Best Free Cloning Software on Windows/Mac (with Pictures)
by Jenefey Aaron Updated on 2020-03-12 / Update for Data Recovery
Disk cloning can be described as the process of creating an uncompressed replica into another drive from your system’s hard drive. It is more commonly referred to as disk imaging in which the hard drive is backed up to a compressed file. This has majorly become important as our system’s hard drive crashes more often than ever. In order to be prepared for such a scenario, disk cloning is very important. A disk cloning software can make this entire process of disk cloning very simple. A disk cloning software can be useful even when you are trying to upgrade or switch out the hard drive of your system. Through disk cloning the system’s data and the installed software are preserved which eliminates the need to re-install several programs. Here are some of the best free cloning software for Windows or Mac systems which can prove useful to you in many ways.
Top 10 Recommended Cloning Software on Window/Mac
Here are some of the best free cloning software for Windows or Mac systems which can prove useful to you in many ways.
Top 1: Tenorshare Free Data Backup
Tenorshare Data Backup is the best free cloning software 2018 for Windows and is highly professional software which makes the process of backing up all the files and programs on your system pretty simple. By making use of this tool, your system’s photos, videos, audio files and other documents and programs can be restored easily in case you hard drive crashes. Here is how you can use this hard drive cloning software free for disk cloning.
Step 1: From the main interface of this software, click on “Disk to Disk”.
Step 2: Here, you would have to choose your source drive and the target drive.
Step 3: The progress of the disk cloning process will be displayed on the screen.
Once done, your system’s drive would be cloned.
Top 2: Paragon Drive Copy Professional
Paragon Drive Copy Professional is one of the best cloning software 2017 and is a feature packed software which is perfect for advanced system users at home. It has the all in one hard disk manager which functions pretty efficiently. Other features of this disk cloning software includes recovery, backup, wiping and partition management.
Pros:
- User friendly interface.
- Easy to use.
Cons:
- Lacks a few advanced features.
- Customer service needs improvement.
- Takes a lot of time to complete many operations.
Top 3. Acronis Disk Director 12
Acronis Disk Director 12 is one of the best free image clone software which is great for disk management of your system. This free disk clone software windows 10 is developed for the Windows PCs and laptops and makes the processes and operations run on the device smoothly. It comes with a free trial version which can be tried out prior to purchasing this product.
Pros:
- Very powerful and easy to use.
- Has every feature which is required by you to adjust your partitions and drives in a simple way.
Cons:
- The demo version has a limit of 100 MB.
- Very expensive in comparison to the products from its competitors.
- Does not support BTRFS or ext4.
Top 4: Macrium Reflect Free v7
Macrium Reflect Free v7 is a PC backup solution which has been developed by Paramount Software. This ssd clone software is loaded with several advanced features which are perfect for every high level tech PC users. The backup and restore feature’s performance is great in this disc cloning software free.
Pros:
- Processing speed is very high.
- Very powerful software.
Cons:
- Compression rate is average.
- Significant learning curves is posed by the interface.
Top 5: EaseUS Todo Backup Free
EaseUS Todo Backup is pretty easy to use. The best part about this hard drive cloning software is that it is available for free of cost. You can backup music, photos, system, documents and so much more on your PC with the help of this free disk cloning software. It integrates very well with Windows laptops and PCs.
Pros:
- File and image backup is great.
- Erasing and cloning drives and partition is easy.
Cons:
- Not very fast like the older versions.
- Does not have the advanced features of a drive management tool.
Top 6: Clonezilla
Clonezilla is an excellent disk/ssd cloning software which helps the users in processes like backup, recovery and system deployment. There are overall three types of this program from which you can choose from based on whether you need it for a single machine restore or backup or for massive deployment.
Pros:
- It is free of cost.
- Works across multiple platforms.
Cons:
- Does not have many features when compared to its competitors.
- The cloning process is very slow.
Top 7: MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard is a partition manager software which can be used on Windows 10/8/7/XP and also on Server 2003/2008/2012. This is perfect for the home and office users. This free hard drive cloning software comprises of several useful features such as move partition, resize partition, merge partition, create partition, copy partition, delete partition, split partition, convert file system and format partition.
Pros:
- Comes with a lot of features which are great in performance.
- Quick and efficient.
Cons:
- User interface is very cluttered.
- Not suitable for novice users.
Top 8: DriveImage XML
DriveImage XML is an easy to use disk cloning software windows 10 which makes the process of backup and restore very simple. This program has been specifically developed for the Windows XP and Vista users. This is a pretty reliable sandisk cloning software which performs efficiently while imaging and backing up logical drives and partitions.
Pros:
- Very easy to use and makes several processes easy.
- Has provisions for incorporating into the WinPE environments through plug-ins.
Cons:
- Backup process is very slow.
- The tasks have to be scheduled manually with Windows Task Manager.
- No default compression.
Top 9: Runtime's Shadow Copy
This free ssd cloning software-Runtime's Shadow Copy helps you in making a bootable backup of your present system’s hard drive to another disk drive. Using this software is very simple to achieve the disaster recovery. If you want to access just a few files, you can get them from the created backup. The update of backup using this free drive cloning software is very fast and efficient.
Pros:
- Individual file on hard drive can be backed up.
- The process of backup os very fast.
Cons:
- If you wish to backup or clone and entire drive, there are better options than this software.
- Limited in functionality.
Top 10: AOMEI Backupper
This disk cloning software can be used for backing up, syncing, cloning and for restoring a disk in the Windows PCs and laptops. The company AOMEI Technology has developed this AOMEI Backupper and it specializes in offering solutions relating to backup, cloud storage and hard disk partition. In case of emergencies like system crash, you can use this software to quickly recover and restore all your files.
Pros:
- Has very excellent disk management features.
- Customer support is great.
Cons:
- The system slow down when the backup process is in progress.
- The full version is pretty expensive.
Conclusion
Although all the above disk cloning software are very good in performance, Tenorshare Data Backup tops the list as the best disk clone software. Not only is it packed with all the necessary features, it offers a simple and quick solution for disk cloning and hence is highly recommended.