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If you’re reading this article, we’re pretty sure you’ve heard or have overclocked your graphics card, motherboard, RAM, CPU and even hardware of your computer.

It is possible to overclock your monitor as well. It’s a relatively easy process and will increase your screen’s refresh rate which in turn will provide a smooth gaming experience.

But, how to overclock monitor? Let’s look into the basics first before we get into how to overclock monitor?

What is Overclocking?

Overclocking is basically the process of increasing the refresh rate of the screen than compared to the stock rate.

Which means it will draw more frames per seconds on the screen making the monitor increase its performance. Overclocking causes your computer no harm and is completely safe.

Usually, companies reduce the clock speed so that the computer functions smoothly and without any problem.

Off late few companies have increased their clock speed than what it normally is (60Hz) and have been shipping them out.

This is the main reason why the budget monitors are shipped to the market at a refresh rate of 75Hz.

Monitors that are released mainly for gaming purposes have an impressive refresh rate of 120Hz, 144Hz, 160Hz, 165Hz and it could even go up to 200Hz. Hence, it is important to know the right way to how to overclock monitor.

What is Refreshing?

To explain in simple words what the term refreshing is, we can say that for a 70Hz monitor the image or the screen will refresh 70 times every second, in a 75Hz the screen will refresh 75 times every second, and for 144Hz the screen will refresh 144 times every second.

The higher the refresh rates, the better, especially if you’re looking for a PC gaming monitor. Technically the human eye can comprehend and sees at around 24 frames per second, but it is possible for the human to perceive a greater refresh rate.

Benefits of Overclocking Monitor

Let’s take an example, if you were playing Battlefield 4, your screen rate might be 100HZ that is your graphics card will be working at 100 frames per second.

Your monitor might be limited to 60Hz (60 frames per second). Due to the difference in the monitors limit, there is a lag of around 40Hz, and this lag creates a “tear” within what is being displayed.

In order to eliminate or reduce the lag or tearing, you’ll need to overclock. Basically, it is a reduction of screen tearing by increasing the frames per second.

 Can all Monitors be overclocked?

The main determinant to tell if your monitor can be overclocked is to look at the specifications of the panel.

There are few monitors that even though they are identical, the display panels might be slightly different giving you different results.

NOTE: it is really important to check all your specs first, especially your panel specs. Not all panels are manufactured in the same manner and in some cases, the manufacturer might have already applied to overclock setting.

In this case, if you try to overclock your monitor, the risks are pretty high if you push the limits further. Hence we suggest you look into all the details before you start the process.

This is going to be the ultimate guide on how to overclock monitor. It covers everything you need to know and most important it answers the question “how to overclock monitor”.

In this article, we will specifically stress on how to overclock monitor for Nvidia and AMD graphic cards.

IMPORTANT:  it is obvious that overclocking your monitor will definitely make your warranty invalid.

But the probability of something going wrong is very less, and the warranty is not something to worry about.

It is our duty to put it out there and let you know the consequences before getting into it. If something goes wrong, it is not our responsibility. So be careful in the process of how to overclock monitor.

As mentioned above, monitors will react differently based on their version and the make. Some monitors can reach a max of 75Hz whereas some can have a refresh speed of 110Hz like the single-DVI-input QNIX QX2710 if you follow the method accurately.

Hence, we can say that if one of your friends was able to overclock their monitor to a higher rate than you, it is mostly because of your monitor limits so don’t overdo it and push the limits as it is extremely harmful.

The process of overclocking is a very easy and straightforward process, and you can use a third party application called CRU or directly use software from NVIDIA and AMD. Let’s look at them individually:

Custom Resolution Utility (CRU )

The Customs Resolution Utility is a relatively old method and will not be compatible with all integrated Intel graphics or GPU’s. but if you’re using AMD graphics, this method will work.

Follow the steps mentioned below to increase your refresh rate.

1. Download and install the application
   

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2. Open the application (CRU)
   

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3. You’ll find two boxes, one meant for detailed resolution and the other standard resolutions.
   

