Why Is Disk Clone So Slow?
When you need to migrate the data on one disk to another, or migrate your Windows system from the old disk to a new disk, performing a disk clone is the best choice for you. Generally, it is not new to run into various issues while cloning such as cloned drive being unable to boot, Intel data migration software not cloning, Macrium Reflect clone failure and more.
How long does disk cloning take? The speed of cloning depends on lots of factors and the reason why it takes such a long time might be:
- The USB connection is too slow to read and write –If the ports are not clean or healthy, it will directly influence the read and write speed.
- The target disk has some problems – The health of the source disk and the target disk can affect the clone speed.
- Your computer configuration is too old – If your computer configuration is not up to date, it can slow down most operations on it including clone disk.
- There are too many background applications running in the backend –During the cloning process, you had better close them to avoid the occurrence of disk clone slow.
- The data size is too large – The larger the size of the data is, the longer time the cloning process will take.
After figuring out why is disk clone slow, we will show you how to make the process faster on Windows 10/11.
Before cloning your disk, it is advisable to use the most recent operating system and update it in time to get the best user experience and performance.
How to Fix Disk Clone Slow?
Fix 1: Wait Patiently
Cloning a hard drive is making a copy of the whole drive including all the data on it. If you have many gigabytes of information, installed applications or large files on the source disk, no wonder the cloning process takes for hours. Therefore, you need to be patient until the process is done.
Fix 2: Use SATA Connection
If you are cloning a disk to an external hard drive or SSD (or vice versa), make sure the ports are clean. There are two types of hard drive connections: PATA cable and SATA cable. Although PATA cable supports multitasking well when transferring data, it is much slower than SATA cable. If you are bothered by a slow disk clone process, you can consider using a USB to SATA adapter cable.
Fix 3: Disable Background Programs
Some programs running in the background might occupy a large amount of CPU, memory or disk usage, hence resulting in disk clone slow. Therefore, you should close these programs before performing a disk clone. By doing so, you can spare more resources for the cloning process.
Step 1. Right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager from the context menu.
Step 2. Under the Processes tab, right-click on the resource-hogging programs one by one and choose End task.
Fix 4: Replace the Target Disk
If your target disk has been used for a pretty long time, there might be some bad sectors or an unsupported file system. This will also cause disk cloning to take more time than usual. Here’s how to check your disk:
Step 1. Press Win + E to open File Explorer.
Step 2. Right-click on the drive you want to scan and choose Properties.
Step 3. Under the Tools tab, hit Check > Scan and Repair Drive. Then, this tool will start to detect and repair problems on the drive.
If there is something wrong with your target drive and the disk check tool cannot fix it, you are supposed to replace it with a good one.
Suggestion: Clone Your Disk with MiniTool ShadowMaker
After your hardware and operating system are all in good condition, choosing a reliable tool is also important. Here, the PC backup software – MiniTool ShadowMaker can make you do more with less effort.
This freeware allows you to make an identical copy of data from one disk to another on Windows machines at a relatively high speed. It will not bring any damage to data on the original drive during the cloning process. Here’s how to clone a disk with this tool easily and quickly:
Step 1. Run this program and go to the Tools section.
MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 2. In this page, choose Clone Disk.
Step 3. Select the disk you would like to clone > hit Next to choose where to save the copy > click on Start.
Step 4. Then, a warning will inform you that data on the target disk will be destroyed. Tap on OK to confirm this action and wait for the process to complete.
Make sure to disconnect either the original hard drive or the target hard drive when performing the first boot after creating a clone because the source disk and the target disk have the same signature.
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About The Author
Position: Columnist
Aurelie is a passionate soul who always enjoys researching & writing articles and solutions to help others. Her posts mainly cover topics related to games, data backup & recovery, file sync and so on. Apart from writing, her primary interests include reading novels and poems, travelling and listening to country music.