Clone hdd to ssd

How to Clone HDD to Solid-State Disk Without Reinstalling Windows

SSDs (Solid-State Drives) perform much better than HDDs in many known aspects, like speed, reliability, and durability. That’s why so many users, including you now, take it as a more suitable data storage or system installation option. With its increasingly known advantages and decreasing prices, SSDs become more and more popular.

Why Choose SSD over HDD

When you consider upgrading your hard drive, you can either migrate hard drive to a larger one or migrate from an HDD to SSD, depending on what the hard drive is used for. If your hard drive is for data storage, switching to a bigger HDD could be quite helpful to store much more content. However, if your hard drive is the system disk, learn how to install an SSD without reinstalling Windows is a more advisable choice for you can boost your computer performance to a great extent.

Advantages of SSD over HDD

Structurally speaking, an SSD is flash storage with no moving parts, while an HDD is magnetic storage with mechanical parts inside. That decides SSDs are much smaller than HDDs, both in size and capacity. Although SSDs have less capacity, there are multiple advantages of SSDs that will make you think the defect of size negligible based on the technology they use:

• Faster reading and writing speed
• Better performance and reliability
• Stronger durability
• More energy-saving and less noise-making

What Can You Benefit After Switching to SSD

More directly, with an SSD installed on your computer as the system disk:

• You can boot your computer, open applications, and access files much faster
• Your data stored on SSD are much safer
• You will spend less money on electricity bills and enjoy a quiet working environment

Based on the information above, it’s really a wise choice to clone your existing HDD to an SSD. Then here comes the question, how to clone an HDD to an SSD. As far as I know, there is no built-in tool in Windows that allows you to clone a hard drive to an SSD. Luckily, there is third-party software for you to finish the task.

How to Clone an HDD to an SSD

With the Windows backup software — EaseUS Todo Backup, you can effortlessly clone your hard disk, be it the system disk or data disk, to an SSD. Yet before you start, there are some preparations you need to make in order to have a smooth cloning process:

• If there are files existing on your SSD, make sure you back it up (EaseUS Todo Backup can help) in advance before the disk clone. Cloning an HDD to the SSD will erase all the data on the target device.
• Make sure the capacity of the SSD exceeds the used space on your HDD, or there will be boot issues or data loss after cloning the HDD to your SSD.
• Make sure the partition style of the target disk is in accordance with the source disk. If not, you will need to convert from MBR to GPT or vice versa.

To check the partition style of the HDD and SSD:

Step 1. Connect the HDD/SSD to a computer.

Step 2. Right-click «This PC» and choose «Manage» > «Disk Management».

Step 3. Right-click on your disk and choose «Properties».

Step 4. Switch to the «Volumes» tab. Under Disk Information, you can see the partition style of your disk.

Meet all the requirements above? Now you can clone your HDD to an SSD following the guide below:

Step 1: Launch EaseUS Todo Backup and click «Clone».

Step 2: Select the source disk which contains the operating system.

Step 3: Choose the destination disk.

These advanced settings can help you clone a drive more stable and smoothly in some special case. However, without these advanced settings, EaseUS Todo backup can still give you an exact and intact clone.

Optimize for SSD — If the destination disk is an SSD, checking this option will ensure sector alignment in the process.

Sector by sector clone — A sector by sector clone ensures that the destination hard disk/partition is exactly the same as the source hard disk/partition. It will clone all the sectors if the option is checked, even if the sector is blank. As a result, the target will be equal in size to the disk being cloned after the process. This option is found in the same step where you choose the destination hard disk/partition both in the Disk clone and Partition clone wizard.

Create a Portable Windows USB drive — This option ensures that the cloned USB system disk is able to boot normally.

Step 4: Preview and save the changes and the software will start to clone your system disk.

You may have noticed that there is a system clone option in EaseUS Todo Backup, which enables you to clone your Windows from one disk to another. If the used space on your HDD is larger than the total size of your SSD, which is quite common, you can consider migrating OS to your SSD only. As long as your SSD is larger than the used space on your system and boot drive, you can clone the OS from your HDD to the SSD without any boot issues. As for the other partitions on the HDD, you can choose either to manually copy the files on them to another hard disk or use the partition clone feature in EaseUS Todo Backup to get things done.

Issues You May Encounter After Disk Cloning

Although many users can successfully clone an HDD to an SSD, there are always some expectations. Here we list some frequently asked questions and the corresponding solutions in case you need it.

