Cloning vs Backup

[Pentacosio]

Hi, being an amateur when it comes to tech, I am ignorant regarding the differences between cloning and backing up a hard drive, and would appreciate any help on the matter.

From what I understand, it seems as if the only differences between the two is that cloning creates a bootable drive whereas a back up creates some sort of image file which requires the same software in order to perform a restore; and cloning is limited by partitioning issues (cant clone a larger hard drive to a smaller one) while a backup is only limited by the space required and available.

Both a clone and a backup enable everything on a hard drive to be preserved, including the operating system and all settings and programs.

Is that accurate? Are there any other aspects to cloning and backup that are different? If not, the partition issue mentioned above would be the only reason for choosing to perform a backup over a clone?

I have a laptop which I wish to either clone or backup before I send it in for repair. My laptop has a 500GB hard drive and I have 1TB external hard drive which is partially full.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[piplupgao]

Just do what your most comfortable with

[extremescouter]

Yes, you are correct. Also, usually cloning software does not have an incremental backup, but for your needs I would suggest cloning. Then, you will have a bootable drive that you can clone back once your laptop comes back from repair. 

[benzaminwatson]

HeIIo ,

Experts recommend to create clone of drive before sending it to repair and also in case of migrating applications. As you know, cloning gives bootable backups, hence you don't need to reinstall your applications in clone drive. While backing up your drive not allows your applications to run so you need to reinstall them and have to buy some needed application again.

 

For windows plateform (software for cloning):

Xxclone(free)

DriveImage XML(free)

Acronis(user friendly but very expensive$50)

Clonezilla(for advanced users but not so expensive)

 

For Mac users cloning and Imaging software:

Superduper

Stellar Drive Clone

Carbon copy cloner

Chronosync