Cloning is recommended if you wish to replace one disk with a new one. This process combines imaging and restoration in one step. Cloning can be performed file-based or forensically. File-based cloning transfers all recognized data onto the target and this method is fully adequate in most scenarios.
We recommend forensic cloning for scenarios where the disk being cloned has a file system not supported by O&O DiskImage or you need to recover data. This will involve transferring every sector of the source onto the target. Forensic cloning can take some time and does place demands on computer performance.