Issue 1. Disk Boot Issues

The causes of disk boot issues are various. I’ll show you three situations.

You can manually select the disk or partition to clone using the «Clone» feature in EaseUS Todo Backup. However, when you attempt to clone the Windows operating system from your HDD to the SSD by manual selection, you may select the C drive only. That will certainly cause boot issues if the system partition and boot partition are different partitions. (For your information, the boot partition is a primary partition that has the boot loader, which is used to boot the system. The system partition is a partition that contains the OS folder. Both are necessary for booting your computer.) If that’s your case, you can contact our support team (support@todo-backup.com) for remote assistance. They will help you create the system partition, which will solve the boot issue.

When you try to clone an HDD to an SSD, you may connect the HDD to a computer and make the source disk a USB drive. In such a case, you will need to edit BCD (Boot Configuration Data, which helps to make the Windows system partition bootable) on the cloned SSD. For a detailed guide on how to edit BCD, you can refer to the official document from Microsoft.

Another culprit for disk boot issues after disk cloning is the lack of a necessary driver. Fortunately, you can use DSIM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management), a Windows built-in command-line tool, to add the driver. Also, you can refer to the official document from Microsoft for help.

If there is any situation you cannot handle after cloning your HDD to an SSD using EaseUS Todo Backup, feel free to contact our support team (support@todo-backup.com) for assistance.

Issue 2. Software Asks or Activation

The software installed on your system disk may ask for activation after you clone the HDD to SSD. Here you will need to contact the software producer. They will help you reactivate the software.

Issue 3. Get a Misaligned SSD After Cloning

It happens that your SSD is misaligned after the disk cloning. Misalignment will reduce the performance of your SSD. Thus, if you find your SSD is misaligned, you can use the 4K alignment feature in the free partition manager — EaseUS Partition Master to align sectors on your SSD. You can check the alignment of your SSD following the steps below:

Step 1. Press «Windows + R» and enter msinfor32.

Step 2. Go to «Components» > «Storage» > «Disks».

Step 3. Check the value of «Partition Starting Offset». If the value is not divisible by 4096, your SSD is misaligned.

The Bottom Line

To minimize the possible issues, I recommend you follow the guidelines strictly to clone an HDD to an SSD. If you do have encountered unexpected issues you cannot fix after using EaseUS Todo Backup, contact our support team is welcomed.

100 % of people found this article helpful.

Frequently Asked Questions

«The easiest way to protect your data and system files.» —techradar

«EaseUS Todo Backup Free is one of the most popular free data backup applications available. This software offers a myriad of features and is extremely user-friendly. It provides a full system backup, meaning you can back up your entire operating system.» —TopTenReviews

«EaseUS ToDo Backup Home is a great backup program, well suited to the home and SMB space.» —PCWorld

What is the difference between Clone and Backup? In what cases should I use Clone?

Clone will copy one disk to another or one partition to another (unallocated space is also supported). Usually, this option is used to upgrade the current disk by creating an identical copy. Backup will generate a .PBD image file containing the selected files or system that can be restored from the .PBD image if needed.

What is the difference between System Backup and Disk Backup?

System Backup will auto-select the system boot related partition(s) as the backup source to make sure the system image can be restored properly. Disk/Partition Backup will allow you to manually select a whole disk or speficy a certain partition as the backup source. You will get the same backup result as System Backup if you manually select the system and boot partitions with the Disk/Partition Backup option.

As a computer newbie, what features should I use to protect my computer?

You can use System Backup to back up the system and boot partitions, use Disk/Partition backup to back up the data partition and add plans to run an automatic backup. If you use the computer frequently or have software that may cause boot failure of the computer, we would suggest you back up the computer every 1 to 2 days. For other situations, you can backup the computer once a week. In addition, you can schedule File Backup to back up the files which are changed frequently.

What kind of storage service should I use to save my backup images?

EaseUS Todo Backup can save backup images to internal disks, external disks, network drives, or free cloud(Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive) and CD/DVD. It is suggested to save the images to the internal/external/network drives to save time as those kinds of disks have a better read-write speed. It is suggested NOT to save the image on the source disk, because once the disk is damaged, all the files on the disk will become unavailable and you will be unable to restore the image.

As a company network administrator, what features should I use to protect our internal computers?

