How to raw copy an HDD to another one

You will have to run the clone (disk to local disk clone) with the -sfsck option. This bypasses the checks if the source is OK and just tries to copy everything without checking.

If that doesn't work (too many read-errors) get a GPartED Live USB. This contains (among other things) also the command-line utility ddrescue which is specialized in copying from a bad disk.


When dealing with a data recovery issue there is no shortcut other than duplicating the total drive.

Use ddrescue, a free and open source tool from the GNU foundation. It is contained in many live Linux distributions like in GParted where the CD ISO is only 300-400MB.

Do not confound ddrescue with dd_rescue from Kurt Garloff. dd_rescue has a different command syntax!

The regular dd command in Linux does not handle bad sectors as smart as ddrescue.

I am not aware of tools in the Windows world that have dedicated strategies to duplicate drives fast despite of the existence of bad sectors.