Summary :

Here are two common questions from you: can I transfer Windows 10 to a new hard drive? How do I move Windows 10 to a new SSD? Of course, you can easily migrate Windows 10 to a new disk like SSD without reinstalling operating system. This post shows you the best SSD cloning software Windows 10.

Important, please read: Minitool recently stopped giving the Clone Disk function for free. Watch this video for a free alternative https://youtu.be/Vu0MhTN-w. Free Download MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro Deluxe 12 full version standalone offline installer for Windows, it is used to optimize disk usage and protect your data. Overview of MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro Deluxe 12. This program is a rich-featured partition magic, which is designed to optimize disk usage and to protect your data. I want to migrate my Windows OS to a different disk on my computer but am worried I will screw it up. The System, Windows, and Windows RE partitions are on a 128GB SSD. I have a 1TB HDD as well but it has the BIOSRVY partition on that. If I were to migrate the program says that anything on the HDD (destination disk) will be destroyed. How to Migrate Windows with MiniTool Partition Wizard. First of all, launch the program to get its starting interface and click “Launch Application” module to get the following window: In this interface please choose the module “Migrate OS to SSD/HD Wizard”. Note: this function just migrates the Windows which is running. Choose right edition of EaseUS Partition Master and install it. Then run EaseUS Partition Master.

'I recently upgraded from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. My Windows 8.1 was originally installed on a small SSD in my laptop. When I upgraded to Windows 10, it installed to my larger HDD. Is there a way to clone my OS to the SSD without having to uninstall all my program files?'answers.microsoft.com

From the example above, it is shown that this Microsoft user wants to move his operating system from HDD disk or internal drive to SSD disk due to the decrease of unused space after upgrading to Windows 10. Here in this post, we will show you how to move Windows 10 to another hard drive like SSD.

How to Migrate Windows 10 to SSD without Reinstalling OS?

How to transfer an OS to SSD? Actually, it is not as difficult as a lot of people think as long as a piece of professional third-party app could be available to help. In this article, we are going to show you some necessary clone processes to transfer Windows from HDD drive to SSD properly with a diskpart manager.

Preparation:

Before you clone Windows 10 to SSD without reinstalling OS, there are some things you need to note for this migration or clone job.

1. Prepare an SSD as the target disk. Please note the disk space of SSD can't be smaller than the used space of the source disk.
2. Possess a cloning tool. In the software market, many kinds of cloning tools are provided. Here we will show you the best SSD cloning software for Windows 10 - MiniTool Partition Wizard.

MiniTool Partition Wizard

If you want your computer to boot quickly, just upgrade Windows 10 to SSD by cloning the system drive with the assistance of a disk migration software. If you are searching for such a program, MiniTool Partition Wizard is a good choice.

With MiniTool Partition Wizard, a powerful partition management tool, you can resize partition, recover lost Windows partition, rebuild MBR, clone disk, migrate OS and do many more. If you need to migrate Windows 10 to a new hard disk, for example, SSD, try out this software.

Here is the process with screen instructions of moving Windows 10 to SSD with this disk cloning software.

Step 1: Run MiniTool Partition Wizard to transfer OS to SSD.

1. Prepare an SSD as the target disk and connect it to your computer.
2. Run this PC cloning software to its main interface. You will then see all the hard disks in your PC listed here.
3. Select Migrate OS to SSD/HD Wizard from the Wizard menu to transfer Windows 10 to SSD.

Step 2: Select a method for Windows 10 transfer to SSD.

There are two migration modes. Just check one according to your need in order to migrate Windows 10 to SSD without data loss.

1. If you would like to replace the system disk with SSD, choose the first mode. The function of this option is the same as Copy Disk feature.
2. Some of you may ask: how to migrate only Windows 10 to SSD without reinstalling system? Here, the second mode is suitable since it can copy only the system required boot partitions to a new hard disk or SSD.

Step 3: Select a destination disk.

1. Select to transfer Windows 10 to new hard drive like SSD.
2. Here note that all the data of the SSD disk will be deleted during the migration process. Thus, please make sure the disk doesn't contain important personal files, folders, or documents.

Step 4: Review the changes.

1. Choose a copy mode, Fit partitions to entire disk or Copy partitions without resizing.
2. Moreover, please check Align partitions to 1MB for your SSD. If you want to use GPT as the partition style of your SSD, please check Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk. Then it will become a GPT disk.
3. In the following figure, you can review all the changes you have made.

