3 Windows Cloning Applications for BootCamp Partition

Shortly, when the first Intel-based Macs reached in the market, Apple took the initiative to release a useful tool known as BootCamp Assistant. Using the help of BootCamp, Mac users now install and boot their native machine on Microsoft Windows along with the pre-existing OS installation. It minimizes the running of the different operating system simultaneously.

Backup BootCamp

For Backing up all the files and folders, one can easily use Time Machine features of Mac OS X. However, Time Machine can’t backup the BootCamp partition on the Apple hard drive. In such case, a 3rd party application comes handy which takes care of data backup on Windows partition.

Applications to Clone BootCamp

1) AOMEI Backupper

It is perfect for both new and advanced level users and provides a clean, user-friendly GUI. The primary backup option which this software provides is Disk Backup, Folder Backup and Partition Backup, System Backup.

Note: if you are looking for a fast and reliable data backup option on the fly, then AOMEI Backupper is the best solution for that.

2) Macrium Reflects Free Edition

After installation of this app, you will be presented with a registration form having a pop-up box that contains a serial key which is very specific to your system. After clicking on ‘OK’, an internet connection is required to provides necessary authorization of serial key before you can start using the program.

3) Drive Image XML

Though its GUI is not as interactive as its competitor, still, it is one of the powerful software for cloning Windows hard drive.

Image Creation

Here, you have two options for creating a data backup image: Drive to Drive as they call it or the standard backup that gives you the option to either use "Volume Locking" or the "Volume Shadow Service" since it is the system drive I'm backing up from within Windows.

So, the default selection Volume Locking is a bad idea in this case, as it does what it say's "locks the volume" aka drive.

Mac Based Software to Clone / Image BootCamp Partition

1) Stellar Drive Clone

It is a useful application for cloning the Mac based hard drive data including the BootCamp partition. Along with cloning from Mac internal hard drive, it provides certain other features:

• Cloning NTFS BootCamp partition to EXFAT
• Cloning a particular Mac volume
• Cloning network drive
• Cloning without resizing
• Creating a disk image of Mac
• Creating Bootable media for Mac OS X

2) Winclone

Winclone is an another great utility for Mac users for imaging the BootCamp partition. Winclone comes in 3 different version having different features in each version.

It is helpful in Cloning and restoring boot camp, cloning windows drive, and disk-to-disk cloning.

Final words

Now, using the help of Windows cloning tool mentioned above, you can easily clone your Windows based hard drive data. Choose the best one which suits your requirements and budget.

How to recover data from an inaccessible Mac hard drive

Thousands of Mac users around the world face a most common Mac data recovery problem, i.e. Data recovery from Inaccessible OS X Hard Drive. Usually after a period of time, Mac hard drive become unreadable or inaccessible due to certain circumstances and many users may not be able to get access to their precious data that were already stored on their OS X hard drives.

Such type of problems might be caused due to system volume corruption, malware attack, file corruption etc. There are 2 different methods to resolve such problems and in this blog post we will explain both of these methods step-by-step.

Ways to regain the accessibility in your Mac hard drive

Corruption in the PRAM or NVRAM may be the cause of drive inaccessibility, and the system fails to boot from the appropriate drive where OS X resides. This can be corrected by resetting the PRAM or NVRAM. Also, the files may become invisible to the internal search engine on Mac viz. Spotlight. This can be corrected by indexing the items again.

1. Resetting PRAM or NVRAM

Parameter Random-Access Memory (PRAM) stores settings that can be easily accessed by OS X. It includes settings for startup disk selection. If the drive on the Mac is inaccessible, restoring these settings may help in gaining the accessibility back. Here’s how to do it:

I. To reset the PRAM, shutdown the Mac system.

II. Start the Mac and immediately after hearing the startup sound press CMD, Option, P and R keys simultaneously.

III. This will restart the system and on the startup sound again, release the keys.

Once these settings are reset, you may need to configure speaker volume, screen resolution, startup disk selection and time zone information again. Select the startup disk as appropriate. In older macs, the PRAM feature is in the form of Non-Volatile Random-Access Memory (NVRAM). NVRAM can be reset following the same steps as listed above.

How to look for inaccessible data through Indexing

Some of the files may simply go missing if their indexing is not properly done. To rebuild the index, follow the steps below:

I. Go to: System Preferences > Spotlight.

II. Choose Privacy tab.

III. Add the media on which the files have gone missing.

IV. Remove the media from Privacy. This rebuilds the index.

Now the files should appear in the Spotlight search or system navigation.

In case if the above mentioned method doesn’t work, then you can take the help of Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery Software for recovering the inaccessible hard drive data.

Recovery Inaccessible Mac Hard Drive data using Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery Software:

Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery Software provides support for data recovery from inaccessible hard drive with a Recover CD. This CD is used to boot the inaccessible Mac and perform file recovery on the hard drive. The software provides other useful functionalities like RAW Recovery, Image Creation, Encrypted Recovery, Photo and Video recovery.