Cloning hard drives: Is there anything better (easier to use) than CloneZilla?

[cvanc]

I don't clone drives often and every time I drag out CloneZilla I'm like "How the heck does this stuff work".  Is there some other program I might like better?

Need to clone boot drives from Windows, Linux, and VXWorks systems.  So I need something that is OK cloning boot drives from many OS's.  Thanks for any suggestions.

[tkamiya]

I use Arconics.

I really don't know anything that's intuitive and user-friendly, and works on all/most OS  partitions.  It seems to be either/or kind of thing.  I'm considering a hardware solution.

[wilfred]

When I was changing to SSD around the time Win10 upgrades were on offer I used a program called EasUS www.easeus.com and I found it fairly simple to use. I just used the free version.

[drussell]

I agree with blueskull...

To copy the contents of da0 onto da1, you simply:

dd if=/dev/da0 of=/dev/da1 bs=128k

[xavier60]

My only experience has been with IsoBuster. Takes 3 or 4 mouse clicks to start the process.
Only yesterday I cloned a 640GB HDD with XP on it to a 1TB HDD.
I then used Disk Management on a Windows 10 machine to extend the main partition to the full 1TB capacity.
A while back I discovered that the cloning process will seem to complete normally when the destination drive is connected via a USB/SATA adapter, but the clone fails to boot.
 Another tip, close all unnecessary applications while cloning, definitely including Outlook Express. 

[Rasz]

When I was changing to SSD around the time Win10 upgrades were on offer I used a program called EasUS www.easeus.com and I found it fairly simple to use. I just used the free version.

chinese, calls home sending some stuff about your computer

[digsys]

I've been using Partition Manager , Terrabyte Imager and sometimes Acronis for the tough stuff. Can't even count how many 100s HDDs I've cloned.

[borjam]

Using always Unix systems, dd is the obvious choice.

For ailing disks there is a special version called ddrescue that sometimes can recover data by retrying block readings, trying different orders for reading them, etc.

https://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/

[CJay]

When I was changing to SSD around the time Win10 upgrades were on offer I used a program called EasUS www.easeus.com and I found it fairly simple to use. I just used the free version.

chinese, calls home sending some stuff about your computer

Had a bad experience with it, it loaded some pernicious adware/spamware/malware onto a friend's machine, support refused to help unless we paid for the full version, quite reasonably he didn't want to pay to get their crap off his machine. Mentioned it here and got shot down unceremoniously 'it never does that'.

It's to be avoided.

[Jeroen3]

I use Macrium Reflect. But I mostly use it for Windows disks. It can probably do many other filesystems, but then it has to copy all the bits.

I also found that most programs cannot handle disks with bad sectors, which is a drawback.

[drussell]

Also, a gparted live-CD works well for many tasks. 

It is similar in functionality to Partition Magic, but open source:

https://gparted.org/

[wilfred]

When I was changing to SSD around the time Win10 upgrades were on offer I used a program called EasUS www.easeus.com and I found it fairly simple to use. I just used the free version.

chinese, calls home sending some stuff about your computer

I was aware it was Chinese. It isn't all that unusual to collect data about the type of systems users have. I did a bit of searching now and back when I used it and didn't find red flags warning against it other than a few isolated reports that may or may not be relevant.

It worked for me and I had no problems. Beyond that I can't say.

I'm motivated to learn to use dd but I don't think it fits the OP's requirements of easy to use. Obviously once you've learned how to use it it would be.

I've used dd for some stuff like copying SD cards and I found this today prompted by this thread. https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/linux-dd-command-clone-disk-practical-example/
It shows how to use pv to get some progress indication. https://linux.die.net/man/1/pv

I'll look forward to experimenting with it. But still not pronouncing it easy to use for someone not similarly motivated.

[drussell]

It shows how to use pv to get some progress indication.

You can also just send dd a SIGINFO, usually accomplished by simply pressing [CONTROL] - [T]. 

Most implementations of dd will tell you (on STDERR) the bytes transferred, average speed, etc. when they receive a SIGINFO.

[Tatanka1961]

I've been using AOMEI backupper for some years no and it never let me down...

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

I use an older version of Easeus because, as you say, it phones home. Also it became less intuitive as time went by. There's an option for the phoning...disconnect the LAN cable.

I have also used Active Partition Recovery as well. Meh...

[CJay]

I use an older version of Easeus because, as you say, it phones home. Also it became less intuitive as time went by. There's an option for the phoning...disconnect the LAN cable.

I have have used Active Partition Recovery as well. Meh...

Or, just not use it until the nasty features are removed or the company disappears up its own fundament

[Bicurico]

Some time ago I tried to copy a HDD from a RS CRTU to a smaller HDD. Of course there was enough space and only the last partition needed to be shrinked.
None of the tools, free or commercial, was able to do the job.
From all options, the best was actually dd using a Linux live DVD.

Regards,
Vitor

[drussell]

Some time ago I tried to copy a HDD from a RS CRTU to a smaller HDD.
...
None of the tools, free or commercial, was able to do the job.

What format were the partitions in?

[HB9EVI]

-> dd <-

I never use anything else

[macboy]

I have a 2-slot USB 3.0 bare drive "docking station" which can also act as a cloning device. It copies the source drive to the destination byte-for-byte at well over 200 MB/s (provided the drives are that fast). It doesn't get any easier or faster. For software, it doesn't get any easier than dd. Either method gives the same result, a whole disk byte-for-byte copy, which is entirely agnostic to OS or filesystem types. The copy works exactly as the original including whatever bootloader was installed. Note that the new drive must be at least the same size as the old one.

Note that for both of the above, things like Windows' GUIDs of the drive and NTFS file systems will be copied as-is, so if you try to use both the old and new drives on one system, Windows will complain. Similar issues may arise with other OS and FS.  More complex software like CloneZilla, GParted or whatever are fine if you just want to copy particular paritions, or to copy a bigger disk to a smaller one, resize partitions, etc., but I've had mixed success with anything other than a simple, normal boot environment (e.g. Windows installed onto other than "C:" or primary partition).

[coromonadalix]

The best for me was Norton ghost,  clone / explore files in the image, resize cloned drives to similar or bigger sizes, you could select any partitions or all of them ...

But the previous posts softwares are good, i use an dual bay usb3 RocketStor 5422a (with dual usb3 ports) with live cd's, because windows may lock certain files, i do it the "offline" ways.

[cvanc]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, much appreciated.

I actually have one of those little docks where you just push a button and it makes a clone but it's for SATA drives.  Unfortunately several of the products I support use the old PATA (ATA100/ATA133) drives so my dock can't help.  They're basically obsolete 2.5 inch laptop drives; most are 40 gigs.

I use CloneZilla & this cable https://www.startech.com/HDD/Adapters/USB-20-to-IDE-or-SATA-Adapter-Cable~USB2SATAIDE to make my clones.  I do this like once a year so every time I have to re-learn CloneZilla and, well, there you have it 

[drussell]

I actually have one of those little docks where you just push a button and it makes a clone but it's for SATA drives.  Unfortunately several of the products I support use the old PATA (ATA100/ATA133) drives so my dock can't help.  They're basically obsolete 2.5 inch laptop drives; most are 40 gigs.

Use a SATA <-> PATA adapter.  They are readily available.