Can you clone a server? How to clone server hard drive to another disk? You can easily clone your Windows Server 2022/2019/2016 to an SSD to migrate all the disk data using professional software. In this post, MiniTool lists top 5 server cloning software for data protection or migration.
About Windows Server Disk Cloning
Windows Server 2022/2019/2016 are common server operating systems that are widely used for enterprise environments to handle databases, enterprise-scale messaging, Internet/intranet hosting, etc. Compared to a Windows desktop version, the configurations in a server are complicated, laborious, and time-consuming. This is why you clone Windows Server in case of involving changing a server.
Speaking of server cloning, it often means creating an exact copy of the entire hard drive, including all the disk data and system files required for Windows Server to run. Cloning can easily help you achieve the following purposes:
Fast disaster recovery: In the event of Windows Server failures, you won’t need to perform a recovery process but directly use the cloned hard drive as the system disk, greatly reducing the loss caused by server downtime.
Upgrade or migrate the server OS: Whether you want more storage space or better PC performance, you can clone server hard drive to another hard disk without reinstalling Windows Server and apps and setting up the operating system.
In short, whether you upgrade a disk, migrate the operating system, or protect your data, cloning will be a good solution. However, Windows Server doesn’t come with a cloning feature but a backup utility called Windows Server Backup. Hence, resort to reliable server cloning software from third parties to simplify the operation.
What to Focus on When Choosing Server Cloning Software
Today, there are a myriad of Windows Server cloning software. And it is challenging to distinguish and choose the best one that suits you. Before selecting the disk cloning software for Windows Server, consider 6 aspects, as shown below:
Compatibility: The server cloning software should be compatible with your operating system such as Windows Server 2022/2019/2016 and support a variety of storage types including SSDs, HDDs, USB external hard drives, and more.
Versatility: Your cloning utility should meet multiple cloning requirements, such as cloning the entire disk or migrating the entire operating system.
Reliability: The cloning tool you use should be reliable and help easily copy all the disk data, without missing any data areas. After cloning, the target disk can directly boot Windows successfully.
Speed and Efficiency: You should look for a piece of Windows Server cloning software that implements cloning quickly, without affecting productivity too much.
User Interface Friendliness: The best server cloning software should have a clean and intuitive user interface that shows the necessary options to simplify the cloning process.
Price: Most disk cloning software offers a free edition or trial edition for several days. Just choose a cost-effective one for cloning Windows Server to SSDs or other hard drives.
Taking these points into account, we list some solutions for businesses below, and let’s read them through.
#1. MiniTool ShadowMaker
At the first face, MiniTool ShadowMaker is a professional Windows backup software as it allows you to run file backup, disk backup, partition backup, and system backup, as well as recovery in case of data loss or system crashes.
Besides, it is a powerful disk cloning software that works well in Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 and Windows Server 2022/2019/2016, etc. With the simple and clean user interface, the backup and cloning process becomes very simple, preventing making mistakes. It facilitates cloning HDD/SSD to a new PC, making it easy to transfer all disk data and the operating system from the hard drive of an old PC to a new one.
In detail, this free server cloning software has some highlights:
- Clones a hard drive, USB drive, SD card, etc. to another one within a few clicks.
- Supports cloning HDD to SSD, moving Windows to another drive, cloning SSD to a larger SSD, and so on.
- Enables you to clone a larger disk to a smaller disk as long as the target disk can hold all the contents of the original disk.
- Also helps easily perform sector by sector cloning besides cloning the used sectors.
- Offers a friendly user interface to make the cloning process simpler. Although you don’t have many computer skills, you can use it as easy as pie.
- Easily recognizes all the hard drives from multiple brands including Samsung, Toshiba, WD, Crucial, Seagate, SanDisk, and so on as long as the disks are detected in Windows Disk Management.
- Allows you to create a bootable USB drive using Media Builder to boot the PC when it fails to start and then execute backup, recovery, and clone tasks.
Then, how to clone server hard drive with MiniTool ShadowMaker? Take the simple operations:
Step 1: Download and install MiniTool ShadowMaker Trial Edition on Windows Server 2022/2019/2016.
MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 2: Connect an SSD to the PC and launch this cloning tool.
Step 3: Go to Tools and hit Clone Disk.
Step 4: Choose the source disk and target disk, register this software using a license key of Business Standard or Business Deluxe as you deal with a system disk, and then begin the cloning process.
Pros:
- Offers comprehensive and rich features
- Has a clean user interface
- Clones a hard drive while Windows is running
- Gives a reliable and stable cloning process
- Creates bootable clone (target disk can be used to boot the PC)
- Trial Edition supports Windows 11/10/8/7 and Server 2022/2019/2016
Cons:
- Only supports disk clone but partition clone and system clone
- Requires you to pay money when cloning a system disk
#2. MiniTool Partition Wizard
As a powerful partition manager for Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 and Windows Server 2022/2019/2016, MiniTool Partition Wizard has a huge following due to its rich features.
With it, some disk and partition management is just a breeze, for example, shrink/extend/resize/move/slit/merge/format/delete/wipe/align a partition, wipe a hard drive, perform disk benchmark, run space analyzer, convert a disk between MBR and GPT, convert a file system between FAT32 and NTFS, and so on.
