Discover with us how to create an exact backup of your SD card or USB drive to restore it at any time.
If we want to save in a file the exact content of our SD or USB drive we have several alternatives that we explain below. These programs can help us to create a copy of for example SD cards of emulation consoles or boot system, with them we can copy all the partitions of our units. This way we ensure that they will be 100% functional and not just a basic copy of files.
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how to Backup an SD Card?
Before we start we have to keep in mind that SD cards or USB drives in some cases are not just file containers. On some of these drives we have different partitions or special boot sectors, if we want to save these features we need specific apps. If we need to make an exact backup of the entire drive, follow this manual.
- NOTE: To restore 100% exact copies you have to use the same size of SD or USB as the original.
USB Image Tool
With this USB Image Tool application we can create a complete backup of the entire drive, its partitions or special sectors that contain these units. The use is very simple, it only requires following the basic steps to create and restore copies.
- Download USB Image Tool
- If you like the app, DONATE to the developer.
How to use USB Image Tool to copy SD card
- Insert the original SD card into a SD reader on your PC
- In the app we must have the DEVICE option checked at the top, the VOLUME option only saves partitions.
- We make sure that we have selected the correct drive in the left list.
- With the BACKUP button we can save the drive to an IMG file on our hard disk.
- With the RESTORE button we can restore the IMG file to a new connected SD drive.
BalenaEtcher
This Balena Ercher application allows us to create an exact copy of our SD or USB from one drive to another. We cannot generate a backup file, but we can clone the card. The usage is extremely simple and can be useful for anyone who wants to have two exact media.
How to use USB Image Tool to clone SD card
- Insert the original SD into an SD reader on your PC
- Insert the target SD in a SD reader on our PC
- Click on CLONE DRIVE and select the source drive.
- In the SELECT TARGET option, select the target drive.
- Click on FLASH to perform the cloning.
DiskGenius
If we need more control of our SD card and its partitions, we can also use the DiskGenius app. A very versatile tool that can also serve us for other tasks on our hard drives.