It is recommended that you use the SQL Backup feature to back up your company’s SQL server and Exchange Backup feature to back up the Exchange server. In addition, you can execute System Backup to back up the system and boot partitions on every computer and set a plan to execute the backup once a day or twice a week to ensure that the computer can be restored timely when it has boot issues. File Backup feature can be used to back up important user data. If there are a large quantity of computers, you can purchase EaseUS Backup Center to manage the backups on the client computers centrally.

Brithny / 2017-11-29

Tracy King / 2017-12-13

Jean / 2017-11-22

Jean / 2017-12-06

About EaseUS Todo Backup

Be it a file, system, partition, or disk, EaseUS Todo Backup will help you back up or clone the item and provide you with multiple backup plans.

How to Clone Hard Drive to SSD in Windows 10/8/7? (Updated)

Trying to clone hard drive to an SSD in Windows 7/8/10? Does it clone the Windows operating system as well? In this article, you will get the answer for these questions and tips for the cloning process.

By AOMEI / Last Updated March 14, 2020

Why Clone Hard Disk to SSD in Windows 10/8/7?

You may want to clone your hard drive to a larger disk, but why would you want to clone your hard to an SSD? Don’t worry, we will explain why below:

To get better performance. If you choose to clone your hard drive to a drive with another just with a larger capacity, you will most likely encounter further problems in the future. As you accumulate more and more data on your hard drive your computer will start to slow down. To stop this, we would recommend you clone your hard drive to a faster SSD. When compared to an HDD an SSD is much faster, more durable, lighter, quieter, cooler, and consumes far less power.

SSDs are relatively affordable nowadays. In the past, when you bought an SSD you would need to consider whether the benefits outweighed the high price. Now due to improvements in manufacturing techniques and an increase in supply, SSD prices have fallen sharply. There are variety of options you can choose such as PCI-Express, mSATA, and M.2 SSDs as well as regular SATA SSDs. Many popular SSDs like the Samsung 970 EVO, the Samsung M.2, WD Blue SSDs, Mushkin Reactor SSDs, PNY SSDs, are available on the internet on popular sites (Amazon, Scan.com, etc.).

What Do You Need for Hard Drive Cloning?

To clone an HDD to an SSD you will need the following:

1. Prepare an old HDD that has an OS installed, check bad sectors and fix it. You can only boot your computer from a disk with an OS installed. If the operating system is damaged or deleted, you will not be able to boot the computer without a bootable USB (or CD/DVD). The cloned SSD may won’t boot if the cloned SSD contains bad sectors from the original hard drive.

2. Get a new SSD to transfer the OS to. You will only be able to boot from the SSD after you clone the operating system from the HDD to the SSD. It’s ok if the new SSD is not initialed.

3. Create a backup of the disk to ensure that you don’t lose any personal data. If something unexpected happens during the transfer process, the backup will allow you to restore the computer to its previous state.

4. Disconnect all external connected peripheral devices, like USB storage device, external displays, and printers to ensure you transfer files from hard drive to SSD correctly.

5. Free Disk cloning software. Naturally, good disk cloning software is the most important thing you need. If you use the right software, the process will be straightforward and easy. We recommend you use AOMEI Backupper Standard as it’s free and easy to use.

6. USB-to-SATA adapter. To connect the new SSD with your laptop which has only one hard drive bay.

Free Hard Drive Cloning Software — AOMEI Backupper Standard

AOMEI Backupper Standard Edition is able to easily clone hard drives to SSDs, it can even clone larger HDD to smaller SSD (make sure the used space is less than or equal to the SSD) with just a few clicks.

SSDs have different structures to HDDs so the partitions will need to be aligned along the SSD block boundaries during the cloning process. AOMEI Backupper includes an option to do this — SSD Alignment — so you will not need to worry about the alignment of the SSD or the speed of the SSD after the cloning process completes. Due to the fantastic volume shadow copy service (VSS) technology, you won’t need to worry that the cloning process will interrupt your work.

AOMEI Backupper will check whether the space on destination disk (your SSD) is sufficient before starting to clone your hard drive. If it isn’t, AOMEI Backupper can help you transfer some of the data to another storage device by Partition Clone or only migrate your operating system (OS) to the SSD by System Clone (premium feature). AOMEI Backupper Standard is compatible with Windows 10, 8/8.1, 7, Vista, and XP.

How to clone HDD to SDD for Free without Reinstalling OS in Windows 7/8/10?

