Cloning a disk with disk encryption?

[IceDigger]

I know how to clone a drive without encryption easy BUT I have never done it with a drive that already has encryption on it.

Scenario:

Client has a 320GB hdd in his laptop with drive encryption on it and wants to upgrade to a 512GB SSD drive. Can I just do a straight 1:1 disk copy or do I have to decrypt the drive, then disk copy, then re-encrypt it?

 

[DejaWiz]

Decrypt, clone, re-encrypt. This will prevent any possible headaches or data transfer problems.

 

[stormy1]

Backup then

Decrypt, clone, re-encrypt. This will prevent any possible headaches or data transfer problems.

 

[Stereodude]

Can I just do a straight 1:1 disk copy ...

Even if that worked, how would you expand the partition, or use the extra space on the SSD?

 

[SomeGuy133]

1:1 copy only works if you gave a hardware based cloner like alertec. I tried using True Image and I could not clone an encrypted drive with that software. It will work if you use a hardware cloner like aleratec but its best to decrypt and reencrypt. It sucks but its the only way to do it effectively.

 

[IceDigger]

Yea, that's what I thought. Oh well...

 

[staticlag]

Use linux. Dd can make an exact copy

 

[SomeGuy133]

Use linux. Dd can make an exact copy

depends the type of encryption whether hardware vercrypt and a few other things. I dont use linux so it could work. I just know windows and True Images custom linux distro cant do it.

 

[IceDigger]

Yea, I would need to expand the partition also so that wouldn't work probably.

 

[izx]

Client has a 320GB hdd in his laptop with drive encryption on it and wants to upgrade to a 512GB SSD drive. Can I just do a straight 1:1 disk copy or do I have to decrypt the drive, then disk copy, then re-encrypt it?

Without having to bother about the kind of encryption used, I'd recommend installing TrueImage on the laptop and, with the system running, make a full backup to an external drive. Restore that backup to the SSD (on any system) and replace the 320GB with the SSD. Windows should boot up normally. Go to Disk Manager, expand the partition. Done.

 

[SomeGuy133]

Yea, I would need to expand the partition also so that wouldn't work probably.

IIRC if its a FDE thats shouldnt be an issue but never had to mess with it.

and the back up and then restore works but there are issues with that method too. minor ones but issues.

 

[Warrior]

Depends on the Encryption method I would say.

At work we use Bitlocker, and I do 1:1 clones, with Easus software from UBCD, while it's "suspended" and it works fine, then I just do a few restarts, and then resume Bitlocker and it works fine.

This is how I have been doing 5 SSD upgrades a week.

 

[SomeGuy133]

Depends on the Encryption method I would say.

At work we use Bitlocker, and I do 1:1 clones, with Easus software from UBCD, while it's "suspended" and it works fine, then I just do a few restarts, and then resume Bitlocker and it works fine.

This is how I have been doing 5 SSD upgrades a week.

bitlocker.......

 

[Avgas]

Use linux. Dd can make an exact copy

I've done this a couple of times with good success, both unencrypted drives and drives encrypted with Truecrypt. If you set the dd buffer size to 512k it goes pretty quickly.

I cloned an encrypted Win 7 install from an Intel 320 SSD 120 gb to a Samsung 850 Evo 500 gb. Once you boot back into windows, go to Disk Management and "grow" the partition.

The only problems I ran into were on a company computers. I don't know specifically what it was, but because the hard disk serial number had changed (being a different hard disk) the OS recognized it as a hardware change.

 

[DejaWiz]

I've done this a couple of times with good success, both unencrypted drives and drives encrypted with Truecrypt. If you set the dd buffer size to 512k it goes pretty quickly.

I cloned an encrypted Win 7 install from an Intel 320 SSD 120 gb to a Samsung 850 Evo 500 gb. Once you boot back into windows, go to Disk Management and "grow" the partition.

The only problems I ran into were on a company computers. I don't know specifically what it was, but because the hard disk serial number had changed (being a different hard disk) the OS recognized it as a hardware change.

That was probably BitLocker with the TPM.

 

[Avgas]

That was probably BitLocker with the TPM.

Something to do with the domain controller... sorry I don't keep up on corporate Windows account management stuff. The machine had some other crappy file level encryption software, that only did DOC files. No bitlocker or TPM.

 

[SomeGuy133]

BTW if you use acronis they make it where it negates that hardware change issue but it doesn't clone encrypted so in that regards it won't work :/

 

[Al W]

I know how to clone a drive without encryption easy BUT I have never done it with a drive that already has encryption on it.

Scenario:

Client has a 320GB hdd in his laptop with drive encryption on it and wants to upgrade to a 512GB SSD drive. Can I just do a straight 1:1 disk copy or do I have to decrypt the drive, then disk copy, then re-encrypt it?

Almost all cloning software (Macrium, Symantec, Easus, AOMEI, Acronis, etc) will clone a bitlocker drive IF it's unlocked, with the resulting clone being bootable, but not bitlockered. You then need to encrypt it. A far faster option is to use Casper Secure Disc 4.2, which enables you to clone the Bitlocker drive while locked to another drive, and the result is a bootable clone that is encrypted with bitlocker and the same PIN and registration key. It's fast, done within windows, and you can keep working while it clones. I've done it with Win10 x64 successfully. The problem: I used a trial version which does not allow resizing, and when my 30 days are up, if I want to keep using it, it's <gulp> $129. Not sure if it's worth the convenience of saving me to the time to simply clone and encrypt the target in two steps vs buying the software. Nonetheless, this is the only option I've seen that can fully clone a PGP or Bitlocker drive to another encrypted drive.