The Best Way to Perform MBR to MBR Cloning

The Brief Introduction for MBR

Let's start with the full form of MBR. Well, it is a Master Boot Record that implies an old model to maintain the hard disk partitions. It uses a standard BIOS and supports a disk size of around 2 TB. In other words, it cannot support a disk space of more than 2 TB. Thus, if the size of your hard disk is more than 2 TB, then the additional space beyond 2 TB will not be utilized.

Moreover, it can support only four primary partitions, making it quite inconvenient if you want to create more partitions for storing data. Lastly, the MBR disk can work with both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.

Why Need to Perform MBR to MBR Cloning?

The MBR also contains execute code, used to connect each partition’s volume boot record (VBR). When fully executed by BIOS, this code will transfer control to boot program stored on the boot partition to load the operating system to ensure a successful boot. 

If you failed to copy MBR from one to another hard drive, you’ll be unable to boot from the new drive successfully. It is not an easy task to copy MBR only. Thus, you can choose to clone the whole disk containing Master Boot Record to another MBR disk. It will ensure you a smooth boot as long as you employ a reliable cloning tool.

The Best Way to Perform MBR to MBR Cloning

AOMEI Backupper Standard is a free and secure disk cloning software for Windows 11/10/8.1/8/8/7/Vista/XP. Its Disk Clone function can clone MBR disk to another MBR disk. If you need, it also provides Partition Clone feature. This software also has the following advantages.

Intelligent clone: This feature can not only help you clone only used space but also skip the bad sectors while cloning the disk. So you don’t need to worry about how to clone hard drive with bad sectors.

Secure boot: After cloning, you can directly boot your computer from the cloned disk.

Live clone: It allows the clone task to work in the background, so you can normally use your computer when cloning the disk.

SSD alignment: If your target disk is an SSD, this feature can make your target SSD performs better in reading and writing speed.

Perform MBR to MBR Cloning Step by Step

Before you start performing MBR to MBR cloning, you need to do the following preparation work.

• Since the cloning process will wipe all your data on the target disk, you need to backup files and data on your target disk in advance.
• Connect the target MBR disk to your computer and ensure it can be organized.
• Download and install the free and professional disk cloning tool AOMEI Backupper Standard and install it.

When you finished the preparation work, you can follow the graphic tutorial below to perform MBR to MBR cloning.

Step 1. Open AOMEI Backupper Standard, click Clone > Disk Clone.

Note:

The standard version supports cloning MBR to MBR (system disks) and data disk. To clone GPT to GPT, or clone disks between GPT and MBR, you can upgrade to AOMEI Backupper Professional or higher versions.

Step 2. Choose a MBR disk as the source disk and click Next.

Step 3. Choose the other MBR disk as the destination disk and click Next.

Step 4. , then click Start Clone. After cloning, you can change the boot order in the BIOS and directly boot your computer from cloned SSD.

Notes:

• SSD Alignment: If your target MBR disk is an SSD, remember to tick SSD Alignment to accelerate the reading and writing speed of SSD.
• Edit Partitions: This feature can help you to add unused space to all partitions or manually adjust the partition size if you need. And you can upgrade to the professional version to enjoy it.
• Sector By Sector Clone: If your target disk has the same size or larger than the source disk, you can use this feature to clone all sectors, whether they are used or not. It’s very convenient for you to clone a disk to a larger one.

Summary

This article introduces a simple introduction about MBR and why you should clone MBR to MBR. You can also use the good MBR to MBR cloning software to help you easily perform the whole process of MBR to MBR cloning. Whether it is cloning a small disk to a large disk or cloning a large disk with a small disk, this software can meet your needs.

In addition, you can also use it to clone only the system, or clone partitions. It can also help you with emergency repairs when your computer won't start. You can download this software to explore more.