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4. Select the detailed resolutions box and click on add
   

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5. Now, select the timings option and change it to the option “LCD Standard.”
   

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6. Change the refresh rate than what the default was set at. Make sure you don’t set the refresh rate too high, the best place to start would be to increase it by 5Hz.
   

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7. Select OK and reboot your PC.
   

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8. The next part states the steps you will have to follow if you need to overclock or change the refresh rate on Windows 10,
   

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9. Open the display settings, and you can do this by right-clicking on the desktop
   

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10. Then, click on “advanced display settings.”
    

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11. Look for “display adapter properties.”
    

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12. From the monitor tab, you can select the refresh rate from the options provided according to your needs.
    

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How do you know if it worked? If it was successful the monitor won’t go blank. This usually happens when you’ve increased the refresh rate too much. In such cases, the monitor will go blank and revert back to the old settings in about 15-20 seconds

NVIDIA Overclocking Guide

NVIDIA made it really easy to overclock your monitor’s refresh rate, it is extremely simple, and it can be done using the Nvidia control panel and nothing else!

First, you have to open the Nvidia control panel and expand the display section and then select the “change resolution” option present there.

This will further open the PC’s resolution and graphics card specs. Keep in mind the native resolution of the monitor and then select the customize button.

This will lead you to a new window where you can customize your resolution, and you’ll be able to see a list of random or an empty list.

Click on the “create custom resolution” option, and this again will open up a new window, here you’ll be able to see the refresh rate and the resolution.

If you’re using a progressive screen, remember to keep the scan type on Progressive. Keeping the timing on automatic and change the refresh rate accordingly.

Usually, the computer will have a default of 60Hz, and you can go up by 10 Hz and then hit the test option.

This will blank the screen for a split second, and another display will pop up (hopefully) asking if you want to confirm and apply the changes.

Just like in CRU, if for some reason you don’t get a screen confirming the changes, wait for 15-20 seconds and then the system will automatically revert back the settings to the default.

Once you’re able to establish the highest refresh rate, then you click “OK” and look for your custom resolution and refresh rate in the options presented under the Refresh rate option

Select apply and voila!  You’ve managed to overclock your monitor on a Nvidia graphics card!

AMD Overclocking Guide

For this method of overclocking to work, you will need the help of a utility called CRU, which was developed by ToastyX.

You can always download it from their official website. To start the process, like every other application download and install the application and remove all the non-active members from the list. This is only in the case of multiple active monitors.

Next, select the add option that you will find under “Detailed Resolutions” this will lead you to another window, here you select automatic LCD standard and make sure your resolution is set to the default option.

At the bottom of the window, you’ll have the option to have it interlaced, and you’ll also be able to see the refresh rate separately.

Here, you can add the overclock and then clock on the OK button. Once this step is done, you can see the new overclock rate under the “Detailed Resolution” section.

If you want to add more that is increase the frames per second, even more, you can follow the same process just repeat the steps.

Now, you’ll have around 4 options in the resolution option in the menu. Restart your computer, and this allows the computer to pick out the best and the newest custom resolution.

To check the resolution picked, once the computer has restarted go to the display settings and select the advanced display settings option and look under “monitor.”

you will be able to see the custom resolution and the screen refresh rate. Now, all you have to do is select the closest one to the refresh rate of your monitor and click the apply button.

This will make the screen go black for a while, and another window will appear asking you to confirm the changes.

If you don’t see any changes and no extra Window pop up. Do not worry, wait for 15-30 seconds and Windows will automatically revert the settings back to the original.

Once you’ve applied all the necessary changes, you have to go back to the CRU and delete the other Detailed Resolutions, except for the one that worked.

And Voila, you have successfully managed to overclock your monitor, and now you can enjoy smooth and lag-free gaming! Good luck.

 Post Overclocking

Since we have spoken about how to overclock monitor, we also need to know if the overclocking process has worked and if the monitor is skipping frames, that method can be used on both AMD and NVIDIA. Let’s look into how one could test if the overclock worked.

