HDD clone

Actually, cloning can be used for backups but it isn't very efficient for the purpose (other than, perhaps, an initial backup).

Imaging is good for backing System files (such as those on one's C: drive) because the images don't take up much room on a backup HDD, one can keep multiple images, and one can restore a C: drive without having to remove it.

For backing up data, a folder/file syncing program, such as FreeFileSync is much more efficient than imaging since images of a data drive take up too much room. A folder/file syncing program only copies data that has changed to the backup drive. This means backups can be made incredibly faster than with cloning or imaging.

In this case, cloning would be the easiest way to copy the OP's data from the source drive to the new drive, assuming the source drive is a physically separate drive and not a partition. If the source drive has both C: and F: on it, cloning still could be used but both C: and F: will be cloned to the destination drive (of course, the C: partition could be deleted after cloning). One can just drag and drop or copy and paste folders from one drive to another but moving massive amounts of data that way is tedious and can introduce data errors. As long as one wants to move all the contents of one drive to another—essentially, make a duplicate—cloning is less likely to corrupt data and can be done as one operation that one starts, then can walk away from it until it is done.

I have a BLACX 5G Duet docking station and recently used it to make a copy of an old 1TB Seagate data drive to a new WD Black 1TB using the Macrium cloning function and it was surprisingly fast. But I would strongly recommend a USB 3 dock. I also use the dock for imaging my OS drive so the dock can be a more generally useful device to have.

If one were to use the dock frequently, then USB 3.0 would be preferable. For that matter, eSATA would be even better (assuming an eSATA port was available). However, the OP gives the impression that this is a one-off job or that the dock would, at best, be used infrequently, in which case, USB 2.0 would be acceptable, albeit slower. I have a Kingwin dock that connects either by USB 2.0 or eSATA and the difference between eSATA and USB 2.0 is like day and night. Keep in mind the source machine is a Vista machine which (I think) won't have USB 3.0.

@ColColt
You say your Windows 7 PC has USB 3 ports - my advice would be if you are considering buying a dock I would definitely go USB 3. These devices aren't that expensive anyway and can be used as a general reliable backup device by simply sticking a sata drive in it.

Out of interest for others considering a USB 3 dock here is the performance difference for a 1TB WD Black HDD using USB 3 vs USB 2. The USB 3 speeds look very close to what I'd expect from a direct sata connection.

USB 3 Port


USB 2 Port

That's a good dock for your purpose. And here is the Macrium tutorial that was referred to earlier.

Imaging with free Macrium

Where is the confusion. Ask your questions. We will be glad to answer them. There are many Macrium experts around here.

ColColt said:

Yes sir-I watched the video earlier and was totally confused but I'll get over it.:) Maybe a couple more times some of the settings will sink in. My only fear is wiping out the HDD.

The excellent tutorial whs prepared is for imaging with Macrium Reflect. What you need is to clone the disk, which Reflect is also capable of doing.