How to Clone SSD to External Hard Drive in Windows 11/10/8? 2 Methods Available

Can I clone SSD to external hard drive on Windows? Of course, you can! This page will show you how to clone HDD/SSD to external HDD/SSD easily and quickly without losing any data. Follow the steps to do it yourself on your Windows 11/10/8/7 PC.

How to clone SSD to external hard drive?

Cloning an SSD or HDD involves copying and saving all the contents of the source drive to a target disk or location.

Unlike copy and paste, cloning a disk to another is more secure and quicker. When you need to back up or clone all the files saved on a hard drive or SSD, choose a preferred free disk cloning software from the list of free disk cloning software.

So how do you clone an SSD to an external hard drive for backup? Follow this guide, and you'll be all set.

• #1. Prepare and Initialize External Hard Drive
• #2. Clone SSD to External Hard Drive with a Computer
• #3. Clone SSD to External Hard Drive without a Computer

Note that you can accomplish the cloning of your internal SSD to an external HDD with either Option 2 or Option 3 alone. For beginners or a commercial solution, you may wish to use Option 2 as your guide. Let's get started.

#1. Prepare and Initialize the External Hard Drive

Tools needed: A new SSD with the same or larger capacity than the source SSD, and Disk Management.

DURATION: 2-3 minutes

Note that to clone a disk, the target drive (either an internal hard drive or an external storage device) must be of equal or greater capacity than the source SSD.

Also, if it's a brand new unallocated drive, you should initialize it first. You can begin by following these steps:

Step 1. Connect the external hard drive to your computer with the USB cable.

Step 2: Open your file browser and see if you can find your new external drive.

If not, proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Right-click the Start button and select Disk Management.

Step 4. Check the status of your external drive to make sure that your computer is recognizing it.

If it says "Unknown" or "Uninitialized," right-click on it and choose "Initialize Disk" > select a disk type for your external drive.

If it says “New Volume,” right-click on it and select “Change Drive Letter and Paths,” and assign a new drive letter to your external hard drive.

If you find this method useful, feel free to share it online with your friends, so they can also prepare to clone their SSD to an external drive:

#2. Clone SSD to an external hard drive using a computer

Tools: An external hard drive with a USB cable, a computer, and disk cloning software.

Duration: 5-30 minutes, and so on.

First, connect the external hard drive to your computer and make sure it's recognized correctly. Next, you'll need a reliable disk cloning software to assist you with the process.

By using tools Partition Master Professional and its disk/partition cloning feature, you can completely copy everything on the SSD to an external hard drive in one go. You can even use this software to perform more advanced operations, such as:

How to Clone an SSD to an External Hard Drive:

Step 1: Select the source disk.

Click "Clone" from the left-hand menu. Choose "Clone system disk" or "Clone data disk," then click "Next." Select the source disk, then click "Next."

Step 2: Select the target disk.

Select the desired HDD/SSD as the target disk and click “Next” to proceed. Read the warning message and confirm by clicking the “Yes” button.

Step 3: Review the disk layout and edit the target disk partition sizes, if necessary.

When prompted that the installer will erase everything from the target disk, click “Continue” (make sure to back up any important data on your target disk ahead of time).

Here you can choose to “Automatically adjust the disk size,” “Clone the source disk size,” or “Edit disk layout.” (If you want to leave more space for C, choose the last option.)

Step 4: Click Start to begin the disk cloning process.

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In addition to cloning a hard drive or SSD to an external hard drive, the Partition Clone feature of the Partition Master tool also allows you to easily clone Windows to an external disk or USB drive. Click on the link below to learn more interesting tips:

#3. Clone SSD to External Hard Drive Without a Computer

Tools: An external hard drive with a USB cable, and a hard drive enclosure.

Duration: 20-30 minutes or more, as circumstances permit.

If you don't want to clone your SSD through your computer, you can use a hard drive enclosure. It's a bit more expensive, but the process is easy enough for anyone. First, purchase a hard drive enclosure, then follow these steps to clone your SSD to an external drive.

Note that you should ensure your hard drive enclosure is connected to a stable power source.

How to use:

Step 1. Connect the power adapter to the hard drive enclosure.

Step 2: Insert the SSD into the adapter.

Plug the external drive into the dock's USB port.

Step 4. Power on the dock by pressing the power button, and then press the OTC/OTB button to start the clone process.

When all the status lights at the top are lit, the cloning process is complete. You can now safely unplug the external drive and SSD.

There you have it – the entire process of cloning an SSD to an external drive using disk cloning software or a dock. Don't forget to share this guide to help your friends quickly back up or copy their SSD content online:

How do I clone an SSD to an external hard drive? Which method is better?

On this page, we provide two solutions to clone SSD to external HDD/SSD as a backup. Some of you may wonder which method is better.

Both methods are quite easy to use, and it really depends on your preference. Here's a selection of text editors you might consider:

< li > 1. If you have a hard drive enclosure, then offline cloning can opt for Method 2.< /li >< li > Buying a hard drive enclosure for disk cloning is a good choice for home users but may be a little expensive.< /li >< li > 2. For a simple yet commercial-level SSD to external HDD cloning solution, Partition Master tool is worth your trust.< /li >

Frequently Asked Questions About Cloning SSD to External Hard Drive in UTF-8

If you have more questions about cloning SSD to external hard drive, refer to here and find the answers quickly.

**1. Can I clone SSD to USB drive?**

Yes, you can clone an SSD to a USB drive on a Windows computer using reliable disk cloning software. AOMEI Partition Assistant and its cloning feature can easily help you clone SSD to USB drive with just a few clicks. You can refer to the guide above to accomplish this process.

**2. How can I turn my SSD into an external hard drive?**

To use an SSD as an external hard drive, you'll need an external hard drive enclosure. This will allow you to slide the SSD inside and connect it to your computer via a USB cable.

After connecting the SSD to the computer as an external hard drive, you can format the external SSD drive with a suitable file system.

3. How can I clone my SSD to a new SSD?

To clone your SSD to a new SSD, follow the tutorial here:

1. Connect or install the new SSD to your computer. 2. Initialize the SSD with the same format as the source drive—MBR or GPT. 3. Run the Partition Master tool and select the "Clone" option. 4. Choose the old SSD as the source and the new SSD as the target. 5. Click "Perform 1 Task" to confirm, then click "Apply."