Once you overclock your monitor, it is important to check and fine-tune the monitor’s settings. The following part is basically the post overclocking steps that you could follow.

• Firstly, you need to check if it is displaying all the frames. Frame skipping happens when the frame rate is too high, and the monitor cannot handle it. You can notice this lag, especially when you’re playing a game you might see a second of black screen, this is usually because of a frame being skipped. It can test your monitors overclock by simply launching TestUFO within the browser and open your browser in full screen. You will see white boxes in the background and then see your monitor’s resolution displayed at the bottom. If both of them match, it’ll display a green “valid” sign. This valid sign is an indication that your overclock has worked.
  

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• Secondly, to check if your overclock is not skipping any frames you’ll need to bring out a phone camera or a DSLR. Set the camera to the lowest ISO setting. Usually, the lowest a phone or a DSLR can go to is ISO 100. After setting your ISO to the lowest, take a picture of the monitor screen while the boxes are still all over the screen. The next step is to open the picture in your gallery and check if there are any black boxes between the white boxes this means that your monitor is skipping frames. This is the best time to reduce the refresh rate until the monitor is not skipping any frames. Ideally, you’re supposed to see only white boxes in a line.
  

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• Thirdly, the next step in the post overclocks segment is to adjust your monitor’s gamma and colour. This is not always necessary, and you could even skip this step. But, if your refresh rate was changed drastically, your colours will look washed out, and the image quality will be bad when compared to your default monitor’s refresh rate. You can correct this issue through the monitor’s on-screen display settings, or you could use another software like AMD, NVIDIA’s settings option. If you’re feeling a little adventurous, you can use the Yasamoka’s colour Sustainer for free, and this allows you to load custom colours.

Conclusion

This brings us to the end of how to overclock monitor. It is completely safe, and there is nothing to worry about. Just follow the steps and procedure, and you’re good to go. I hope it answered your question “how to overclock monitor?”

Thermal paste is used as a heat transferring agent that you can fill in the microscopic gaps that are present between two flat metal surfaces.

When you’re assembling your computer, you would have noticed that the CPU and the Cooler are against one another, this means that two flat metal surfaces are naturally against each other.

Due to which, air-filled gaps affect the rate at which the coolant absorbs heat from the CPU.

Thermal paste comes in different material, like ceramic and metal-based pastes and solid and even waxy thermal pads.

Sometimes coolers come with pre-applied pads, but they usually don’t. We recommend using a paste in these situations, Arctic Silver 5 and Arctic Silver Ceramique are the two top best thermal pastes out in the market.

A lot of people who assemble PC’s find this part the most complicated when compared to any other assembly part.

This is mainly because the CPU chip is relatively tiny, delicate and also expensive. The chip of the CPU might be the most expensive part of the entire system.

If you mount the cooler wrong or apply the thermal paste in the wrong way, it could affect the performance of the system and will increase the number of times your system crashes.

There are two types of thermal paste or grease, and the first one is the non-conductive and the second one is conductive.

The non-conductive thermal paste composition usually consists of silicone and zinc thermal greases. The conductive thermal’s composition includes silver, copper and aluminum-based paste.

The conductive thermal grease is stronger and must be used very carefully, or they can cause electrical shorts.

Especially if its applied to the microprocessor’s pins or on the electrical pathways of the circuit board.

Steps For Applying Thermal Paste

Choosing a Good Paste

As mentioned above, almost all the thermal pastes contain silicone and zinc oxide in them, and some of the expensive ones contain heat conductors like silver or ceramic.

The ones that contain silver and ceramic are more effective at heat transmission but, the basic thermal paste will fulfill the needs of almost all the applications.

If you have plans for overclocking your computer, we recommend you buy the expensive thermal pastes that mainly contain silver, gold or even copper.

These are the most conductive metals and will increase efficiency.

