Copying data from one bootable USB drive to another is an easy task that can be done even without any technical knowledge with the help of the right software. This will be our publication today. We will also look at cases in which you may need to copy data from one USB to another, and will publish steps for checking a bootable USB clone.
When might you need to copy one bootable USB to another?
If you guess, there aren’t many situations where you need to copy one bootable USB drive to another:
1. Transferring working tools to a new USB drive with larger capacity or better characteristics (speed, reading, writing).
Transferring your bootable USB data to a new USB drive with better properties is a good reason. Speed and reliability of operation is important for the recovery process, installation of operating systems or diagnostics. Technologies are developing and modern USB drives have higher characteristics, which will make the work process more efficient.
2. Distributing copies of bootable media to friends, colleagues or students in educational institutions.
If you have a recorded bootable USB drive that has worked well, why not share it with other people? Every PC owner may have problems with restoring computer functionality. It’s great to have a reliable tool at hand. Maybe you will need to make multiple copies for students if you work in an educational institution.
3. Suspicion that the USB drive will soon fail
Suppose you see a crack on a USB drive or suspect that moisture may have gotten inside it – this is a good reason to make a complete copy of it while it is still in working order.
4. The need to reproduce the bootable USB exactly for technical examination or testing purposes
In some cases related to the establishment of certain information, a technical examination is carried out. To do this, an exact copy of the media data is required.
5. Scaling actions when installing operating systems on a large number of machines
Imagine that you have the task of installing or reinstalling operating systems on a couple of dozen identical machines. Perhaps this problem can be solved by other methods, but creating several bootable USB media through exact copying will allow you to run the process on several machines at once.
What software can help create a clone?
We’ve looked at cases where you might need to copy the contents of one bootable USB drive to another. Now let’s move on to more practical things – a review of software that can help us with this.
Let’s consider popular and proven tools:
AOMEI Partition Assistant
AOMEI Partition Assistant provides an easy-to-use program for copying bootable USB drives (and more). The process does not take much time and does not require special technical knowledge, and the program interface is simple and convenient.
To get started, visit the AOMEI Partition Assistant official website, download and install the program. You will also need two USB drives: a source and a destination. The source USB must be bootable, and the destination USB must be large enough to copy all the data. Insert two flash drives into free USB ports on your computer.
Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. The main program window will display all connected drives, including your USB drives. Go to the “All tools” tab and select “Clone Disk Wizard”.
A window will open in front of you with a choice of recording option. Select “Clone Disk Quickly”.
Next, in the interface, select the source you want to copy from and the destination source where you want to copy.
Confirm the start of the process with the “Proceed” and “Start” buttons.
The progress will be displayed on the screen. Once the process is complete, the program will notify you that the operation was successful and your copy will be ready for use. Thus, thanks to AOMEI Partition Assistant, transferring a bootable USB to another drive is quick and without unnecessary complications.
Disk Genius
Another USB-to-USB copy tool that allows you to efficiently clone data by storing it according to boot sectors.
Download the program from the official website and install it.
As with the example above, prepare two USB drives: the source USB from which you want to copy, and the USB to which you will clone. Insert them into USB ports. From the top menu select “Tools” and then “Clone Disk”.
The program will prompt you to select a USB source from which to copy the data and a USB destination where to copy it. Select them.
The program will warn you about data loss on the target disk if it is not empty. Make sure that the target drive does not have the required data and confirm that the process will begin. Disk Genius will begin cloning the USB. The process may take some time depending on the size of the source and the speed of the USB ports. The progress can be observed on the screen.
Once the process is complete, you will see a message indicating that the cloning was successful. And now your boot copy is ready. You now have an exact copy of your original bootable USB drive created with Disk Genius.
As you can see, copying a bootable USB drive is not difficult, but it is important to be careful and carefully follow the instructions of the selected program. After completing the process, we recommend checking the functionality of the new drive before using it for its intended purposes.
How to check the functionality of a new bootable USB after cloning?
To be sure that the copy of the created bootable USB drive is reliable, you need to check its functionality. Let’s write step-by-step instructions on how to perform the test.
Step 1. Restart your computer. When the system starts, press the key to enter the boot device selection menu. This may be Esc, F12, F2, Del or another key depending on the computer model or motherboard.
The exact hotkey on your device can be found in this table.
Step 2. From the list that appears, select your new bootable USB drive.
Step 3. If everything is done correctly, your computer should start booting from the USB drive.
Step 4. If the boot process was successful and you see a software interface (for example, an operating system installation window if USB is used for this), then the cloning was successful and the drive boots correctly.
As a last resort, it is worth testing the USB drive on another computer to eliminate the possibility of hardware incompatibility.
