Windows 10: How can I activate my windows after cloning my local disk to a new hard drive?

Hello, I recently had to upgrade to a new local disk SDD since my original one 120 gb randomly fluctuates in empty space because the appdata folder randomly saves obscene amounts of stuff, but that's normal windows for you. So I installed my new 1TB SDD and cloned my local disk over to it using DiskGenius and then booted into that new drive via the bios. There were no problems and everything was running well until I noticed that there's an annoying stupid watermark in the bottom of my screen asking me to activate windows. So I booted into my old SSD to check if it was still there and it disa

:)

 

Bootable Hard drive cloning disk recommendations.

Hey guys,
I'm looking for a bootable software I can burn on a disk to fully clone a hard drive. I have a 500 GB drive with two partitions and I want to clone both to a 160 GB drive so I can use the 500 in a different computer. I need the 160 to be bootable as it would become the new boot drive in the computer.

 

Cloning a Hard Disk

Hi Dav,

Cloning a hard drive is way of transferring data from one hard disk to another drive to make the destination disk contain exactly the same data. You may also find additional information in this
article.

For an in-depth assistance on how to proceed with the process, we suggest that you post your query/concern on the
TechNet forum. This forum is a
community that is mainly composed of IT professionals who can cater to the complexity of your concern.

Regards.

 

How to Clone a Hard Drive in Windows 10

We often need to back up our data when we wish to switch to a different PC or sell off the old one. If you are using an old hard drive and wish to switch to SSD, you may need to create a Windows 10 clone drive. There is a huge difference between disk cloning and disk imaging. This article on how to clone a hard drive on Windows 10 has the best efficient method to create backups and get all your data on the new device.

Disk Clone vs Disk Image

Disk Imaging creates a byte-by-byte backup of your data on the hard drive. It creates an ISO file image that is compressed and similar to a zip file. It is mostly used when you are trying to migrate your data from one device to another backup drive. You can restore your data from a compressed backup file. Disk Image can be a full image or a differential image that holds an incremental backup.

Disk Cloning is the process of creating an uncompressed data backup that is stored exactly the same as the source drive. Disk clones are ready to boot and can be used to immediately replace the source drive. If you clone your Windows drive, you can use the destination drive as a ready boot drive on your PC. These drives can be used on the same device or on a new device to portably use your desktop on the new device. This process of creating an identical copy of your data doesn’t take a lot of time.

In Short, Disk Image is resourceful if you want to keep on taking incremental backups and don’t want a single file to be lost in case of a system crash. Disk cloning is a quick one-shot ready backup that can allow you to boot your device and bring up files till the date it was created.

Disk Cloning on Windows

Windows Disk Management utility is good enough to shrink, extend, or delete hard drive partitions. When we wish to perform disk cloning, we need third-party software to perform this action. There are dozens of disk cloning software available over the web but not all of them are accurate and robust. We have compared, tried, and tested the Best Disk Cloning Software and listed the one that just takes a few clicks to perform Windows 10 clone drive.

EaseUS Todo Backup

EaseUS Todo Backup is one of the best backup utilities for Windows to quickly create a Windows 10 clone drive on Windows. EaseUS is trusted by millions of users for its variety of services. It offers different types of data recovery, partition manager, backup and restore options and multimedia utilities for different OS platforms.



EaseUS Todo Backup Home is an essential utility to quickly back up your data on cloud storage or any external storage device. It offers advanced security to protect your data from ransomware attacks and other potential threats. Once you sign up for the utility, you get 250GB of cloud storage space for a free 30 days trial. It is compatible with Windows 11 and earlier versions and also supports the latest MacOS versions.

You don’t even need to learn how to clone a hard drive on Windows 10 as it just takes a few clicks to perform the task. You just need to ensure that you take a proper backup of your important data on a different storage drive or on the cloud storage drive.

Step 1. Download and install the EaseUS Todo Backup utility from its official website.

Step 2. Launch EaseUS Todo Backup on your PC and click on the Clone tab in the left panel. You can also click on the Tools button on the home page and select the Clone option.



Step 3. Select the source drive that needs to be cloned.



Step 4. Click on the Advanced Options button to select the ‘Sector by Sector Clone’ option if you need an exact replica of the source drive.



Step 5. Now it’s time to select the target drive. The target disk should be larger than the source drive. Ensure there is no data on the target drive as it will be wiped out before cloning. Click on the Continue button to clone a hard drive on Windows 10, 11, or earlier versions.

“Tip: You can also clone Windows 10 operating system by clicking on the Tools menu on the home page and selecting the System Clone option.”

Summing Up

This article on how to clone a hard drive on Windows 10 has the best disk cloning software for Windows 10, 11, and earlier versions. You can clone a single partition on Windows 10 or explore how to clone Windows 10 operating system to create a ready-boot. EaseUS Todo Backup is tried and tested and turned out to be one of the safest software to back up your data.