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I suspect my system hard drive to get old.

Before losing anything, I want to create a full clone (all partitions, all data, exact clone) to another drive. So I can then simply replace the old hardware with the new one.

I think I may boot on a USB media to clone my HDD while it's not in use, so can I use a Linux tool? Is "dd" capable of that operation for a Windows drive (including boot information)?

fixer1234
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Orel35
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  • There are dozens of opinions, might even be questions, that suggest possible solutions here. What does your research show? – Ramhound Dec 07 '16 at 21:15

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Yes, you can create a copy of your whole Windows hard drive using linux dd comand. but you need to be cautious in the process.

Although, I would suggest using a partition and disk imaging/cloning program similar such Clonezilla

yaitloutou
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    dd will work OK but it will take a longer time than necessary because it copies even the empty portion of the disk. You will also get an error if the target disk is smaller than the source disk. There are several freely available cloning utilities you can choose from. Just search for free disk clone utility. – Charles Burge Dec 07 '16 at 23:46
  • Indeed, plus the risk of a bad manipulation if the user isn't familiar with the shill command. therefore my suggestion. but for a Yes || No question, I think the answer is Yes. :) – yaitloutou Dec 07 '16 at 23:52
  • "but you need to be cautious in the process." - Can you be specific? How about provide the author some assistance so they don't accidently lose all their data? [There already a question with an answer that suggests Clonzilla how does this answer differ from that?](http://superuser.com/questions/190619/imaging-new-hard-drive-in-windows-7-laptop?rq=1) – Ramhound Dec 08 '16 at 00:00