exclusively from a live CD or Live USB flash drive making it a very versatile and portable choice.

Clonezilla provides many disk-related features including that of cloning a physical hard disk or SSD drive to a secondary disk, the making of an image-based backup of an entire hard disk, SSD drive or individual partitions which can then be saved to a file and is also useful in deploying new PC hardware thanks to advanced options including network and server-based deployment functionality.

Additional functionality which helps to make Clonezilla a great free disk cloning choice include support for applying strong AES 256-bit encryption to any resultant disk image files plus support for working with many different filesystems (including NTFS, ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT32 plus various MacOS options) amongst various other disk cloning related features.

Full Review

Clonezilla is open-source software which is 100% free to use for both personal and commercial use. The latest version of Clonezilla can be downloaded directly via the official Clonezilla website.

10) GParted

GParted (GNOME Partition Editor) is a free to use and open-source disk and partition management utility for Linux. Available as a Live CD Linux distribution (amongst various other methods of accessing it), GParted makes for a powerful tool capable of cloning disks and partitions amongst many other useful features including resizing and reformatting, recovery of deleted partitions, error checking plus the conversion of filesystems and partition tables.

Disk management features aside and GParted sees itself included on this list of free to use disk cloning software thanks primarily to the disk cloning features made available within the tool. This coning functionality allows for individual partitions to be copied from one disk and then pasted onto another disk (i.e. cloned between the two) moving all data, applications plus any operating systems installed upon the partition in the process.

Whilst GParted does support direct cloning of partitions between physically separate disks, it is clear this isn’t its primary function and, in my own opinion at least, the software isn’t optimised for ease of use when attempting to perform direct disk-to-disk cloning. Anyone cloning partitions between disks with GParted will need to be mindful that all partitions will need to be cloned (copied and pasted) individually and, if any partition is bootable, then this partition must be manually set to be bootable again after the cloning operation has taken place (see example below).

Overall, GParted is a powerful disk management tool capable of many disk and partition related functions up to and including the direct cloning of partitions between two disks. While GParted is a reliable tool for this task, it is always recommended to back up your data before attempting any disk-related operations in such a tool, especially so if you’re dealing with important files.

GParted is available via various methods including, as is reviewed here, a Live CD edition (ISO) via the official page for the GParted project. The tool is also available via other useful disk utilities and Live CDs including the Ultimate Boot CD amongst several others.

Best Free Disk Cloning Software Summary

Free disk cloning software has continued to evolve in recent years and many top titles now support operations including full system, disk and partition image-based backups alongside more advanced direct disk-to-disk migrations. In addition to support for many mainstream disk cloning operations, such titles also often provide good support for migration to newer and faster SSD and NVMe drives alongside good support for utilising dissimilar hardware in cloning operations across the board as well.

Many of the software developers providing these free disk cloning software titles also supplement their offerings with upgraded premium editions featuring even more advanced disk cloning functionality alongside other more advanced disk management tools. Whilst a premium edition of a disk cloning solution is not strictly required to perform basic disk cloning operations (as this guide hopefully highlights), such software is always worthy of consideration if you believe your disk cloning requirements will grow or become more advanced over time.

As always, it is always best to try out these free disk cloning software titles before considering any premium upgrades considering the great range of features and functions on offer from such free disk cloning software to begin with.