First time with Linux & first time here. SO, I’m now needing a bootable USB in order to clone a failing SATA drive & looking to find out best makes/models (under £20 if possible) to enable that process.
Then, as I’ve already tried & failed at the above (first time I used Etcher, but drive never worked properly thereafter & Partition Master couldn’t seemingly do much with it even after formatting etc) what’s the best way to undertake the task?
I’d prefer to use Partition Master through Windows to achieve the clone, but it’s apparently more likely to maybe cause further damage or be more intensive than using Linux but I’m rather lost on how to achieve the process this way.
There are very many types of USB drives on the market and the best advice I can give is: Don’t pay too little. My personal favourite make is ADATA as they are very reliable, rugged and reasonably priced. In particular, I like the “push to expose” type rather then those that come with a cap that I can lose. Have a look at this one, for example, at £16.
Etcher is very good (especially as it will format your USB if needed) but you could also try “Unetbootin” which avoids the need to download an ISO file as it comes with a choice of many Linux flavours to choose from and is very easy to use. If you buy a new USB drive, you really ought not to need to format it. I once tried that using Partition Manager and screwed it up completely.
