Windows 11
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After getting the new Dell / win11 about the way I wanted, I decided to make a clone of the C drive for quick disaster recovery. I use an older CD plus USB to SATA dongle to make a sata drive clone. It seems this software is not compatible with the new computer in some unknown way. The software seemed to load and when I started to launch it to begin cloning the computer locked up and I powered it down. Tried to restart it but it failed POST. Fortunately, Dell had a disaster recovery utility that I was able to trigger and needed to start fresh. It even flashed the BIOS from online ethernet connection to Dell. Just to boot took an hour. It then reloaded windows 11 from the Dell connection. I've spent the last two days reinstalling all my apps and configuring my Desktop the way I like. I then did the windows image of the C drive.
I've never needed to recover from a disaster like this before and always resorted to a clone for quick recovery like a virus attack. I wonder if the windows image backup will put me back like the system was before the attack / disaster or take me back to just having to start all over again.
What do you all use for backup or is anyone else using a C drive clone? I do keep all my install software on a separate drive on my ethernet but the recovery is very time consuming. Obviously, I won't be using my version of Apricorn cloning tool again on this computer. Maybe they have a newer version that works on newer win11.
Most recent article I saw: Apricorn. Get the software safely and easily.
I've never needed to recover from a disaster like this before and always resorted to a clone for quick recovery like a virus attack. I wonder if the windows image backup will put me back like the system was before the attack / disaster or take me back to just having to start all over again.
What do you all use for backup or is anyone else using a C drive clone? I do keep all my install software on a separate drive on my ethernet but the recovery is very time consuming. Obviously, I won't be using my version of Apricorn cloning tool again on this computer. Maybe they have a newer version that works on newer win11.
Most recent article I saw: Apricorn. Get the software safely and easily.
I'm learning that the problem may have been trying to use the older version os cloning software for the newer m.2 C drive. A new cloning software EASE US Disk Copy is what is recommended now for cloning an M.2 and back.
Anyone here use this?
No go! They charge $19.99 a month to rent the software for each computer.
Anyone here use this?
No go! They charge $19.99 a month to rent the software for each computer.
Last edited:
Found an updated version of Apricorn EZ GIG 4 that worked on the windows 11 and successfully cloned my M.2 Dell C drive to a SATA drive.
I had to install it on a USB drive as opposed to the CD RW to work.
What an adventure this move has been so far.
I had to install it on a USB drive as opposed to the CD RW to work.
What an adventure this move has been so far.
Most software is going in this direction as secure UEFI boot from CDs can be messy.
Or $59.99 for life.
Conventional backup software is probably a better choice as it doesn't require nearly the SSD investment considering how often you may need to use it. You can make several images on an 8TB hard drive. If there are low-level differences (like capacity differences) between the old SSD and the replacement, the backup software usually deals with that.
I suppose it comes down to how instantaneously you need to be up and running after an event.
Several times a year I suffered a disaster and the clone system was always as fast as I could switch drives and reboot. I used to clone 2 times a week so I was always pretty up to date. In retirement I have few deadlines, really none, so I stopped cloning except once a month. Plus just about any emergency like I just had, I have my Surface Pro that works well for staying connected.
The new Dell computer uses an M.2 NVME C drive so I just invested in an external case for the M.2 to USB and a second 500GB M.2 stick for my clone backup. This way I can just swap the M.2 sticks on the Motherboard and be back up and running. At least that's my plan.
I saw that but it's still for one computer and you have to call them to get the software reset everytime you want to reuse it. Not really my idea of a good plan. Especially now that I got compatible that works on win11 with the M.2 drive
I don’t know about windows, but I would imagine there Hass to be something like the snapshot utility on Linux. Moral of the story is, don’t try to put all gas in a new motor
Acronis Home. Used it for years. Create a bootable media and use a USB external HDD.
You can use it for a 1-1 clone. Resize. Option to create an image in .tib format if you have a very large or partitioned backup drive. Pretty darned fast too.Was it WD or Seagate that actually sent a copy with new drives?
