How to Clone Windows to External Hard Drive [100% Working Solution]

Updated by

Sherly 

Written by

Cici 

Updated on Nov 27, 2024

Are you looking for an excellent solution to clone Windows to external hard drive? You are in the right place if you search for a clone method. This passage will give detailed instructions to clone Windows 11/10/8/7 to an external hard drive. Before we start, let's look at the reasons for cloning Windows to an external hard drive.

Why Clone Windows to External Hard Drive

Clone Windows means creating a complete copy of your computer, including the operating system, essential applications, installed drivers, etc. Then, you can have the same data on the target drive as the original drive. The following reasons may lead you to clone Windows to external hard drive:

• Back up data to avoid data loss due to computer damage
• Clone the old hard drive to a larger external hard drive to get more space
• Upgrade the old hard drive to improve your computer's performance and reduce hard drive failure
• Replace your computer and clone Windows to install all programs of the old computer with one click

You can also clone Windows to an external hard drive to make a bootable USB. This is a good choice, no matter why you want to try cloning Windows to an external hard drive. It offers a lot of convenience to your computer and saves more time and effort by cloning Windows directly than by copying Windows programs and files one by one. 

Next, I will provide an excellent third-party tool - EaseUS Partition Master Professional to help you quickly clone Windows to an external hard drive.

How to Clone Windows to External Hard Drive 

EaseUS Partition Master is an excellent free disk cloning software. It can not only clone partitions, such as copy NTFS partition. But also migrate operating systems directly. It can help you finish cloning Windows to an external hard disk safely and quickly. And it has a user-friendly interface, so you can easily master the cloning method even if you are a novice.

After connecting the external drive to your computer and ensuring that Windows can recognize it, follow these steps to clone Windows to the external drive.

Step 1. Select the source disk.

• Click the "Clone" from the left menu. Select the "Clone OS Disk" or "Clone Data Disk"  and click "Next".
• Choose the source disk and click "Next".

Step 2. Select the target disk.

• Choose the wanted HDD/SSD as your destination and click "Next" to continue.
• Read Warning message and confirm "Yes" button.

Step 3. View the disk layout and edit the target disk partition size. 

Then click "Continue" when the program warns it will wipe out all data on the target disk. (If you have valuable data on the target disk, back up it in advance.)

You can select "Autofit the disk", "Clone as the source" or "Edit disk layout" to customize your disk layout. (Select the last one if you want to leave more space for C drive.)

Step 4. Click "Start" to start the disk cloning process.

Should you require more assistance, our professional support team is available to guide you. Access their expertise via the link provided.

EaseUS OS or Disk Cloning Online Services

Click here to contact EaseUS Partition Master experts for free

EaseUS experts are available to provide you with one-on-one manual services (24*7) and help solve system or disk cloning startup issues. Our experts will offer you free evaluation services and efficiently diagnose and resolve disk cloning or system disk boot problems using their decades of experiences.

• 1. Target disk becomes unbootable or SSD won't boot after clone.
• 2. Target disk is unable to boot after performing customized partition operations.
• 3. To seamlessly clone OS disk to new drive and boot PC without any issues.

Isn't it easy to clone Windows to an external hard drive with EaseUS Partition Master? As a powerful disk partition tool, EaseUS Partition Master offers additional conveniences to help you improve your computer performance. Some of the features of EaseUS Partition Master are as follows.

• Migrate OS to SSD
• Clone dynamic volume
• Clone larger HDD to Smaller SSD
• Clone SD card to external hard drive

EaseUS Partition Master is also easy to use. Even if you are new to the computer, you can download and apply it to copy partition to another drive. Feel free to share this tool to help your friends moving Windows to an external hard drive with success:

Conclusion 

Have you learned how to clone Windows to an external hard drive with EaseUS Partition Master? This article gives you more reasons to clone Windows to an external hard drive and introduces you to the professional cloning software - EaseUS Partition Master.

With the help of this tool, cloning Windows to an external hard drive is not a complicated task. Once the cloning is complete, you can boot Windows from the cloned external hard drive. Alongside cloning Windows to external hard drive, you can also use EaseUS Partition Master to clone older systems and make it run from USB drive or SD card, such as to:

FAQs About Clone Windows to External Hard Drive 

There are some other questions about cloning Windows to an external hard drive. These are questions that people often ask, so if you have encountered them too, check out the short answers below. I hope these questions and answers will be helpful to you.

1. Can you clone Windows to an external SSD?

Of course, you can easily clone Windows to an external SSD with professional cloning software. Using EaseUS Partition Master, you can migrate OS to SSD using the "migrate OS to SSD" feature or clone partitions on Windows to an external SSD one by one using the "Clone Partition" feature.

2. Can I clone a 1TB HDD to a 2TB SSD?

Of course, you can clone a 1TB HDD to a 2TB SSD. You should ensure enough free space exists on the 2TB SSD to store the data on the 1TB HDD. Then choose a professional cloning software: EaseUS Partition Master. 

3. How do I clone Windows from hard drive to hard drive?

The tools that come with Windows, such as Disk Management and Diskpart command, do not support you clone Windows from one hard drive to another. To do this, you can use a reliable third-party tool: EaseUS Partition Master.

Step 1. Download EaseUS Partition Master and open it. 

Step 2. Choose the "Clone" button and click "Next."

Step 3. Choose a source disk and a target disk and click "Next."