Step 5: Read the boot note.

A note or a boot option will appear and tell you how to boot from the destination drive.

Step 6: Apply all changes.

Execute the OS migration by hitting the Apply button. After that, you can double-check whether the Windows 10 migration is successful.

The above all the clone operation of moving just Windows 10 to SSD. Interested in this Windows 10 disk clone software? Get it now to easily transfer OS from HDD to SSD.

How to clone a hard drive to SSD free in Windows 10/8/7? MiniTool software offers the best way to clone a hard drive from HDD to SSD or a new one.

Further Reading: Some Common Questions on Moving OS to SSD Windows 10

Q1: Can I transfer only Windows 10 OS from a 1TB SSD to a 256GB SSD but leave rest data on the original SSD?

The complete question that comes from our user is as follows:

As for this question, the destination drive is smaller than the original drive. To clone Windows 10 to smaller SSD successfully, you need to make sure the new SSD has enough space to hold the entire operating system.

On the other hand, you are able to migrate only Windows 10 to SSD without reinstalling OS easily, and leave the rest of the data on the original SSD. Just try the Migrate OS to SSD/HD Wizard in Partition Wizard to move OS partitions only (option B).

Q2: How to clone hard drive to SSD in Windows 10 without reinstalling OS?

If all you want to do is to make an exact clone of the old hard disk to the SSD with all the intact programs and personal files, folders or documents, you can also use the Migrate OS to SSD/HD Wizard - option A to clone hard drive to SSD. Additionally, you can use its Copy Disk feature which is similar to Option A. For more instructions, read the above content.

Q3:

Will this work with WD my passport and if it can, will it boot normally?

If I were to take unallocated space from my passport and move Windows to the unallocated space, will it boot then or will it just be the same?

MiniTool Partition Wizard, a diskpart tool, can easily move Windows 10 to an SSD that comes from Western Digital (WD), Samsung, Toshiba, ADATA, SanDisk, etc.

In general, if the boot drive is connected via USB, Windows 10 may won't boot, but you can try connecting the target drive via SATA if possible. If you want to boot from target disk, you need to set boot priority in BIOS.

Please note: the Migrate OS to SSD/HD Wizard can't move Windows to a specific unallocated space, it will erase data on the whole target drive.

Q4: How do I move space from D drive to C drive Windows 10?

This question is also asked by you after migrating Windows 10 to a new hard drive like SSD.

If you find C drive is small, you can easily move space from D to C drive with MiniTool Partition Wizard. As a professional Windows partition manager, it can resize partition and extend disk partition with its powerful features.

This post - Two Ways to Extend Partition Windows 10 Without Losing Data gives you much information.

Why Migrate Windows 10 to SSD

Now two pieces of best SSD upgrade software Windows 10 has been introduced. Some of you probably want to know the reason for transferring your OS to SSD. Here let’s analyze this question in two aspects and help you learn OS migration to SSD well.

Why Use SSD for OS Disk

Minitool Partition Wizard Cannot Migrate Os To Ssd

If your computer is struggling to load some large files or documents and run many applications at the same time or you want to speed some things up a little, upgrading your old HDD drive to a solid state drive (SSD) is the surest way. Why?

It is because of the merits of SSD. Compared to HDD, SSD has many advantages, for example, it doesn’t have noise and moving parts, it is less likely to get damaged. Above all, the read-write speed of SSD is very fast. In order to speed up your computer, using an SSD as OS disk will be a good choice.

Why Do OS Migration

Suppose you have installed Windows 10 on an HDD, but now you want to boot your computer from SSD for the best performance. In this case, usually, the simplest way is to perform a clean installation on the SSD. Nevertheless, this way is not the best solution. What's the reason?

In a word, OS fresh installtion is very time-consuming and troublesome since you need to install applications once again and data saved on C drive will be lost.

If you wouldn't like to make a fresh OS installation on an SSD, there is a way to move the already installed Windows 10 to SSD without reinstalling OS. You can choose to migrate Windows 10 to SSD.

Bottom Line

Here comes to the end of this post. And you must have learned the necessary knowledge to upgrade Windows 10 to SSD without reinstalling OS. Now, it's your turn to use MiniTool Partition Wizard or the backupper - MiniTool ShadowMaker to begin Windows 10 migration without losing data.

When using our standard Windows 10 cloning tool to transfer OS from HDD to SSD or clone hard drive to SSD, please tell us if there is any question. As for the method of system migration, if you have any suggestion, you can also inform us. Just leave a comment in the following zone or send an email to [email protected] and we will anwser you ASAP.

