There was once a time when moving information from one drive to another was laborious. You would have to transfer data onto a disc, and then transfer that to the new machine. Operating systems were contained on another disc and could not be simply transferred.
Times have changed and hard drive cloners have come into existence. Now, it is possible to clone entire drives – not just one – at a time, saving hours in the process. That said, it isn’t all good when it comes to hard drive cloners. Check out the pros and the cons.
Pros: Easy to Use
The first thing to know about hard drive cloners is that they are pretty easy to use. While it wasn’t exactly the most difficult thing in the world to transfer files onto a disc, that could be quite tedious and time-consuming. This is a far easier process and makes replacing things like servers and other tech a lot easier.
The new drive and the old one are placed side by side into slots on the hard drive cloner. With a few button pushes, the process is initiated and a 1:1 copy is underway. It is a great way to move everything from one drive to another without having to pick and choose between files or start the installation of an operating system over again.
Cons: Need a Bigger Drive
In most cases, you would typically want to go from one drive to a larger one, even a slightly larger one. That’s an important thing to keep in mind because you can’t clone a hard drive without upgrading to a larger drive. That has to do with the separate partitions.
Each drive has partitions to it. Some are as simple as having one for the operating system and another for the file hierarchy. Whatever the case may be, transferring those partitions requires a bit more room to operate. If you were planning to go from one drive to another of the same size, it might not work out that way.
Pros: The Operating System Comes Along
Perhaps the biggest frustration of transferring data is having to install your old operating system. It’s not that the installation itself is all that complex – most of the time, you pop a disc in and let the software do its thing – it’s that you have to update all of the settings to match your needs.
That might not be a big deal for some, but it can be a major pain. Being able to clone the old drive over to a new one also means that you get to bring the old operating system with it. No need to mess around with settings or spend time making things as they once were.
Cons: Can’t Compress the Data
A cool thing about simply transferring data on your own or doing a backup is that you can manually compress the data. While that might not sound like a big deal, it also provides a bit more wiggle room. You can access more files than you would with the 1:1 swap that comes with cloning the drive.
You can’t compress files when cloning the drive. You also won’t be able to encrypt the data, so it basically comes as it is. If you are looking to do more at the file level, then a backup is probably the way to go. Even still, there is nothing that saves time quite like cloning. Both have their pros and cons. Eventually, you will find what works best for you but cloning is certainly fine.