clone partition to partition in an occupied target drive

Optimizing Partition Cloning on an Occupied Drive: A Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

Cloning a specific partition onto a drive that already contains other partitions can be a challenging task, especially when certain partitions must remain untouched. This process is particularly relevant when dealing with complex setups like Windows To Go (WTG) environments, or when restoring a Windows partition that has sustained partial corruption. This article provides a comprehensive overview of how to clone a single partition to a target drive without disturbing existing partitions, ensuring a smooth and reliable restoration process.

Understanding the Scenario

Consider a scenario where a Windows To Go setup on an SD card has become corrupted due to logical and physical issues. Notably, critical partitions such as the Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition and the EFI system partition are damaged or missing. Despite these issues, the main Windows partition remains intact and backed up as an image. The goal is to restore this Windows partition onto a new SD card, which already contains other partitions (EFI, MSR, etc.), without overwriting or damaging those partitions.

Key Challenges

Preserving existing EFI and MSR partitions on the target drive.
Cloning only the Windows partition from an image.
Ensuring the cloned partition is bootable and fully functional.
Avoiding the need to reconfigure or recreate EFI or MSR partitions.

Recommended Approach

Prepare the Target Drive
Ensure the target SD card has sufficient space for the Windows partition.
Confirm that its EFI and MSR partitions are correctly set up and intact.
Backup existing data on the drive if necessary.
Use Partition Cloning Software Capable of Selective Cloning

Traditional disk cloning tools often clone entire drives, making this unsuitable for scenarios with existing partitions. Instead, select software that allows for:

Restoring or copying individual partitions.
Resizing partitions if necessary to fit the image.
Preserving partition types and attributes.

Popular tools include:

Macrium Reflect Free: Supports image-based restore and partition selection.
AOMEI Backupper: Allows selective partition restoration.
Clonezilla: Advanced tool suitable for manual partition cloning when used with caution.
MiniTool Partition Wizard: Can clone or copy individual partitions.
Clone the Windows Partition
Mount the backup image of the Windows partition as a drive or restore it to free space on the target drive.
Use the chosen software to directly copy the Windows partition onto the existing Windows partition