You can either install the SSD in the second drive bay or connect it to your PC with a USB-to-SATA adapter. As long as the space on the SSD is large enough to hold all of the data on the source disk, you can follow the steps below to clone hard drive to smaller/larger SSD.

See the step by step guide below to clone hard disk to SSD and try it yourself.

1. Download and install the disk clone software and connect the new SSD. We recommend you use AOMEI Backupper Standard Edition as it’s free and easy to use.

Secure Download

2. Run the program and go to Clone -> Disk Clone option.

Notes:

This version only supports cloning system disk with the same partition style, such as clone GPT to GPT disk, clone MBR to MBR disk. If you want to clone GPT to MBR disk or migrate OS from MBR to GPT disk, you could consider upgrading to AOMEI Backupper Professional or other paid versions.

To check partition style between source hard drive and target SSD. You could go to disk management, right click the source hard disk or the SSD, choose Properties -> Volume tab -> Partition Style, you will see the MBR or GPT.

3. Select the original hard drive as the source disk that you want to clone, and then click on Next.

Tips:

All the hard disks that can be recognized by your computer will be shown in the program.

If you own a dynamic disk, learn how to clone a dynamic disk here.

4. Choose the larger/smaller SSD as the destination disk, and then click on Next.

◆ Note that all the data (if there is any) on the destination SSD will be deleted after cloning, you may need to create a backup for critical data if you don’t want to lose it.

5. Tick SSD Alignment. This option will accelerate the reading and writing speed of the SSD disk. Then, click on Start Clone to clone hard drive to SSD.

Tips:

Don’t format the old HDD until you can successfully boot from the new SSD.

Perform System Clone if you just want to migrate Windows 10/8/7 operating system to new SSD. You will need to upgrade to the premium versions to enjoy this feature.

Besides the cloning feature, AOMEI Backupper Standard also provides you the Windows backup and restore features. You could use these features to replace the corresponding clone feature, that’s to say, disk backup and restore is a different form of disk clone.

This software is also applied to clone laptop hard drive to SSD, clone dell hard drive to SSD, clone hard drive to Samsung SSD, etc.

What to do after cloning hard drive to SSD? Change the boot order to set the cloned SSD as the first boot device, and boot your computer; or remove the original hard drive out and install the cloned SSD, set the boot order and boot mode, then boot from it.

How do you fix boot issues after cloning your disk?

After the cloning, some users complain that their SSD won’t boot. Here are the reasons why and how you can fix the issues.

1. The boot order is not correct. If the SSD is not the first boot order you won’t be able to load your PC from it. To check if the boot order is correct, you should restart your computer, press the prompted key to enter the BIOS, set the SSD as the priority in the boot order, then hit F10 to save the changes. Finally, your computer will now boot from the SSD if your problem was related to the boot order.

2. GPT/MBR conflict means that the partition structure of the source disk and target SSD is different or the boot mode is set incorrectly. You may get this conflict and could not boot your computer if you’re trying to clone GPT to MBR disk or clone MBR to GPT disk. Ensure the partition structure are the same on source and target disk. Besides, MBR disk can only boot from Legacy mode in the BIOS while GPT booted from UEFI mode. Set the right boot mode to boot normally. Or Change Legacy to UEFI boot mode to boot from a GPT disk.

3. You installed the cloned SSD on a computer with the incorrect hardware. If you have a disk image or system image, you can try to restore the image to the SSD with ‘Universal Restore’.

4. The cloning process ran into issues. The cloning process experienced some unexpected issues; therefore, we would recommend you retry the process to see if the error has been fixed.

Besides, if you clone hard drive to SSD, and then install the SSD on a new computer, you have to Activate Your Windows 7/8/10 Operating System, use your original product key to activate or consult Microsoft for help.

More about this free specialist hard drive cloning software

Apart from being able to clone hard drives to SSDs, AOMEI Backupper Standard Edition has many advanced features, including system backup, disk backup, partition backup, and file backup and recovery.

AOMEI Backupper, also supports full backup, incremental backup, differential backup, and automatic (scheduled) backups, which can help you create backups in an efficient manner ensuring that your system is never unprotected against the threat of data loss. Real-time file sync is also available in the premium version. In case of complete system failure, you can choose to create a bootable rescue USB or CD/DVD which will allow you to boot the system from the WindowsPE environment.

