Best Windows 7 Disk Cloning Software

Why do you need to clone Windows 7 hard drive to a new one?

Did you recently upgrade your operating system from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7 on an older hard drive? If so, you may find that you're running out of disk space, and getting error messages every minute that "disk space is low".

That can be remedied by extending the system partition with free disk-partitioning software, using unallocated space on the drive. But if your old disk is full and you cannot bear to delete everything on it – your cherished photos, favorite movies, and so on – then you will need to upgrade to a larger-capacity new disk.

This is where a professional disk cloning and backup software comes in to help you migrate all your data from the old hard drive to the new, larger one under Windows 7.

Best Windows 7 Disk Cloning Software

The "Disk Clone" feature enables you to clone or move Windows 7 to a new hard drive. Moreover, its latest version is released with support for operating systems like Windows 11/10/8/7 and more.

In addition to upgrading to a new hard drive, if you're buying a new computer to replace your old one, you can use the Disk Copy tool, with its "Restore to Incompatible Hardware" feature, to move your data to the new computer without having to reinstall Windows.

In fact, cloning the Windows system drive or any other non-system drive to a new disk is safer and more convenient than reinstalling Windows and all your applications from scratch. Follow the detailed, step-by-step instructions for cloning a disk. Before you begin, download and install the full version of the tool.

How to Clone a Windows 7 Disk with the Best Tools

Advance notice:

• "Clone by sector" requires the target disk to be the same size or larger than the source disk. Do not check this option if you want to clone a larger disk to a smaller one. • All data on the target disk will be completely erased. Please proceed with caution.

Step 1. To start copying/cloning an entire disk to another, select it in Disk Mode and click Next.

Step 2: Select another disk as the target disk.

Step 3: Check the disk layout of both disks. You can manage the target disk's layout by choosing "Fit to disk," "Same as source," or "Edit disk layout."

• "Auto-adjust disk" will apply some modifications to the layout of the target disk by default, so it can run at its best.
• "Copy as is" won't change anything on the target disk, and its layout will be the same as the source disk.
• "Edit disk layout" lets you manually adjust/move the partition layout of the target disk.

Check the box for Enable TRIM if destination is SSD to ensure best performance from your SSD.

A message will appear warning you that your data will be lost. Confirm this by clicking OK, and then click Next.

Step 4: Click “Proceed” to officially kick off the task.

Tip: If you want to boot your computer from the cloned disk, use the Disk Clone feature, because cloning only the C drive doesn't guarantee that you'll be able to boot from the cloned disk.

In addition to disk cloning, the Disk Copy utility also supports sector-by-sector cloning and is compatible with various types of HDDs and SSDs.

Suggestion: Boot successfully from cloned disk

After successfully cloning the drive, you can replace and upgrade the original drive with the cloned one.

Scenario 1: If you plan to replace the original hard drive with the clone:

Shut down your computer, swap out the old drive for the clone, and restart. The system should boot from the clone automatically.

Scenario 2: If you plan to keep both the original and cloned drives:

Restart the computer and press the hotkey (F2/F8/F12) to enter BIOS settings > Select the cloned disk as the boot drive under the Boot tab > Save the changes > Restart the computer again > Boot from the cloned disk.