How to Copy a Hard Drive From One Machine to Another
A computer’s hard drive can be considered its “stomach,” as its been fed all of the data and information that the computer will use. To copy the contents of a hard drive from one computer (or “machine”) to the other you need a hard drive cloning program that can make an exact (or “clone") copy. The cloned copy can be saved directly onto an external USB drive, which can then be copied to a hard drive on another computer. Using a hard drive cloning program is not complicated, although you might have to wait many hours for the program to complete its copying of the hard drive.
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Instructions
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Download a hard drive cloning program to the computer’s desktop, for example the Carbon Copy Cloner program. Double-click on the program’s icon once it has fully downloaded. Follow the command prompts to install the program onto the computer’s hard drive. Reboot the PC.
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Plug one end of a USB connection cable into the USB port of a USB external hard drive. Plug the other end of the USB connection cable into a USB port on the computer.
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Double-click on the icon of the hard drive cloning program to launch it. Select the name of the hard drive that is to be copied from the “Source” drop down menu on the hard drive cloning program’s main screen.
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Select the name of the USB external hard drive from the “Target” drop down menu to the right of “Source.”
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Select “Full copy” from the “Options” drop down menu below “Target.” Click the “Start” button on the hard drive cloning program’s main screen to begin the copying.
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Click “OK” on the confirmation window when it appears. Quit the hard drive cloning program.
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Eject the USB external hard drive from the computer by dragging its icon from the desktop to the "Trash" or right-clicking on the icon and selecting “Eject” from the pop-up menu. Disconnect the USB cable from the USB port of the computer.
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Attach the USB connection cable to the USB port of the machine that is to receive the copy of the hard drive. Run the hard drive cloning program which has already been downloaded and installed on the computer.
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Select the name of the USB external hard drive from the “Source” drop down menu on the hard drive cloning program’s main screen.
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Select the name of a hard drive on the computer that is to receive a copy of the hard drive from the other computer from the “Target” drop down menu to the right of “Source.”
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Select “Full copy” from the “Options” drop down menu below “Target.” Click the “Start” button on the hard drive cloning program’s main screen to begin the copying.
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Click “OK” on the confirmation window when it appears. Quit the hard drive cloning program now that the hard drive on the computer is an exact copy of the hard drive from the other computer.
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Tips & Warnings
The hard drive that becomes a clone of the other computer’s hard drive will lose all of the data that it has on it.
You should not make a clone of the hard drive that is actively running the system operating software of the computer.