Also, MiniTool Partition Wizard can be a powerful server cloning software that offers three features:
- Migrate OS to SSD/HD Wizard: Enables you to only migrate the entire Windows operating system to an HDD or SSD or clone the entire system disk to another hard drive.
- Copy Partition Wizard: Only copies a single partition to an unallocated space for data backup.
- Copy Disk Wizard: Helps to clone a data disk or a system disk to another hard drive for disk upgrade or disk backup.
Talking about disk cloning or migration, MiniTool Partition Wizard lets you choose a copy option as per your needs – fit partitions to the entire disk or copy partitions without resizing, allows you to clone MBR to GPT (requiring you to tick the box of Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk after choosing a copy option) and helps align partitions to 1MB.
In short, this cloning software for Windows Server and Windows desktop systems facilitates quick and easy hard drive upgrades and efficient data migration, without a tedious reinstallation. Also, you can run MiniTool Partition Wizard to create a bootable media for managing your disks or partitions in case the PC fails to start up.
Pros:
- Offers rich cloning features including system cloning, disk cloning, and partition cloning
- Makes advanced settings for cloning, such as choosing a copy partition, using GPT for the target disk, etc.
- Gives an intuitive user interface
Cons:
- Sector-by-sector cloning is not supported
- System cloning or migration is paid
#3. Macrium Reflect
Macrium Reflect, a fully featured and sophisticated tool for disk image backup and disk cloning, is known in the industry. Its Server Plus Edition is designed to back up SQL databases and most servers that run applications such as Microsoft Exchange email. In backup and recovery, you can use this tool to perform instant virtual booting of backup images, recover your images in minutes, etc.
Besides, it is also a reliable disk cloning solution that supports all current Windows Server platforms and Windows desktop systems. Macrium Reflect has two highlights in cloning:
- You are allowed to shrink or extend the partitions you need to clone to fill the target hard drive.
- It lets you set an automatic disk cloning task by editing the schedule plan as per your situation.
However, the Windows Server cloning software also has some demerits, including:
- Frequent prompts ask you to upgrade to premium if you use its trial edition
- Only clones a disk rather than a single partition or system
- Clone failed error 9 always appears
To run Macrium Reflect for disk cloning, go to Create Backup Tasks, choose a source disk, hit Clone this disk, select a target disk, choose the clone method, and begin cloning.
#4. Paragon Hard Disk Manager
Paragon Hard Disk Manager is a feature-packed solution that goes beyond offering the cloning capability. Also, it provides a multitude of tools including backup & recovery, partition manager, and disk wiper.
With this server cloning software, you can migrate a Windows Workstation or Server operating system quickly by cloning the entire hard drive, providing fast disaster recovery when needed or accommodating a permanent disk migration scenario. Hard Disk Manager supports copying a partition or migrating OS.
This tool has an uncluttered interface that is easy to navigate with intuitively-placed buttons. Moreover, it supports excluding some files and folders during the cloning process.
Paragon Hard Disk Manager is reliable and is a worthwhile investment. But, it also has some cons:
- Sometimes it doesn’t estimate the time to completion properly
- It takes a long time to boot from a CD
- It gives ungrammatical messages
#5. Clonezilla
If you are looking for a full free server cloning software, Clonezilla will be your good choice. It is an excellent disk imaging and cloning software based on a Linux distro, helping make metal backup and recovery, do system deployment, and clone a hard drive.
Clonezilla lite server allows you to use Clonezilla Live to do massively cloning while Clonezilla SE is included in DRBL that must be set up first for mass cloning.
As an open-source program with rich features, Clonezilla also supports many file systems (ext2, ext3, ext4, exFAT, FAT32, NTFS, HFS+, APFS, and more) and operating systems (Linux, Windows, macOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, ChromeOS, etc.), making it popular with many system administrators and IT technicians. This cloning software uses Partclone as the primary cloning method, as well, ntfsclone is optional.
To run Clonezilla for disk cloning, you can refer to this post – How to Use Clonezilla in Windows 10/11 to know details.
Pros:
- Has a great compatibility
- Supports mass cloning
- Offers unparalleled features
- Absolutely free and open-source
Cons:
- No graphics user interface
- Cannot clone to a small disk
Bottom Line
How to clone server hard drives for a disk upgrade or sever replacement? Use professional cloning software for Windows Server that should consider compatibility, versatility, reliability, efficiency, friendliness, and price. Here are 5 best server cloning software to help clone Windows Server to SSD. Choose one as per your needs and then perform the cloning operation.
Suppose you have some suggestions or questions about our MiniTool software. Just send an email to [email protected]. Much appreciate!
Server Cloning Software FAQ
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Vera is an editor of the MiniTool Team since 2016 who has more than 7 years’ writing experiences in the field of technical articles. Her articles mainly focus on disk & partition management, PC data recovery, video conversion, as well as PC backup & restore, helping users to solve some errors and issues when using their computers. In her spare times, she likes shopping, playing games and reading some articles.