Cleaning the CPU Chip and the Heat Sink Surface

The first and most important step is to clean the surface with a cotton ball or a cotton swab, it should be dampened with isopropyl alcohol.

70% of alcohol content is a good amount, but 90% percent of alcohol content is even better. Higher the alcohol percentage the better.

Sanding the Surface If Necessary

The two surfaces that are the CPU and the Cooler will be flat, and this would eliminate the need for thermal paste.

But if your heat sink fancy term for cooler! base is rough, you can wet-sand it using a fine grit paper, or you could even use an emery cloth to make it smooth.

This step is required only and only if you’re looking for ultimate results in the cooling performance.

Thermal paste was originally designed to fill the gaps that are present between two flat surfaces when you join them.

And since it is always not possible to make a surface without any imperfections, thermal paste will always be necessary. Good news for the companies that produce them!

Applying Heat Sink to Circular Based Coolers

Take a tiny drop of thermal paste and place in on the center of the cooler base.

This drop should be extremely tiny, and it should be smaller than a grain of rice or a BB. If anyone has told you to use a pea-sized drop please do not listen to them!

It was way too much paste and can easily end up on the motherboard, which you definitely don’t want.

There is nothing else you have to do here, remember that you don’t have to spread the paste for circular coolers, as the pressure of being applied will spread it evenly throughout the surface.

Attach the Heat Sink to the Processor

Place the heat sink with even pressure from all the sides, and this will spread over the entire surface making a thin and even layer that will fill all the gaps and avoid excess build up.

As and when heat is applied the paste will become thinner and spread towards the edges. And this small amount of paste will go a long way.

Removing the Heatsink after Installing

you want to break the seal that you created while installing your heatsink, it is possible, but if you want to install it again, you’ll have to start the process all over again by cleaning off the old paste and then reapplying it.

Hence, we recommend that you let it be and do not fiddle with it too much and keep checking if your paste has been applied.

Reconnecting the Fan to the Motherboard

The CPU fan wire should be plugged at the CPU fan socket as it mostly uses the PWM function which lets the computer adjust the fan speed without fluctuations in the voltage.

Booting the system

The only thing you have to check is that if the fan is spinning. Press the F1 key or the Del key during post and enter BIOS.

Check the temperature of the CPU, it should be below 40 degrees Celsius when idle, and the same thing can be applied for GPU.

This is one of the simplest ways on how to apply thermal paste.

Applying Heatsink to Square Based Coolers

Applying thermal paste to a square based cooler is a little more complicated and challenging when compared to the circle based cooler.

This was because you could just simply apply a dot and it would spread evenly with pressure and result in full coverage.

There are a few methods you can use, all of these methods have claimed to be the right and the best way.

So let’s go through all the popular methods on how to apply thermal paste:

1. The line method: in this method, you draw two lines of the thermal paste on the base of the cooler. Make sure the lines are parallel and spaced well so that they are placed a third of the processor’s width.
   

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2. The cross method: as the name suggests, you draw an “x” pattern on the cooler and not two parallel lines like the previous method. But the length and thickness of the lines of the “x” can be the same as the previous method.
   

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3. The spread method: This is the most used method, but this method needs a little more effort. Put a small amount of thermal paste on the base of the cooler. Using a plastic bag or a finger protector, use it and spread the paste across the surface as evenly as possible. Just make sure the entire surface should be in contact with the processor and also make sure that the paste is not applied too thick.

Installing the Heatsink

If you’re using the line method, apply pressure to the heat sink as you install it and make sure it covers the entire surface.

And if you’re using the spread method, you have to install the heating disk at a slight angle to prevent bubbles from forming.

These bubbles usually form due to the thin spread of thermal paste.

Reconnecting the Fan to the Motherboard

The CPU fan wire should be plugged at the CPU fan socket as it mostly uses the PWM function which lets the computer adjust the fan speed without fluctuations in the voltage.

Booting the system

The only thing you have to check is that if the fan is spinning. Press the F1 key or the Del key during post and enter BIOS.

