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Clone Only Certain Partitions ???

BuckSkinBuckSkin
edited April 2017 in AOMEI Products Support

Can I set AOMEI to clone only the essential partitions -- C:, System, and Restore -- onto a new hard-drive, while ignoring the data partition ?


Thanks for reading.

Comments

  • FlyerFlyer
    edited April 2017

    I think this is what you want. http://www.backup-utility.com/help/partition-or-volume-clone.html Or you can do a backup and then restore to the new hard drive. http://www.backup-utility.com/help/partition-and-volume-backup.html

    I'm not sure with the first option if you can do multiple partitions at the same time or if you have to run it multiple times to get what you want. That might make the backup and restore option easier.


  • BuckSkinBuckSkin

    Thanks, Flyer; would that be the same as a clone ?

    I haven't yet figured out the differences between clones, back-ups, and images.

  • JohnnyboyGoJohnnyboyGo

    There is also a system clone in the menu. In the installed version you have to let Aomei unlock it first. In the WinPE Bootable media it is already available.

  • FlyerFlyer
    edited April 2017

    You can clone a disk (partition) directly to a new HD. A backup requires you to back up your disk (partition) to another location (another HD) and then restore it to the new HD. The result is the same as a clone. You are either cloning or restoring "an image" of your drive (partition) to a new HD. If you choose to do a backup, you will need to create a Bootable Media (WinPE bootable media) in order to then restore it to another drive. This can be done from the utilities section of AOMEI.

    I'm not sure what you are attempting to do but you will have other tasks to perform if you do what you said in your first post and plan on keeping your intial drive that has your data on it. What exactly are you trying to do and why?

  • BuckSkinBuckSkin

    Thanks, JohnnyboyGo and Flyer


    As per Flyer  "What exactly are you trying to do and why?"

    I just recently used the "Clone" of free AOMEI to clone the entire contents of one hard drive to another, in order to replace a corrupted installation in another identical machine.

    The process worked out beautifully; it could not have been more plug-n-play; the target machine accepted the clone and booted right up, without me having to go through the time consuming process of having to re-install all the programs, plug-ins, and drivers.

    However, once the process was finished, I did have to delete the many GBs of file data that also got copied to the new drive, in order to have room to reinstall that machines file data; this was no really big deal, but did consume some time and effort.


    Now that I have the target machine up and running, I intend to wipe the drive that contains the corrupted O/S and make another clone of the good O/S, thus saving installed programs, plug-ins, drivers, and what-not, to keep as an emergency stand-by.  Since both machines are identical in every aspect, I will then have a ready-to-go working system that can be popped in in minutes and good-to-go.


    I just thought it would best serve my purposes if I could clone only the O/S and reserve and restore partitions and not have all of the file data to deal with.

    But then again, the plain-Jane method that I had such good success with may very well be the safest route.

     

  • FlyerFlyer

    Unless all your data is on a separate partition (ie. a different drive letter), I think what you've done is all you can do. It's hard for me to tell, but I have a feeling that's not what you have. I suspect your data is on your C drive. If that is the case, you would have to delete any data files manually either through windows explorer or the program used to create the data.

    There are 2 scenarios that can be used when your C drive is either limited in size or you want to make it easy to reinstall your OS. 1: Only the OS is on your C drive and all programs, apps and data are on a separate drive. 2: Your OS and programs are on your C drive and you chose to save all your data files (documents, pictures, etc) on a different drive. Either of these requires some effort on your part to set up and is why I suspect is not what you have. But I could be wrong. 

  • BuckSkinBuckSkin

    I have the O/S and all programs on C: partition, a System Reserved E: partition, an unlettered Recovery partition, and all files and data on a Q: partition; all on a single hard drive.

  • adminadmin

    You could use the System Clone if you want to ignore the data partition.

  • FlyerFlyer

    Again, I missed that point in your original post. Sorry. I scan the posts too fast for my own good.

    Why don't you just reformat the Q partition after the clone?

    With what you have, you can do what the admin said or you can do a system backup and restore. Plenty of options.

  • BuckSkinBuckSkin

    Thanks, Flyer; I was not sure I could format a partition without formatting the entire disc.

  • FlyerFlyer
    edited April 2017

    Type in "disk management" in the search box (lower left of screen). Then option in the list presented that you want should be the one in gray. Click on it. When window opens up, left click on the partition you want to format to select it. Then right click on it and a box will open allowing you to format just that partition. I'm sure you know this but just repeating if others are following this thread aren't sure how to do it.

    Good luck with your project.

  • BuckSkinBuckSkin

    Thanks, Flyer; you have been most helpful.

    Please take a look at my other thread, "Disc Clone Keeps getting Error 214", and see if you have any ideas.

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