<s>
Disk	B-Application
cloning	I-Application
is	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
duplicating	O
all	O
data	O
on	O
a	O
digital	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
drive	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
hard	B-Device
disk	I-Device
or	O
solid	B-Device
state	I-Device
drive	I-Device
,	O
using	O
hardware	O
or	O
software	O
techniques	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
file	O
copying	O
,	O
disk	B-Application
cloning	I-Application
also	O
duplicates	O
the	O
filesystems	B-Application
,	O
partitions	B-Application
,	O
drive	O
meta	O
data	O
and	O
slack	O
space	O
on	O
the	O
drive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Drive	O
cloning	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
in	O
conjunction	O
with	O
drive	B-Application
imaging	I-Application
where	O
the	O
cloned	O
data	O
is	O
saved	O
to	O
one	O
or	O
more	O
files	O
on	O
another	O
drive	O
rather	O
than	O
copied	O
directly	O
to	O
another	O
drive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Disk	B-Application
cloning	I-Application
occurs	O
by	O
copying	O
the	O
contents	O
of	O
a	O
drive	O
called	O
the	O
source	O
drive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
called	O
"	O
disk	B-Application
cloning	I-Application
"	O
,	O
any	O
type	O
of	O
storage	B-General_Concept
medium	I-General_Concept
that	O
connects	O
to	O
the	O
computer	O
via	O
USB	B-Protocol
,	O
NVMe	B-Application
or	O
SATA	O
can	O
be	O
cloned	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
data	O
is	O
then	O
either	O
written	O
directly	O
to	O
another	O
(	O
destination	O
)	O
drive	O
or	O
to	O
a	O
disk	B-Application
image	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
the	O
filesystem	B-Application
and	O
partitions	B-Application
can	O
be	O
resized	O
by	O
the	O
software	O
allowing	O
data	O
to	O
be	O
cloned	O
to	O
a	O
drive	O
equal	O
to	O
or	O
greater	O
than	O
the	O
total	O
used	O
space	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
common	O
use	O
of	O
disk	B-Application
cloning	I-Application
is	O
for	O
deployment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Disk	B-Application
cloning	I-Application
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
help	O
keep	O
computers	O
clean	O
and	O
configured	O
correctly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Further	O
,	O
while	O
installing	O
the	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
is	O
quick	O
,	O
installation	O
of	O
programs	O
and	O
ensuring	O
a	O
consistent	O
configuration	O
is	O
time	O
consuming	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thus	O
,	O
disk	B-Application
cloning	I-Application
seeks	O
to	O
mitigate	O
this	O
administrative	O
challenge	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
most	O
common	O
applications	O
of	O
disk	B-Application
cloning	I-Application
is	O
for	O
digital	O
forensics	O
purposes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Disk	B-Application
cloning	I-Application
can	O
be	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
backup	O
solution	O
by	O
creating	O
a	O
duplicate	O
of	O
data	O
as	O
it	O
existed	O
when	O
the	O
clone	O
was	O
started	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
modern	O
software	O
solutions	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
not	O
uncommon	O
for	O
disk	B-Application
cloning	I-Application
techniques	O
to	O
be	O
combined	O
with	O
disk	B-Application
imaging	I-Application
techniques	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
backup	O
solution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
reduces	O
the	O
need	O
to	O
having	O
to	O
manually	O
reinstall	O
applications	O
,	O
drivers	O
and	O
the	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
procedure	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
when	O
migrating	O
from	O
mechanical	O
hard	B-Device
disk	I-Device
drives	I-Device
to	O
solid	B-Device
state	I-Device
drives	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sometimes	O
,	O
booting	O
from	O
the	O
destination	O
drive	O
can	O
fail	O
and	O
require	O
adjustments	O
in	O
the	O
computer	O
's	O
UEFI	B-Architecture
or	I-Architecture
BIOS	I-Architecture
to	O
make	O
the	O
new	O
clone	O
bootable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Often	O
,	O
cloning	O
software	O
runs	O
within	O
the	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
which	O
is	O
running	O
off	O
of	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
drives	O
being	O
cloned	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Further	O
,	O
in	O
the	O
case	O
,	O
that	O
the	O
user	O
desires	O
to	O
clone	O
to	O
the	O
computer	O
's	O
system	O
drive	O
,	O
this	O
generally	O
cannot	O
be	O
done	O
while	O
the	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
is	O
running	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
common	O
solution	O
to	O
cloning	O
a	O
drive	O
that	O
is	O
in	O
use	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
utilized	O
by	O
software	O
such	O
as	O
CloneZilla	B-Language
,	O
is	O
to	O
boot	O
from	O
a	O
Linux-based	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
so	O
the	O
drive	O
can	O
be	O
copied	O
and/or	O
overwritten	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Further	O
,	O
the	O
Linux-based	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
must	O
provide	O
appropriate	O
drivers	O
for	O
the	O
system	O
's	O
hardware	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Drivers	O
are	O
also	O
required	O
for	O
the	O
source	O
and	O
destination	O
drives	O
and	O
for	O
any	O
attached	O
storage	O
involved	O
in	O
facilitating	O
the	O
cloning	O
operation	O
such	O
as	O
USB	B-Protocol
,	O
tape	O
device	O
and	O
networking	O
drivers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
server-based	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
incorporate	O
mechanisms	O
to	O
allow	O
the	O
drive	O
to	O
be	O
safely	O
backed	O
up	O
while	O
the	O
system	O
is	O
running	O
to	O
overcome	O
these	O
challenges	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
Windows	B-Application
Server	I-Application
2003	I-Application
(	O
and	O
later	O
)	O
includes	O
volume	O
shadow	O
service	O
(	O
VSS	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Disk	B-Application
cloning	I-Application
can	O
be	O
time	O
consuming	O
,	O
especially	O
,	O
for	O
large	O
disks	O
because	O
a	O
true	O
clone	O
needs	O
to	O
copy	O
all	O
the	O
data	O
on	O
the	O
disk	O
even	O
if	O
most	O
data	O
resides	O
in	O
unallocated	O
drive	O
space	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
drive	O
cloners	O
make	O
use	O
of	O
multithreading	B-General_Concept
to	O
further	O
speed	O
up	O
the	O
cloning	O
operation	O
.	O
</s>
