u/Purple-Try-4950

I'm completely new to drive cloning and trying to upgrade from an old HDD (1TB) to a larger SSD (1TB) on my Windows 11 PC.

I've been searching around and honestly got overwhelmed by how many cloning tools there are. Some people recommend Clonezilla, others say Macrium, Rescuezilla, EaseUS, DiskGenius, Hasleo, etc.

What I'm looking for is something:

• beginner-friendly
• reliable (don't want to risk losing data)
• preferably free or at least affordable
• able to clone Windows/system drives

I'd also love to know:

• which software you personally trust
• what mistakes beginners usually make

Not trying to do anything advanced - just want the SSD to boot normally after cloning without spending hours troubleshooting.

What would you recommend for someone starting out?