How do I image my hard drive AND image hidden....

[Vern_in_IL]

How do I image my hard drive in my laptop, while it is in my laptop, and image the entire drive, including the setup/hidden partitions to a USB thumb drive/external hard drive?

What software should I be using?

VAIO Sony Laptop.

I've used things like Drive Image(powerquest) and O&O drive image, but they will not copy over the data from the *hidden partitions.

 

[dareo]

Acronis True Image has done all sorts of stuff for me including resizing that other programs messed up.

 

[Leo99]

Have you done a bit by bit clone of your hard drive?

I followed these instructions to upgrade my hard drive:

http://www.howtogeek.com/199068/how-to-upgrade-your-existing-hard-drive-in-under-an-hour/

I did have to do some fancy boot disk recovery to get the new hard drive to boot.

 

[BigD1]

If you have the pro version of Windows 7/10, it is imaging capable, and you can create a rescue disk too. Don't know about Windows 8 pro since I have never used it. In the past I have used free AOMEI Backupper with good results.

 

[demarpaint]

I use Redo Backup. It's free and works with Linux and Windows all the way up to 10.

 

[LoneRanger]

Macrium Reflect

 

[AandPDan]

Clonezilla

It's a linux based freeware that you can run off of a flash drive or CD/DVD. It can backup part or all of a disk to an external or network drive.

 

[javacontour]

This is what I use, Clonezilla

Originally Posted By: AandPDan
Clonezilla

It's a linux based freeware that you can run off of a flash drive or CD/DVD. It can backup part or all of a disk to an external or network drive.

 

[Rand]

I use acronis but only the rescue cd/usb not the windows program

 

[ironman_gq]

Acronis can clone it bit for bit and is a pretty common program for doing drive swaps. It doesn't care if the folders are hidden or not and can remap the partitions to fit different sized drives.