One of the most common ways if we want to start Windows from a physical drive is to do it from a pendrive. The problem is that these units are not without failures, so they can stop working, with no apparent cause for almost no reason. For this reason, it never hurts to create a copy or clone our Windows 10 bootable USB drive in case of any eventuality that could happen.
And it is that making a copy of a bootable USB drive is not as easy as copying and pasting your files on a new USB stick, since, even if your files are copied, Windows will not recognize it when booting as a boot drive . When we create a Windows 10 boot drive, an entry point is created that is available within the MBR or GPT. If we only copy the files, these entry points will not be created, so Windows will not recognize that it is a boot drive.
If what we want to duplicate a boot pendrive, what we must do is clone the device , which, when done correctly, the pendrive will contain all the files, including those that are protected or hidden so that we obtain an exact copy from the original. For this reason, today we are going to see how we can make a cloning of our boot pendrive.
Windows does not directly offer the possibility of cloning, so we must use some of the third-party applications that we will see below
EaseUS Todo Backup Free
The first possibility we can use to clone a bootable Windows 10 USB drive is the EaseUS Todo Backup Free application. It is a tool that has a free version with which we can create an image of USB drives, as well as hard drive partitions, and that we can download from its website .
To clone a bootable USB drive, the first thing we must do is connect it to our computer along with another pendrive where we want to clone. Next, we start EaseUS Todo Backup and we will click on the “Clone” function . A window will open indicating that we select the boot USB memory that we are going to clone, and click on “Next” to continue.
Now we will choose the destination unit and within the “Advanced options” we must check the box “Sector by sector clone” . This will help clone all the sectors from the source drive to the destination drive. Then we click “Proceed” to clone our boot drive.
Minitool Partition Free
Another tool that we can use to clone our bootable USB drive is Minitool Partition Free, which as its name suggests is free and can be downloaded from its official website . This application has a function called “Copy disk” thanks to which it will allow us to clone USB drives.
To start the process, we must select the bootable USB drive and click on the “Copy disc wizard” that will guide us through the entire process. Later we will choose the destination unit and indicate that it will become a copy of the source. Finally, we will select to copy the partitions without changing the size, and we will click on “Apply” and the cloning process will begin.
AOMEI Backupper
To clone our bootable USB drive we can also choose a program like AOMEI Backupper . The first thing we must do is have both devices connected to our computer. Subsequently we run AOMEI Backupper and we must select the “Clone” option on the left side of the menu and then select the “Clone disk” option and then “Next.
Next, we will select the bootable USB drive and the destination drive where we are going to clone. It is important that we have the “Clone sector by sector” box checked and finally click on “Start Clone”. Now the cloning process will begin and once finished we will get a new boot drive.
PassMark Software ImageUSB
The last option that we present you to clone a bootable USB drive is PassMark Software ImageUSB, which we can download for free from its website. Once we execute it, the main menu will appear, which, although it is in English, is very easy to use and we will hardly need a couple of steps to obtain cloning.
The first thing we must do is have both the USB drive connected to the boot with the other USB drive where we are going to clone. Once connected, the information from both devices will appear in the information box, so we must select them by pressing both or using the “Select All” option. Next, where it says “Step 2” we must select the first option “Write image to USB drive” . To finish, we only have to press the “Write” button and the program will start to clone. Once finished, a dialog box will appear informing us and we will have obtained a new boot pendrive.
