How to Make a Byte-for-Byte Copy of a Drive?

I want to make a byte for byte copy of my drive. Can someone tell me what is the easiest and most reliable way of making an exact copy of a hard drive? Or is there any software that can do this without risks?

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Melissa Lee· Answered on Nov 15, 2023

To make a byte-for-byte copy of a drive, DD does an excellent job for the most part. All you need to do is specify the input and output:

DD if=/dev/hdb of=/image.img

However, there are a few drawbacks to using DD.

  • DD will copy your entire disk, even empty space. Therefore, it may result in an extremely large image file, even larger than the original disk.
  • The copy takes a long time but DD provides no progress indication.

Therefore, you may want to try some new ways to copy your drive. You may use EaseUS Disk Copy to make a byte-for-byte copy of a drive.

Related article: (2023) Top 5 Easiest Disk Cloning Software

 

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