How to Copy/Clone Bootable USB Drive in Windows 10/8/7 (2021 Tips)

How to Clone Bootable USB Drive to Another Drive

Launch Qiling Backup and click "Clone".

Choose the disk clone method according to your own demands.

Choose the bootable USB drive as the source disk.

Choose the new USB drive as the destination disk.

You're allowed to edit disk partitions now or any time else after cloning...Read More>>

How Can I Make an Exact Copy of a Bootable USB Flash Drive

"If I copy a bootable USB drive to another USB, will it create a duplicate bootable drive? I thought it's kind of a dumb question but a search with Google seems to indicate that it is not even possible to copy/paste data on a bootable drive to another USB? But even if we were able to copy it, why should it not work? (that is creating a duplicate bootable drive)."

"I have a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 7 installation on it, and try to copy flash drive to another flash drive for the purpose of backup. Can't just copy and paste in File Explorer, so do you have any good suggestions?"

Indeed, Ctrl C + Ctrl V (copy and paste) a bootable USB flash drive to another doesn't help. For your information, bootable OS is installed as the installer on the stick, and you need the iso copy of the OS to install on other USB sticks. That is to say, you need to clone a bootable USB drive.

Why Do You Copy/Clone Bootable USB Drive in Windows 10/8/7

As we explained, you can't just copy and paste a bootable flash drive to another. Instead, you can easily achieve the goal by cloning. Usually, for the purpose of bootable USB drive backup and disaster recovery, we need to preserve another copy of the bootable drive. Besides, USB flash drives and USB drives are very convenient and portable. If you have a bootable USB drive, you can solve unbootable issues any time and anywhere.

So, how are you going to make it happen? Many people would like to make a backup for their USB drives. But it would be time-consuming and inconvenient. The answer is copying a bootable USB drive with a USB clone tool.

What's the Fastest Way to Clone a Bootable USB Drive

Windows doesn't offer a direct way of disk cloning, so there come many third-party disk cloning utilities in order to offer excellent disk copy & disk clone experience. For example, among the dozens of software that enjoys a high reputation, Qiling Backup is selected as the fastest and easiest USB image tool that supports cloning USB drive to another, including the bootable USB drive.

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Highlights:

Automatically back up your files to protect privacy.
Back up Windows system along with user settings.
Clone disk or partition in Windows 10/8/7

How to Copy/Clone Bootable USB Drive in Windows 10/8/7

To clone a bootable USB to another, connect both the bootable USB drive and the other storage device to your computer. Now, you can start with the guide.

Step 1. Launch Qiling Backup and click "Clone".

Step 2. In the new window, choose the bootable USB drive as the source disk and then click "Next" to continue.

Step 3. Choose the destination disk or partition. It must have enough space to save your data.

Step 4. Preview the disk layout and click "Proceed" to clone the bootable USB drive.

Conclusion

To sum up, you can easily clone a bootable USB drive to another USB or hard drive with Qiling Backup. It has many other advanced features, such as migrating Windows 10 to SSD, creating an emergency disk, making an automatic backup, wiping data, and more. And if you have any problem with cloning a bootable USB drive, you can contact us as soon as possible.

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Clone Bootable USB Drive Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions about cloning a bootable USB drive, you can read on to get additional help.

Can you copy a bootable USB to another USB?

Yes, you can copy the bootable USB drive to another USB with Qiling Backup. Although you can't just copy and paste a bootable flash drive to another, you can easily achieve the goal by cloning.

Open Qiling Backup
Choose the Clone method according to your own demands.
Choose the bootable USB drive as the source disk.
Choose the new USB drive as the destination disk.
You're allowed to edit disk partitions now or any time else after cloning.

How do I clone my SSD to a flash drive?

To clone SSD to USB flash drive:

Step 1. Launch Qiling Backup and click "Clone". In the new window, choose the SSD as the source disk and then click "Next" to continue.

Step 2. Choose the USB drive. It must have enough space to save your data.

Step 3. Preview the disk layout and click "Proceed" to clone the SSD.

Is it better to clone or image a hard drive?

Cloning is great for fast recovery, but imaging gives you a lot more backup options. Taking an incremental backup snapshot gives you the option to save multiple images without taking up a lot more space. This can be helpful if you download a virus and need to roll back to an earlier disk image.

Is cloning faster than copying?

Cloning simply reads and writes bits. Nothing will slow it down other than disk usage. In my experience, it has always been faster to copy all the files from one drive to another than to clone the drive.