Windows Server 2012 has been running for many years, and the system disk may not have been large enough when the server was initially built. As a result, many server administrators need to replace the disk with a larger one. To improve server performance, many people also want to replace mechanical HDDs with SSDs. There are two ways to replace a disk and migrate the operating system and programs: make an image backup and restore it to the larger disk, or clone Windows Server 2012 to a larger hard drive. Creating a backup and restoring it takes twice as long, and in some cases, the restored disk may not boot on the new hardware. Cloning the Windows Server 2012 disk is a better option. This article explains how to clone Windows Server 2012 R2 to an SSD, HDD, or RAID.
Clone Windows Server 2012 to SSD/HDD/RAID
There are three common types of storage devices in a server: traditional mechanical disks, solid-state drives (SSDs), and hardware RAID arrays. If you were previously using a mechanical disk as the system disk, it's better to switch to an SSD or hardware RAID. SSDs are now much cheaper and larger, making them affordable even for personal users. By cloning Windows Server 2012 to an SSD, server performance will be significantly enhanced without needing any other changes.
To improve both performance and system security, you may build a hardware RAID 1 with 2 SSDs. Please note: If you want to clone a disk to a RAID 1 array, you can use either of the following methods:
- Clone the disk to a larger one with full disk space. After copying, rebuild the RAID 1 array with another larger disk.
- Build a RAID 1 array with 2 larger disks, and then copy from the original disk.
Some people make a mistake when replacing a RAID 1 array with larger disks. They rebuild RAID 1 using one original disk and a new larger disk, then rebuild RAID 1 with another larger disk. If you do this, you will end up with a new RAID 1 array of the same size. If you check in Windows Disk Management, the logical RAID volume size will not increase. The additional capacity will remain unallocated and may only be manageable via the RAID controller.
To clone a disk on Windows Server 2012 R2 to an SSD, HDD, or RAID, NIUBI Partition Editor is a great choice. It uses a filesystem level copy method, making the process very fast. Furthermore, due to its unique file-moving algorithm, it is 30% to 300% faster than other disk cloning software. Another benefit is that you can change the partition size during the cloning process. When cloning Windows Server 2012 with NIUBI, a mechanical HDD, SSD, or RAID can be used as either the source or the target device.
How to Copy a Partition in Windows Server 2012 R2
Copying a partition is used when you want to migrate data, or move a partition to another disk. While copying a partition in Server 2012 R2, the target disk could be smaller, equal to, or larger than the source disk. Before cloning a Server 2012 partition:
- There must be unallocated space on the target disk, if there is not, shrink a partition to create unallocated space.
- The size of the unallocated space must be larger than the used space of the partition that you want to copy.
- For partitions that must keep their original drive letters such as D: (with programs), change drive letters one by one after copying. To other data volumes, this step is optional.
Steps to copy a partition on Windows Server 2012 R2 with NIUBI:
- (Optional) Right-click the large partition on the target disk and select "Resize/Move Volume", drag either border to the other side in the pop-up window to create unallocated space.
- Right-click the partition that you want to copy (such as D:) and select "Copy Volume".
- Select the unallocated space on the target disk and click Next.
- (Optional) Right-click the original drive (D:) and select "Change Drive letter", select any letter in the pop-up window.
- (Optional) Right-click the target partition, click "Change Drive letter" again and select D: in the pop-up window.
- Click "Apply" on top left to execute.
Video guide on how to copy and migrate a single partition:
How to Clone a Disk in Windows Server 2012 R2
The target disk should be blank with unallocated space. If there are files or partitions on it, move the files and delete all partitions. The target disk can be smaller, equal to, or larger than the source disk, but the unallocated space must be larger than the total used space of all partitions on the source disk.
Cloning a disk or partition with NIUBI Partition Editor does not require a server reboot. This means you can clone the system disk of a Windows 2012 server regularly without interruption. If the system disk fails, you simply need to restart and boot from the cloned disk, which can be done in just a few minutes.
Steps to clone Windows Server 2012 to SSD/HDD/RAID:
- (Optional) Right-click the partitions on the target disk and select "Delete Volume" one by one. For a brand-new disk, you need to bring it online and initialize it first.
- Right-click the leftmost area of the disk that you want to copy and select "Copy Disk", or click "Clone Disk Wizard" on the top left.
- Select the unallocated space on the target disk.
- Edit the size and position of each partition one by one starting from the last partition.
- Click "Apply" to execute.
Tip - When editing the size and position of a partition:
- To shrink it: Drag either border inwards (towards the center).
- To extend it: Drag either border outwards into the adjacent unallocated space.
- To move it: Drag the middle of the partition to shift its position.
Watch the video on how to copy a disk and modify target partitions:
After copying:
Replace the original disk or change the BIOS boot order to boot from the cloned disk directly.
Besides cloning a disk/partition in Windows Server 2012/2016/2019/2022/2025, NIUBI Partition Editor helps you shrink, extend, move, merge, convert, defrag, hide, optimize, wipe, and scan partitions, and much more.
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