Affected Products:
- Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery
Affected Versions:
Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery v5.5.1 and later supports Disk Cloning functionality. Disk cloning is the process of creating a one-for-one copy of a hard drive or solid state drive (SSD).
Disk cloning may be needed during:
- Hardware upgrade
- Disaster Recovery
- Computer replacement
Requirements to use disk cloning:
- The primary drive must be bootable into Windows.
- BitLocker must be disabled.
- Secondary hard drive, SSD, or USB drive with greater disk space as the original hard drive or SSD
- A power adapter is connected for the entire process.
Warning: If the computer shuts down during the cloning progress, the process must be restarted.
To create a disk clone:
- On boot, hold the F12.
- In the One-Time Boot Settings menu, click SupportAssist OS Recovery.
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Figure 1: (English Only) One-Time Boot Settings menu
- Click Back Up Files / Disk Cloning.
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Figure 2: (English Only) SupportAssist OS Recovery
- Select Disk Cloning and then click Next.
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Figure 3: (English Only) Disk Cloning
- Select and then click Next for one of the following options:
- Hard drive that is already installed
- This option should be selected when cloning an internal hard drive or SDD to a secondary internal computer hard drive or SDD.
- Hard drive in a USB housing
- This option should be selected when cloning an internal hard drive to an external USB enclosure that contains a hard drive or SDD.
- USB storage device
- This option should be selected when cloning from an internal hard drive or SDD to an external USB drive.
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Figure 4: (English Only) What are you cloning to
- Select the appropriate destination drive and then click Next.
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Figure 5: (English Only) Select where to clone to
Caution: Any data on the destination drive will be lost. This action cannot be reversed.
- Click Next to confirm disk cloning.
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Figure 6: (English Only) Your disk copy was a success, continue the cloning process
- Once the cloning process is complete, click Continue to turn off the computer.
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Figure 7: (English Only) Continue the cloning process.
Note: If a Hard drive that is already installed was selected (Step 5) go to step 9.
- On shutdown, swap the old hard drive or SDD with the replacement drive.
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Figure 8: Hard drive location
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Figure 9: Replace hard drive
Warning: Dell Technical Support provides replacement drives. Third-party drives may void your hardware warranty.
Note: The hard drive locations in the figures may differ on your computer. Consult your hardware manual for the specific location.
- Ensure the cloned drive (step 6) is connected and then turn on the computer while pressing F12 to access the one-time boot menu.
- Select the cloned drive and then press Enter.
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Figure 10: (English Only) One-Time Boot menu
Note:
- The example screenshot reflects USB DISK 2.0 being the cloned drive.
- This drive name may differ in your environment.
- If a Hard drive that is already installed was selected (Step 5) no further action is required.
- On SupportAssist OS Recovery launch, click Okay.
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Figure 11: (English Only) Welcome back!
- Click Continue to clone the destination drive (step 6) to the replacement drive (step 8).
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Figure 12: (English Only) Continue cloning process
- On success, click Continue to boot from the newly installed primary drive.
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Figure 13: (English Only) Unplug USB
Note: BitLocker can be reenabled if it was disabled as part of cloning requirements.
See these Dell Knowledge Base articles for related information: