These days Microsoft has become quite generous with the OS downloads and is allowing you to download full ISO images of various editions of the Windows 10 operating system. Perhaps they are trying to compete with Linux distros that have been up for free downloads for more than two decades. In any case, the first thing that you have to do after downloading the Windows 10 ISO is create an installation media – either a bootable DVD or a USB flash disk. But what if you do not want to create either or what if you do not have any blank media available for this?
In both of these cases, you can use the freeware WinToHDD which promises to install or reinstall Windows straight from the ISO image without requiring any CD/DVD or USB flash disk. The application can also clone your existing Windows installation on another hard disk which is a great way to keep a backup of your Windows installation on a cheap backup disk.
The WinToHDD application starts by offering three options – Reinstall Windows, New Installation or System Clone. The first option asks you for the ISO image of Windows after which it takes you all the steps for reinstalling Windows. You may want to backup files and settings before proceeding as it does not offer to keep your old data.
The new installation option simple installs Windows either on the same hard disk or any other hard disk connected to the PC. The process is similar to installing Windows from DVD apart from the convenience of doing everything without creating any installation media.
The third option offered by WinToHDD is system cloning for which you need two disks connected to your PC. It offers to clone the entire system hard disk partition to another disk connected to your PC. You can use any kind of disk with large enough capacity to hold all of your data.
Conclusion: WinToHDD makes it very easy and convenient to install or reinstall Windows without having to create any installation media. It is also able to clone the existing Windows installation to another disk.
You can download WinToHDD from http://www.easyuefi.com/wintohdd/.