Migrate Windows 10 FAQ

1. Run MiniTool Partition Wizard in Windows 10.
2. Choose Migrate OS to SSD/HD Wizard.
3. Check option B.
4. Select a target disk.
5. Choose a copy option.
6. After reading the boot note, apply all changes.

Summary :

Cloned hard drive wont boot? Here are the normal fix to get your computer bootable again. Also, if the fix does not help, you are able to get 2 more alternative programs of MiniTool that can guide you through a successful disk cloning process and the cloned hard drive is bootable.

There are times that you may need to clone a hard drive. For instance, you want to upgrade HDD to SSD for better performance; you need to clone hard drive to a larger one to save more files; you have got multiple computers with the same configurations to install, you just want to make a disk backup, etc.

However, when browsing the internet, we found that many users are troubled by one thing: cloned hard drive won't boot. Here is a live example from Tomsguide:

'So I've bought a new 128GB Samsung 750 EVO SSD to upgrade my current laptop with. I downloaded Macrium, put my old HDD into a dock followed by the SSD and cloned it. 2 hours later it said clone successful - so I put the SSD into my laptop and the BIOS appears but it doesn't boot straight to Windows 10. Is there further step I need to take in order for it to load windows 10 on my laptop?'

Luckily in this post, we are to share with you how to make cloned drive bootable Windows 10/8.1/7.

Common Fixes for Cloned Hard Drive Won't Boot

When the cloned drive will not boot, you need to do the following checks in general. Please go through all of them first and then try the one that fits your situation best.

1) Make sure you are cloning the whole system instead of cloning the C partition only. There is a high possibility that you have a system reserved partition or EFI system partition located on your system disk. When the cloned drive won't boot Windows 10, please make sure you did clone the intact system instead of partition only.

2) Remove other externally connected bootable devices like USB boot drive and CD/DVD bootable disc.

3) Go to BIOS utility and make sure the new target disk is recognized and is set as the default boot disk.

4) As you may know, some software allows you to clone MBR to GPT disk without disk conversion. However, the computer is not using the correct boot mode is one of the reasons why cloned SSD won't boot Windows 7/10. If your target drive is a GPT disk, make sure the UEFI boot mode is enabled, and if it is an MBR disk, then set it to Legacy boot mode.

5) If your computer does not support UEFI boot mode, the target disk cannot employ the UEFI boot mode. In this case, you need to do a GPT to MBR conversion before you can boot from the cloned drive.

6) The target disk should be internally connected to your computer via IDE/SATA/M.2/PCIe instead of externally connected via USB.

7) If all goes well, boot your computer from the installation media and run the following commands in the Command Prompt and then restart your PC.

• bootrec /fixmbr
• bootrec /fixboot
• bootrec /scanos
• bootrec /rebuildbcd

However, if all in vain and the cloned drive won't boot still, you might need to ask for help from another reliable software. Just keep reading.

Use Reliable Hard Drive Cloning Software

As many users reported that their cloned drive won't boot despite that they used hard drive cloning software. For these considerations, we suggest using MiniTool software to have a try.

MiniTool has been committed to driving the innovation providing professional solutions for disk/partition management, backup & restore, and data recovery. To clone system hard drive in Windows 10/8/7 and make the target drive bootable, two utilities are recommended.

Just keep reading and choose the one better fits your needs.

Case 1: To Clone Hard Drive and Use It on the Same Computer

If you want to upgrade laptop's HDD to SSD or a larger hard drive, use MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition to help you. Generally speaking, it is a professional disk cloning software that is frequently used to clone hard drive for hard drive upgrade and disk backup. When you have used it to clone a live system disk, the target disk is bootable.

Get the free hard drive cloning software by hitting the button below.

Before you do:

Connect the target hard drive/SSD to your PC (for laptop users, a USB to SATA adaptor is necessary), go to Windows Explorer and check if there are important files saved on this drive. If so, get them backed up or transfer them to a safe location.

Then it is time to make cloned drive bootable Windows 10 using this free partition manager (also helps users running Windows 7/8/8.1).

Step 1. Run MiniTool Partition Wizard to get the main interface. Then select the current system disk and choose Copy Disk from the left action panel.

Step 2. In the pop-up window, you will be asked to choose a target disk. Here select the hard drive you have just prepared and click Next to go on. Note that all data (if there is any) on this disk will be destroyed. Once you have made the backup in advance, you can click Yes to continue.