Check the temperature of the CPU, it should be below 40 degrees Celsius when idle, and the same thing can be applied for GPU.

After this, you’re completely done. We don’t recommend you doing this over and over as this could cause a lot of air bubbles.

Storage and Clean Up of Heatsink

The best and the simplest way to keep your thermal compound fresh for future usage, make sure to replace the cap after each use.

If you’re using if from a syringe, remember to store the syringe tip down so that any separation between the particles will end at the back of the syringe.

Storing it in a cool place like a refrigerator will minimize the possibility of separation with time.

But this will not affect the performance of the compound, and it doesn’t matter if it un-separated or remixed compound.

Troubleshooting

When you check the temperature of the CPU, and if it is not below 40 degrees Celsius, it is a problem that has to be looked into.

You can trace the problem using these 11 things listed below :

1. It could have been because you cleaned the heat sink with an oil based cleaner filled with microscopic gaps that would have contaminated the interface.
   

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2. There could have been existing thermal paste or grease material that was not completely or properly removed.
   

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3. Maybe the heat-sink was installed properly. You could have trouble if the thermal paste were applied too thick.
   

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4. The measurement would have been taken on the cold side of the core of the thermal compound or the thermal junction where thermal compound from the junction contaminates the probe.
   

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5. The measurement probe could have been moved around when the chip was removed while cleaning off the previous paste.
   

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6. You can also face issues if you don’t allow it to go through its break-in period. (This could vary, but the minimum is usually 25 hours.) temperatures will drop eventually.
   

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7. The heat sink or the cooler could have been contaminated by a fingerprint, a speck of dirt or even an eyelash. It can get contaminated easily, and you must be extremely cautious while going through the process.
   

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8. If you heatsink fan is not fixed properly and is unbalanced, it could cause excessive vibrations and damage the interface.
   

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9. Anything that is interfering with making proper contact between the CPU core and the heatsink like a manufacturing defect or a bent shim.
   

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10. Check if the heatsink was plugged back in after the applying the thermal paste.
    

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11. Check if the ambient temperature where the computer was located changed over time.

Precautions on How to Apply Thermal Paste 

• Do not put it in your mouth, do not eat it.
  

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• Keep away from children, or from any place where the children have access to it.
  

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• Keep it really far away from your pets and any place they could get it from.
  

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• Never turn on a computer without attaching the heat sink carefully and properly mounted on the CPU and thermal compound between the CPU core and the heatsink. A high-performance CPU could be permanently damaged in about 10 seconds if it was not properly cooled.

FAQ’s: How to Apply Thermal Paste

1. Is it okay to use a PC cooler without thermal paste?

We would not recommend using a CPU cooler without a layer of thermal paste between the cooler and the CPU.

If you still choose to do so, the heat will not transfer properly from the CPU to the cooler. And this will damage the CPU eventually.

2. Is it necessary to use alcohol or can we use water or anything else?

It doesnot recommended to use water or any form of oils or any other conducting liquid should not be used. Is it okay to use thermal paste that is seven years old?

You can use it as long as it is not solidified. A lot of carbon-based products last for around eight years. You can always check the manufacturing data on the tube.

This brings us to the end of how to apply thermal paste. The method you pick mainly depends on the type of cooler you have. It’s not very difficult so don’t stress on it. And we hope this answered your question “how to apply thermal paste.” Good luck!

If you’re a person who is very attached to your files and always makes sure all your data is backed up, we’re sure you’d like to keep all your data even the data present on the hard drive safe and secure.

This is just in the case of any unforeseen accidents. There are two main reasons why one would clone their hard disk.

Firstly, the most obvious reason that is to have a backup when your main drive files. A backup is the best way to pick up from where you stopped, and you lose no time in this process.

Second, if you’re upgrading from your local disk to a larger drive to increase your speed.

What is Cloning? 

Cloning is basically the process of copying the contents of the computer’s hard drive. They are usually stored in the form of the disk image file.

