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Resolved Question

What additional hardware do I need to clone a Hard Drive?

Jul 8, 2014 3:12AM PDT

My current hard drive is making a clicking sound so I have a new one on the way. I ordered a WD Internal Hard Drive that comes with Acronis True Image WD Edition Closing Software. My question is, am I going to need any additional hardware to do the cloning? For now, my existing hard drive is functioning. I'm just not sure how I would hook up the new internal hard drive to the laptop to clone it. Any additional tips would be helpful.

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dbarila has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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Maybe nothing.
Jul 8, 2014 3:17AM PDT

Desktops usually have sufficient connections to do this. There are tomes about cloning on the web, videos on YouTube but here I'll skip adding links as I can't tell if this is desktop, laptop, or much else.
Bob

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Laptop
Jul 8, 2014 3:18AM PDT

It would be a laptop.

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Still could require nothing
Jul 8, 2014 3:26AM PDT

Not many but a few laptops had two drive bays. I guess I was hoping you would reveal more but here's an USB case I got just last month and it's very nice. No tools required.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FCLG65U/ref=CNET

So with that you put the old or new drive into what locations you want and follow WD's instructions on how to copy the drive.

Be aware there are many things that can go wrong so be sure your backups are current BEFORE you do this.
Bob

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Hard Drive
Jul 17, 2014 12:37AM PDT
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Look similar to me.
Jul 17, 2014 12:42AM PDT
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Understantable
Jul 17, 2014 1:27AM PDT

Understandable. I will order that case and give the Acronis Software that came with my WD Hard drive a try and see what happens.

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In the case of a laptop
Jul 8, 2014 10:03AM PDT

an external USB case, as R. Proffitt mentions, could be helpful but I've had a couple of issues trying to clone hard drives that were in an external case and then put them into a laptop. I've found it better to have the target drive in the laptop during the cloning process. I can't explain why it failed the other way. But my opinion of a better way is to use an imaging utility but I don't know if the Acronis software you'll be getting has that feature. I use their purchased version which can clone or create images. What you'd need in that case is a USB external drive. It's not a bad idea to have one around anyway so you can keep extra copies of your documents, pictures, etc. that tend to accumulate. You'd create an image of the laptop's hard drive on the external and restore it to the new drive after swapping it with the laptop's suspect drive. In any event, if you go with the external case alone and the clone fails, try reversing two drives. Put the old in in the external and the new one in the laptop.

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Hey that's my © trick.
Jul 8, 2014 10:17AM PDT

© Placing the new drive speeds up the cloning process because write speeds are higher in the internal bay.

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Follow up question.
Jul 17, 2014 12:40AM PDT
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I can't comment on the brand of case
Jul 17, 2014 7:19PM PDT

but I can't see a reason why, if that one isn't defective upon arrival, it wouldn't work. As to booting from your old hard drive, it's not going to work in any hard drive case you buy. You're going to boot the cloning software. If it comes on a CD, your laptop needs either an internal CD/DVD drive or you'll need a USB external drive. You'll probably have to visit your BIOS and make sure it's set up to allow booting from a USB device and that the CD/DVD drive is the priority drive during the cloning process.

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Answer
Your BEST BET is to watch it done on YouTube.com
Jul 15, 2014 3:36AM PDT

Watch it done on YouTube.com. If that doesn't solve Your question, or find "YOUR" Favorite method, just do a re-search using different, more specific terms. Some ways require a USB, some require a SATA Cable, etc. I guess Your question can be answered using so many different methods, Your asking for a Catfight between geeks over the best... LMAO