Step 3. Then review the changes to be made on the target disk. Or, if you are not satisfied with the partition layout, make your own changes.

• Fit partitions to entire disk: this is the default copy option and will occupy all the disk space according to the original partition sizes.
• Copy partitions without resize: keep the original partition size on the target disk. Only works when the target disk is large enough to hold all the partitions located on the source disk.
• Align partitions to 1MB: improve performance for advanced format disk & SSD. Appears when you are cloning an MBR disk.
• Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk: turn the target disk to GPT disk. A paid feature if you are copying the system MBR disk to GPT. (Appears when you are cloning an MBR disk. Go to the official online store to get the Pro Edition).

Step 4. View the tip on how to boot from the target disk and click Finish.

Step 5. In the disk map area, you can preview the changes that will take effect on the target disk. Finally, don't forget to press Apply on the toolbar. This operation will bring a system reboot. Please save your files and close all the running programs.

When MiniTool Partition Wizard completes, use the target hard drive/SSD to replace the original system disk. Then go to BIOS setup and boot your computer from the target drive. Your computer should be normally booted now.

The simple guide here:

1. Create a bootable MiniTool Partition Wizard using the Bootable Media feature.
2. When you see the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard, repeat the process of disk copy explained above.

Minitool Partition Wizard Migrate Os To Ssd Hdd

Case 2: To Clone Hard Drive and Use It on Dissimilar Hardware

Dissimilar hardware is the main reason that is responsible for cloned drive will not boot. In such case, the best choice here is to use MiniTool ShadowMaker. Some of you might have already known that MiniTool ShadowMaker is professional Windows backup software that is most frequently used to create scheduled system backup, disk backup, and file backup.

In fact, MiniTool ShadowMaker also works well when it comes to cloning system disk and makes it bootable on computers with dissimilar hardware. This feature is available in the paid editions like MiniTool ShadowMaker Pro. However, you do have the chance to complete this task by using the 30-day free trial edition.

Get this hard drive cloning software by pressing the button below:

Step 1. Run this Windows disk cloning software. When you are asked to choose a computer to manage, you just need to select This Computer to connect.

Step 2. When you are in the main interface of MiniTool ShadowMaker, go to Tools and choose Clone Disk.

Step 3. Next, you need to enter the Source tab to choose the system disk and then enter the Destination tab to select the target disk. When you click OK to continue, you will be prompted that data on the target disk will be destroyed. Click Yes to continue.

Minitool Migration Tool

Step 4. The copy process begins. You will be able to see the elapsed time, remaining time as well as the progress bar.

Step 5. Once the disk copy completes, you will see the following long information. Simply put, now your source disk and target disk have the same signature. Windows will mark one as offline to avoid booting from the wrong disk. But since you are going to use the targeted disk to another computer, you just need to shut down PC and then remove the target disk.

Now it is time to create a bootable media to get the rest steps. Here are the tutorials that will lead you through all the steps easily.

Before you do:

Also, follow the universal guidance above to create a bootable media of MiniTool ShadowMaker, put the target disk to the computer that has dissimilar hardware and use MiniTool ShadowMaker Bootable to boot that PC.

Step 1. Also, go to Tools but choose Universal Restore this time.

Step 2. Then this tool will automatically detect the operating system installed on the disk. At this time you can click the Restore button directly or you can add some drivers to the system before you click Restore.

Step 3. When you see a green mark appear on the operating system, you can exit MiniTool Universal Restore.

Now remove MiniTool ShadowMaker Bootable media and try to boot your PC from the target disk. Amazing! You get a bootable operating system!

The Worst Situation

Minitool Partition Wizard Migrate Os To Ssd Hard Drive

If you have tried all the solutions here but the cloned drive won't boot Windows 10/8/7, you may have to do a clean install. As to how to install Windows, you can read our previous guide How to Install Windows 10 on a New Hard Drive (with Pictures).

Summary

Reading here, we believe you have learned the way to fix cloned drive won't boot issue as well as learned the best disk cloning software that helps clone hard drive easily. Now it is your turn to try these solutions out if your cloned drive won't boot.

Minitool Partition Wizard 12 Migrate Os To Ssd

If you have come across some other suggestions, welcome to leave it in the comment zone. For any questions towards using MiniTool software, don't hesitate to contact us by sending an email to [email protected] with your issue stated clearly.