These files can be transferred to storage, or it could be part of another computer’s hard drive. It could also act as a removable media device, like a DVD or a USB drive.

Importance of Cloning

As they say, prevention is better than cure. Hence it is always suggested to have a backup or a clone of your hard disk at all times even if you think nothing can ever go wrong with your PC or Laptop.

There are many ways one could duplicate their hard disk. You could either pay for hardware to go through this process or use software and complete the process internally.

Can Windows 10 Clone a Hard Drive? 

Sadly, Microsoft has not yet come out with any software that can make an exact copy of all your data. But they do give you the option of copying and moving files from one location to another.

This is of absolutely no use! These files will not include any Windows installation file, and that’s why you need to clone your hard drive and not just copy and move files.

So how to clone a hard drive? You can do this in two ways. First, you can use a hardware or Second, and you can use the software.

Hard Drive Clone Makers 

One of the best and the easiest ways to clone a hard drive is to buy a device that does that for you. These devices are called duplicators.

The duplicator lets you plug in two SATA drives, and then you can copy contents from one device to another.

The drawback of buying hardware for this process becomes expensive. The hardware will connect to a standard 3.5in or 2.5in that you normally connect to a SATA connector. You can also buy a SATA to IDE adapter just in case you have an old IDE!

One thing to keep in mind is that the duplicator will only work when the driver that you’re transferring to has a larger or same capacity. This will be a problem if you’re using an SSD.

History of Disk Cloning

The history of cloning can be traced back to the time before Windows 95 was launched. In the start, they used to use the disk copying machine.

But that solution had a lot of defects like it could not be used to detect structures of HDD, and this would require two drives that have the same geometries.

Companies would usually partition and format the drive before copying files with archiving tools like tar. This solution is definitely not effective especially when you have boot files which cannot be separated from your system.

These problems became intense when Windows 95 was launched. Because Windows 95 had a larger processing system than the previous versions which means it took longer to complete the installation.

Windows 95 also introduced longer files names to the FAT system and this did not support copy tools. This soon increased the growth of the PC market, and a disk copy solution was due.

Using an Application 

You can clone your drive directly using one among the many tools available. Few of the best applications that you can use are the Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5.

Both the software’s are extremely powerful and is suitable to be used by an IT manager. These software’s might seem difficult to use and comprehend by a layperson like a consumer or a small business owner.

The process of using the software is extremely simple all you need is in an instruction manual that you can download online.

But if you’re looking for applications that are free, you can try out Macruim Reflect Free, Clonezilla, ShadowCopy, AOMEI and obviously EaseUS.

 What is Acronis Disk Director?

They have three major options that they offer:-

Partition Management

• where you can create, customize and also organize partitions your hard disk’s structure without losing any data.
  

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Volume Recovery

• This lets you quickly recover data partitions even when your operating system fails to run.
  

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Disk Cloning

• This will instantly move all your old disk’s operating system and applications to the destination disk.
  

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Acronis Disk Director has 12 set of powerful tools, these tools together optimize your disk usage and protect your data. These 12 powerful tools are Manipulate, Partition, Format, Recover, Clone, Install, Convert, Span, Access, and Boot.

Few Additional Features of Acronis are:-

• You can browse through detailed information about file systems and partitions.
  

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• They also have the option of exploring partition data even before processing the partitioning operations.
  

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• You can hide or make visible partitions
  

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• You can also format partitions
  

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• Acronis also gives you the option of previewing the changes made in the partition before applying them to disk.

The best feature of this application is that it is compatible with Windows 10 and all the versions of Windows before Windows 10 and it is completely certified.

How to Clone a Hard Drive Using EaseUS?

1. Install and open the EaseUS disk cloning software and then click on the “clone” option.
   

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2. Select the source and the hard disk you to want to clone.
   

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3. Now, select the final destination of the disk
   

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4. The next step is relatively simple, after looking at the layout, select the proceed option to start cloning one hard drive with another.
   

