Glossary › PC Repair › Disk Cloning
What is Disk Cloning?
Disk cloning makes an exact copy of one drive onto another: Windows, programs, files and settings together. Swap the new drive in and the PC starts up exactly as it did before, only faster.
When cloning is the right choice
The usual reason is moving from a hard drive to an SSD, or from a small SSD to a larger one. Cloning saves you from reinstalling Windows, finding licence keys and setting everything up again. The new drive only has to be big enough for the data you are actually using, not the full size of the old drive.
When a clean install is better
Cloning copies problems along with everything else. If the old drive is failing with read errors, or Windows is already unstable or infected, a clone carries those faults over. In those cases it is safer to copy the files you need, install Windows fresh on the new drive and put the files back.
How long it takes
Most clones finish in under an hour, depending on how much data is on the drive. With the swap and testing included, an SSD upgrade is normally a same-day job.