When I installed my Crucial SSD in my Mac Mini, Crucial included a copy of Acronis True Image to use for the cloning of the old HDD. We use Acronis at work for cloning and backing up Process Automation systems and I like it a lot.
It looks like Western Digital used to include a copy of Acronis, but I don’t see a reference on the current WD website. Kingston also came up on a search of manufacturers using Acronis for cloning.
It looks like Western Digital used to include a copy of Acronis, but I don’t see a reference on the current WD website. Kingston also came up on a search of manufacturers using Acronis for cloning.
HDD Raw Copy Tool will do that for you pretty easily. I use it all the time. You can make an exact copy of your M.2 to the second M.2 or you can create an image file to write later. Super easy to use.
HDDGURU: HDD Raw Copy Tool
Highly possible cloning the active boot drive will do just that. I know Acronis will.
Usually using a bootable media to free the boot drive is how it's done.
Hirens BootCD PE has a lot of tasty tools.
Snapshots in Windows aren't the answer if your ingeniously devised workflow renders your system unbootable with stunning regularity. They're just for simple roll-backs much like you get with Windows System Restore.
Clonezilla will do a drive/partition image as fast as anything. Some will be put off by the text-only interface but it can be "scripted" to some extent.
Update on EZ GIG 4 M.2 compatibility.
While the latest version had no trouble making a clone of the C drive on the m.2 slot on the MB, to a SATA SDD 2.5" drive of the same or larger size. I tested M.2 to M.2 and it will not see the m.2 as a destination drive and claims it can't find the Apricorn sata adapter. I have a few more things to try and working on a sata male to male adapter to connect the m.2 destination stick to the Apricorn sata adapter to see if that works.
While the latest version had no trouble making a clone of the C drive on the m.2 slot on the MB, to a SATA SDD 2.5" drive of the same or larger size. I tested M.2 to M.2 and it will not see the m.2 as a destination drive and claims it can't find the Apricorn sata adapter. I have a few more things to try and working on a sata male to male adapter to connect the m.2 destination stick to the Apricorn sata adapter to see if that works.
I took a look at this at:
The process is rather complicated. I got Rufus but had trouble creating a boot CD with it.
Update- currently I have not had any luck with connecting a blank m.2 500Gb stick to the EZ GIG4 with a hardware connection to the Apricorn USB to SSD dongle. That is required to be detected for EZ Gig 4 to detect the destination drive. But EX GIG 4 successfully made a clone to a 500GB SSD drive. Plus I used a windows 11 Backup image stored on my external HDD in a folder. I have backup schedule set for every Sunday night now.
A basic question:
Can the clone of all files on an SSD be simply copy and pasted to an M.2 partition and be inserted into the MB as the main windows 11 OS?
If I can't find an easy way to put a blank destination m.2 stick then maybe a copy paste may work.
harshness- I'm not put off by the text UI but it was the long complicated process that I found annoying.
Currently, I can get from the Dell M.2 win11 OS to an SSD with EZ GIG 4 loaded on a small USB stick to create a clone and it is simple, just select the source C drive and then the destination drive connected to the Apricorn USB to SSD adapter ( this must be the destination) and start the clone. Takes about 45 minutes per 100GB. The replacement is what I need to test. To get from the SSD 2.5" drive back to the M.2 on the Dell MB. If I can simply copy and paste all the files, I would assume this would work.
Don't confuse detailed with complicated. The human intervention portion of a Clonezilla session should take no more than a couple of minutes.
I highly recommend not messing with CDs at all. They are unnecessarily complicated and may fail if your BIOS settings get trashed.
As a word to the wise, I find Ventoy to be an indispensable tool when building Windows repair USB sticks. A couple of the recent repair disks are actually built around Ventoy and include multiple CDs worth of tools (Linux distros, WinPE repair discs) on a single USB thumb drive. USB drives are faster and hold more data than the biggest Blu-ray format (100GB).
No! Windows depends on certain blocks (boot and partition sectors) being marked in a particular way and you can't do that with a file copy. Remember SYS C: from DOS?
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