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5. Once you’ve completed all these steps, you can check the cloned disk. You can do this by right-clicking or selecting “my computer.” Look for the manage option under which you’ll be able to find the “storage” tab. Under this look for “Disk management” and you’ll be able to see all the details.
   

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NOTE:  The destination file there could be a hard disk or an SSD, as long as it has enough space, anything smaller than the existing file can cause a lot of trouble.

You can use the sector by sector clone option. This lets you ensure that the destination hard disk and the source is exactly alike. This option will clone everything under the ticked option, even if the file is empty!

How to Clone a Hard Drive Using AOMEI Backupper? 

The AOMEI backupper is known for its ability to Live disk clone, which means it can clone a device without interrupting programs that are running.

Basically, it can clone a disk to another without interrupting the running program. In any unforeseen circumstance, the default function of the software clones the existing data on the disk by using the sector by sector method.

Steps to Clone Disks by AOMEI Backupper

The first and very basic step is to download and install the program. Once that is done, you can launch the program. We will be referring to two disks, that is Disk 1 and Disk 2.

• Open the application and select the “disk clone” option which you will find under the “clone” tab.
  

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• Select the disk that you want to clone. In this case, Disk 1.
  

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• And then select the “next” option.
  

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• Now, select the destination disk, or in this case Disk 2.
  

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• This is where the data will be stored.
  

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• Select the “next” option.
  

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• Once you confirm the settings and the files that are the source and destination file, click on “start clone.”
  

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• Select the “finish” option once you are done.
  

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• And this should complete the process and keep all your data safe and cloned.

TIPS

• The sector by sector option can be used here as they provide the option, but if you’re planning to clone a large hard disk to a smaller SSD, please do not use this option.
  

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• If SSD if the destination disk, please do tick the box for “again partition to optimize for SSD.”
  

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• If you’re cloning a small disk to a larger disk, you can select the “edit partition on the destination disk.”
  

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• This will give you three options to resize your partitions, and this helps in maximizing capacity.

IMPORTANT

• When you are cloning data from a source file to a destination folder, it is important to remember that all the data on the destination disk will be overwritten.
  

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• Hence, it is important to make sure and looked into the file and copy any important data from the destination folder.
  

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• If you’re using the AOMEI Backupper with the native Windows settings, you must keep in mind that system disk can only be selected as the source disk and can not be set as the destination disk.

How to Clone a Hard Drive: Everything you Need to know 

Clean Up your Files

Just like everything around us needs to be cleaned once in a while, it is very important to do the same with your files.

A digital spring cleaning session is always appreciated. In this way, you won’t have back up of things you do not require, and you won’t run out of space for the actual, important files.

Few of the things you look into and delete are programs that you don’t really use, drivers of past computers, media files that don’t matter anymore and so on.

One of the best ways to decide if files need to be deleted is, if you haven’t used it in the last six months, it has to be deleted. This makes the process faster.

Caring for your Clone

Once you’ve completed your clone successfully, you must remember that what you have on your destination file is the exact copy of the source file.

Now, any changes made on the source file will not be reflected in the destination file. That will remain the same.

If you swap to the cloned disk, it will be like going back to the data you backed up your files. Hence, it is important to update your clone regularly and refresh it.

We suggest you set a date monthly or annually and this will automatically refresh your cloned files.

Another thing to keep in mind is to keep your cloned drive in a safe and accessible place. It is very important to keep the cloned hard drive away from moisture, static electricity, extreme temperature, and powerful magnets.

We suggest you buy an anti-static pouch and store the hard drive in it. You must care for it as you would care for your important documents.

And if the data you have is extremely important, you can put it away, somewhere safe and bring it out only when needed.

This would also be helpful if you’re stuck with any unforeseen circumstance like fire or any natural disasters.

Conclusion

This brings us to the end of the article How to clone a hard drive.

You could either use a hard drive to complete the cloning process or use software for the same. In the end, it is up to you to pick the method that suits your needs the best. Have fun cloning!