Key Takeaways
Disk cloning is the best methodology for transferring Home windows OS and knowledge to a brand new drive, utilizing software program like Macrium Mirror or manufacturer-specific instruments.
Guarantee the brand new drive is detected, initialized, and has ample house earlier than cloning.
After cloning, set the brand new drive because the boot drive in BIOS or UEFI settings in addition from it.
Whether or not you’re upgrading from HDD to SSD or putting in a much bigger capability drive, right here’s the simplest approach to transfer your present Home windows working system set up and all the information to a different drive.
Vital Issues to Take into account Earlier than You Start
Disk cloning is the method of transferring an present Home windows set up to a different drive. Whereas a backup picture additionally works, it unnecessarily complicates the method. With disk cloning, you select your supply drive (the present system drive) and your vacation spot drive (the brand new drive) after which configure the boot drive. Upon getting achieved that, you’ll be booting out of your new drive very quickly.
To maneuver Home windows to a different drive, you want migration software program. You might have two choices for this. First, you should utilize a manufacturer-specific knowledge migration device just like the Samsung Magician Software program or Acronis True Picture for Essential SSDs. You may verify whether or not your PC producer presents a cloning answer.
If you cannot discover a first-party migration device, you should utilize Macrium Mirror. It’s a premium third-party utility for creating disk photographs, cloning, and PC backup. Different disk cloning software program consists of Acronis, EaseUS Disk Copy, CloneZilla, and DiskGenius. Nevertheless, Macrium Mirror will get the sting as a result of to its ease of use and fewer intrusive design.
Earlier than we start, it’s essential to put in your new SSD/HDD drive on a laptop computer or PC and ensure it’s detected within the Disk Administration utility. You might also must initialize the SSD earlier than you should utilize it. In case you are attempting to interchange your HDD with a SATA SSD, you’ll want a SATA-to-USB cable to clone disk earlier than swapping the drive.
How one can Transfer Home windows to One other Drive Utilizing Macrium Mirror
Macrium Mirror is a premium storage backup and cloning device for Home windows. Go to the Macrium Mirror web site and obtain the Dwelling model of the device. You should purchase a license or go for a free trial. After getting into your particulars, you may obtain a obtain hyperlink in your e-mail. Use this hyperlink to obtain the installer and run it in your pc. Observe the on-screen directions to put in the app.
To stop any points, make sure that the brand new drive has equal or more room than your present drive or disk cloning received’t work. It is going to delete all the information on the vacation spot drive, so remember to again up something essential.
As soon as achieved, comply with these steps to maneuver Home windows to a different drive:
Launch Macrium Mirror to begin the cloning course of. Within the Native Disks tab, find and choose your Home windows set up drive. Then click on the Clone this disk possibility.
A brand new Clone dialog will open, displaying the Home windows set up drive chosen because the supply. Make sure that all of the partitions of the supply drive are chosen with a verify mark.
Now, you’ll want to choose the vacation spot (new) drive to which the Home windows information can be moved. Click on Choose a disk to clone to and select your vacation spot drive from the record.
Then click on the Erase Disk choice to erase all the information from the vacation spot drive. To maneuver the set up, choose the Copy chosen partitions after I click on ‘Subsequent’ possibility within the bottom-right nook. Then click on Subsequent to proceed. Should you get the “too many major partitions, nothing copied” error, then click on the Copy Partitions possibility and select the Shrink or lengthen to fill the goal disk possibility. Click on Subsequent to proceed.
On the subsequent display, you’ll be able to schedule the clone. To clone instantly, click on Subsequent. Learn the abstract of drive cloning and click on End.
Within the pop-up menu, choose the Run this backup now and Save as a backup definitionfile field. Comply with any warnings and click on OK.
Relying in your disk dimension, this course of could take a while to finish. As soon as the clone is full, each drives will look the identical in Macrium Mirror.
Set Your New Drive because the Boot Drive
Besides out of your newly cloned drive, you could want to interchange your present SATA drive with it, besides when transferring Home windows from SATA to M.2 SSD. Regardless, you’ll must set your new drive as the principle boot drive within the BIOS or UEFI settings.
You may enter BIOS on Home windows 10 and 11 by urgent the F10 key throughout restart. Nevertheless, the hotkey can fluctuate relying on the producer. As an alternative, we’ll use the Esc key to entry the beginning menu and proceed from there.
Shut down your pc. Then press the facility button to show it on and press the Esc key repeatedly to view the Startup menu. Within the startup menu, press the corresponding key to enter the BIOS or UEFI utility. On this occasion, it’s F10 for the HP laptop computer.
As soon as within the BIOS utility, go to Boot Choices. Once more, there could also be some variations relying in your producer, however something associated to ‘Boot’ is an effective guess.
Use the arrow keys to focus on OS Boot Supervisor, then press Enter to pick out it. Within the OS Boot Supervisor dialog, choose your newly cloned drive and press F10 to put it aside because the boot drive.
Lastly, navigate to the Exit tab and choose Save Adjustments and Exit. If profitable, your pc will restart and boot from the brand new drive.
Disk cloning is the simplest approach to transfer Home windows 10 or 11 to a different drive. In uncommon situations, you would possibly expertise a Home windows activation problem, however it’ll resolve by itself inside 24 hours. Nevertheless, keep in mind that putting in the cloned drive on a distinct pc and booting from it received’t activate Home windows, because the digital license is tied to your system’s motherboard.
Should you plan to put in the cloned drive on one other pc or new {hardware}, make sure that to hyperlink your Home windows product key to your Microsoft Account first. You may then sign up to Home windows together with your Microsoft account, and it’ll routinely activate the license.