Do you want to know how to backup an external hard drive to another external hard drive in Windows 10? We have a complete guide for you to help you copy your data from one drive to another easily. Keep reading!
If your external hard drive is crashing, the space is getting fuller, or its performance is degrading, you will buy a new external hard drive with more disk space and better performance. When upgrading to a new drive, you would also want the data from the previous drive saved on the new drive. But how do you backup an entire hard drive to another external hard drive in Windows 10?
This EaseUS blog will give you easy and effective solutions. Keep reading to learn how to easily backup an external hard drive to another external hard drive on Windows 10.
All hard disks have a lifespan after which they start to fail, or they can suffer from performance issues due to natural wear and tear. If your hard disk is old and you want all your files to be backed up to another drive so that you don't lose them, you can easily do so. But before you back up your files, you need to check if the file system of the new external hard drive is running Microsoft's latest "New Technology File System" (NTFS) file system.
If your hard disk uses the FAT32 format, convert it to NTFS. Files under 4GB can be stored using the FAT32 file system, but those larger than that cannot. FAT32 is an older file system that Microsoft developed. The NTFS file system is the next-generation file system by Microsoft, and it has improved disk space management and write and read speeds on hard disks that run NTFS file systems.
Here are the steps to show you how to change the file system to NTFS if it is running on FAT32:
Step 1. Press Win+R, type diskmgmt.msc, and press the OK button to open Disk Management.
Step 2. Right-click on the new drive and then click on Format.
Step 3. Name the volume label, and then under the File system drop-down, select NTFS.
Step 4. Click on the OK button to change the drive to NTFS format.
Once the file system has been updated to the NTFS file system, your external drive can host large files. The write and read speeds are also improved.
So, how to backup an external hard drive to another external hard drive in Windows 10? We decided to save your time by narrowing it down to the 3 best methods to backup all your files from one external hard drive to another.
If you want to know how to backup an external hard drive to another external hard drive in Windows 10, we have three excellent solutions to transfer all your files to your new drive.
If you often back up your data, or if it is important to you and you don't want to lose it, the free backup software - EaseUS Todo Backup is the best program to back up your data. EaseUS Todo Backup is also one of the award-winning free backup software for Windows 11 that goes beyond just backing up data. With this tool, you can create a bootable rescue media, store the files in the cloud, protect your files against ransomware, back up an external hard drive to another external hard drive in Windows 10 or older, schedule backups, and so much more. Download it and follow the steps below to back up an external hard drive to another one.
Download and use this free backup tool to backup external hard drive with the following stepwise guide.
Step 1. Start with selecting the backup contents.
Step 2. There are four backup categories, File, Disk, OS, and Mail, click Disk.
Step 3. It is available to back up a whole disk or a certain partition. Choose the one you need and click OK.
Step 4. Select the destination where you want to save the backup.
Step 5. For disk/partition backup, you can choose to save the backup to local drive or to NAS.
Step 6. After the backup process is completed, your task will be displayed at the left. Right-click any one of the task, you can further manage your backup such as recover it, create incremental backup, etc.
🎀Further Post: How to Backup Hard Drive to Another Hard Drive
The easiest way to back up your files is by copy-pasting them from the old to the new one. It is a perfect choice when your external hard drive saves a small quantity of files. However, you need to notice that using this method may get stuck during the process, and the whole procedure is very time-consuming if you have a large amount of data stored on your external hard drive.
Here's how to do that properly:
Step 1. Connect both the old and the new drive to the computer.
Step 2. Open both the external hard drive windows and keep them open side-by-side.
Step 3. Select the files you want to copy/move from your old drive, and press Ctrl+C to copy or Ctrl+X to cut.
Step 4. Click on the new external drive window you want to paste your files onto, and press Ctrl+V to paste them.
Depending on the size of the files and the physical write and read speed of both your hard disks, the process can take a while to completely copy or move your files from the older external hard disk to the newer one.
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Suppose your computer is running Windows 7/8/8.1. In that case, you can use Windows Easy Transfer to backup your files and settings from one computer to another and transfer the same files from one external hard drive to another. The Windows Easy Transfer helps you easily transfer all your data from an older drive to a newer one.
It transfers the following data:
Here's how you can backup an external hard drive to another external hard drive using Windows Easy Transfer:
Step 1. Connect both the external hard disks to the PC.
Step 2. Input Windows Easy Transfer on the Start screen > Click Windows Easy Transfer, and click on Next.
Step 3. Ensure your new external hard drive is connected, and then select An external hard disk or USB flash drive.
Step 4. Now select This is my old computer.
Step 5. Now, allow some time as your PC scans for files and gives an estimate of the size of the files.
Step 6. Click on Next and enter your Windows password, and then click on Save.
Step 7. Now, save the file onto the new external hard disk.
📖Related Reading: Clone External Hard Drive to Another External Hard Drive
You can use Windows Easy Transfer to restore the data once you back up the files on your new drive.
Here's how to do that:
Step 1. Open Windows Easy Transfer.
Step 2. Click on Next, and then click on An external hard disk or USB flash drive.
Step 3. Now, select This is my new computer and then click on Yes.
Step 4. Go to the hard disk where you saved the file and select Open.
Step 5. Now, the data will be restored.
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EaseUS Todo Backup is a one-stop solution for all backups and for clone disk windows 11. Instead of copy-pasting or using outdated options such as Windows Easy Transfer (for newer versions of Windows), users can use a dedicated backup tool such as EaseUS Todo Backup to backup sd card, disk backup, backup hard drive, or even create a rescue media disk.
With EaseUS Todo Backup, you can schedule automatic backups of your entire hard drive or individual folders or files, and you can also easily restore backups. You can encrypt your backups and save them on the cloud, on your hard disk, or on an external drive.
The EaseUS Todo Backup program has numerous tools with its free version but also comes with a free trial period where you can use all of its premium features for a limited time.
Yes, you can clone a hard drive to an external hard drive by creating a system image of your PC.
Step 1. Click on the "Windows" button, and open "Control Panel".
Step 2. Select "System & Security", and then choose "Backup and Restore (Windows 7)".
Step 3. Click on "Create a system image" from the left window pane.
Step 4. Now, select your external hard drive and click on "Next", and then select "Start backup" to begin the backup of your Dell computer to the flash drive.
You can transfer files from your old Dell computer to your new Dell computer by following the three methods that we have mentioned above.
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