Clone a SATA Hard Drive using a SATA to USB Cable.

The fastest and most reliable way to clone drives is to attach both source and target drive to motherboard SATA connectors so that the maximum transfer rate is obtained.  Then use a bootable product such as Clonezilla to clone the drive.  This gets Windows out of the way.

Note that cloning -- transferring a drive image to a drive of the same size regardless of whether the source is bootable -- is pretty reliable.  However, when transferring a bootable drive to a drive of a different size, my experience is that the reliability is about 75% no matter what the cloning software says about the success of the operation, and sometimes it takes several tries using different software to find one that works as desired.  So don't give up if the first, or second, or third try doesn't work.  There are many products and one can always be found that will do the job.

Side note:  This is one of those cases where you can use up Windows registration points.  Changing the system drive costs x number of points toward having to re-register Windows, and depending on what happened before it may be necessary to re-register with the Microsoft registration servers.

Thanks for the info.  I want to be able to do this externally through the USB port.  In addition. I don't have a cable to do this with the internal method as you mentioned.  When I go into disc mangement attached is a screen shot of what I see (disc 1 is the new hard drive connected through USB).  There is no method to 'intialize' disc 1, although the computer is able to see it. As I connected it to a different USB port I can see it refresh.

Perhaps another expert can advise.  I've not had good results trying to clone drives on live Windows systems.

thanks. I am not even at the stage of cloning the drive yet. I just wanted to be to initialize and format it.  Thanks again.

>There is no method to 'intialize' disc 1, although the computer is able to see it.

The computer is able to see data transfer cable, but not the drive connected to the cable, which is what it means by "No media". Check if the cable is firmly connected to the drive.

According to https://www.apricorn.com/upgrades/sata-wire-3, there's software that came with the adapter. I would try it out, chances are it will see the drive.
Another way: if you connected the cable to USB3 outlet, try connecting to USB2 one, if you have it. Or vice versa.
Another way: if your computer has DVD drive, you can temporary "steal" sata cable from it, and use it to connect new drive.

The drive is not getting enough power.. I've only seen 2.5" drives able to be powered by the SATA3 connector as shown in their product information

SATA Wire 3.0 - USB 3.0 Interface to any 2.5" SATA Drive

...also, shutdown and restart the computer. Chances are, Windows has turned off USB port in order to save power.

thanks for all the info!  I did suspect the power issue but can you please clarify how i can resolve this.   Also @Vadim, I did reboot already thanks for the suggestion.  I am going to instlal the Apricorn software and see if that works.

the apricorn software isn't working. I am not even sure if this is the correct data transfer cable. It has been suggested that I do this internally. So can anyone suggest a different cable, I would prefer an external method if possible.  The internal SATA hard drive cable wouldn't be sufficient, to do this internally, so I am not sure what I would need if I can only do it internally.  Thanks again.

is the drive you want to clone to a 3.5"or a 2.5" drive?
I've used the Orico 2 Bay SATA to USB drive cloning with considerable success
if your drive is 3.5" you need power so I suggest a powered SATA/USB dock and then using clonezilla

It's a 3.5" Hard Drive for a Desktop computer.   So I would need the Orico bay and also the Orico Dock, do do this externally?
Do I need to remove the Source drive with the Operating System and data and plug into into the Bay along with new destination hard drive, in order to clone it?  Thanks.

thanks. I think I am more confused now. I really would just take this to a store but they don't offer this service by me.
If I use a 2 bay dock, how am I going to perform the cloning with software?  I don't have a third hard dirve to run a computer.
The source drive is the hard drive running in my computer, so if I removed it and put it in a 2 drive dock. How I could clone it?
When I opened the computer I don't see another SATA port or power source on the motherboard for a second SATA hard drive. So if I get the sata power splitter cable, is that all I would need to do this internally? Instead of trying the USB method.  Thanks again.

the 2 drive dock doesn't need cloning software or even connected to a computer, plug the source and destination drives and press the front button cloning button

thanks I will look into that option, as long as there are no restrictions as to the operating system.  I would prefer the other method of getting the splitter as well.

It looks like would need a 1 to 2 SATA cable for both data and power, as I do not see either available inside my computer for installing a second SATA hard drive.
Is there a cable like this, that has both data and power?

power can be split but data can not be split. what is the make and model of your computer?

It's a Dell Desktop Optiplex 3020.

the SFF (small form factor) MB only has 2 SATA connections but the tower has 3 SATA ports.. you can use the sata data/power going to the DVD drive and boot clonezilla after using something like rufus to put clonezillla onto the USB stick

It is a SFF.  I hadn't thought of using the power source from the DVD drive, excellent idea.  However, I am not very proficient at doing this stuff.  So I guess I have to look into get the external bay and try that method when I get a chance. Thanks very much for the help.

Usually, often the sata to USB either include an additional plug for power, or an optional power cable I.e. One USB connection for data and power, while another either ac/DC power source or a USB to DC ppsolely for use as a power only has two electrical wires of usb2 type.
Both have to be connected to have enough power to spin up the drive.
A Sara cable can be had for ..

Depending on which drive you have installed and which you bought, you can get a cloning software from either vendor acronis for wd or seagate tools etc.

You can disconnect the Sata cable from the cd/DVD and use it and power to connect the new drive, boot and run the software that will facilitate cloning, segate's can clone while you can continue working..
The acronis will go through the selection of source disk, destination disk, or you can go through advanced....
Once it is set, it will set itself as the boot, reboot the system into and proceed with cloning the destination disk to reflect the same thing the dour e disk has. The default the system will shutdown when complete.

You can then reconnect the cd/DVD
Remove the ok'd drive, place the new drive and connect it. And you are done.

Depending on the size of the current drive and amount of data you may have to wait an hour or so.

If not mistaken, the 3020 might have an esata port on the rear panel.

I didn't realize it might have an external port for a Sata cable. Thanks for the update info. I ordered the dual drive bay and will have to try it out when I get a chance. I also didn't realize about the USB not providing enough power. I thought the Apricorn cable is all I would need.  I checked again and the cable I purchased is designed for laptops, not for desktop drives.
I wasn't able to find another data transfer cable with a cursory search that had a AC power bank of some sort to provide the power needed for connecting the desitination hard drive externally

Trip lite has a Sata USB adapter with power ac/DC adapter.

@arnold, thanks for letting me know