AOMEI Backupper Standard Edition is completely free for personal and commercial use. Try it out and clone your hard drive to an SSD now. For server users, you could try AOMEI Backupper Server to enjoy more powerful features.

Как перенести Windows с HDD на SSD, клонирование диска

Компьютерные технологии развиваются очень быстро, и на замену одним комплектующим приходят другие. Так произошло и с жесткими дисками. Знающие люди уже не задаются вопросом: что лучше, SSD или HDD? Так как SSD по всем параметрам выше чем обычный жесткий диск. Установив на скоростной носитель операционную систему виндовс, вы почувствуете на сколько шустрее он начал работать.

Однако, замена HDD на SSD наталкивает на вопросы: устанавливать заново операционную систему или перенести Windows c HDD на SSD? Что бы сохранить все данные, установленное программное обеспечение, их настройки, браузеры с закладками и паролями, драйверы на принтер и тому подобное, разумно будет клонировать Windows c обычного харда на скоростной.

Перенос системы с HDD на SSD Windows 7/8/10

Для клонирования жесткого диска рекомендую использовать Acronis True Image (обзор версии 2018, сборка 11530). Именно ее мы рассмотрим в этой статье, и я пошагово расскажу и покажу как перенести виндовс с hdd на ssd. Программа работает с клонированием любой операционной системы Windows – 7, 8, 10. То есть происходит не клонирование виндовс, а клонирование всего жесткого диска, так что если у вас будет даже linux ubuntu, программа справится. Перед тем как начать клонирование диска на SSD, обязательно прочитайте статью до конца.

Подключаем к компьютеру (ноутбуку) SSD через SATA или USB, значения не имеет. Открываем Acronis True Image, в боковом меню программы выбираем Инструменты – Клонирование диска. До начала проведения данной процедуры обязательно должен быть подключен диск, на который будет перенесена копия Windows. Появится окно с выбором режима Автоматический и Вручную, если вы обычный пользователь, то рекомендую выбрать первое. В этом случае Acronis True Image автоматически в процентом соотношении перераспределит объемы разделов, если новый жесткий диск отличается размером от старого.

Исходный диск – это носитель, с которого нужно произвести перенос Windows. У меня на картинке исходный – это SSD, а в качестве целевого HDD, не обращайте внимания, у вас будет наоборот. Нужно же было сделать скриншот в качестве примера, чтобы вам было понятно. Выбрали, жмем Далее .

Целевой диск – это новый накопитель, на который вы хотите перенести систему. Под словом новый, я не имею ввиду, что он только что куплен в магазине, он может быть б/у, снятый с другого компьютера и имеет внутри какую-либо информацию. Выбрали, жмем Далее .

Имейте ввиду, информация эта при клонировании будет удалена, так что в ситуации с б/у диском может выскочить такое сообщение.

Если ценного ничего нет, нажмите Ок , для переноса системы на этот диск.

Завершение. В этом окне вы увидите, как были распределены разделы вашего SSD до клонирования, и как будет выглядеть после. Если у вас в исходном диске есть папки и файлы, которые вы не хотели бы переносить на целевой диск, то можете исключить их, нажав кнопку Параметры или Исключение файлов в левом нижнем углу.

Пометьте не нужные папки, дождитесь конца обработки, нажмите Приступить .

Появится окно с процессом подготовки переноса windows с hdd на ssd.

После завершения подготовки, Acronis True Image предложит перезагрузить компьютер для продолжения клонирования жесткого диска. Вся информация, что присутствует на целевом жестком диске будет доступна ровно до нажатия кнопки Перезапустить . Если вспомнили, что осталась важная информация, нажмите Отмена , процесс клонирования будет отменен.

Ну вот, теперь и вы знаете как перенести систему с hdd на ssd. Приятной работы в операционной системе виндовс.

PS. Если целевой диск имеет бед блоки (нечитаемые сектора), то процесс клонирования диска завершится не удачей. О том, как проверить состояние жесткого диска я уже писал.

Лучшее «Спасибо» — ваш репост

MiniTool Programs Help to Clone Hard Drive to Smaller SSD [Clone Disk]

By Vera | Follow | Last Updated March 31, 2020

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Linkedin
• Reddit

Summary :

Are you using a traditional hard drive but find the computer runs slowly? Are you about to clone a hard drive to an SSD but the SSD is smaller? Here, hard drive cloning software — MiniTool ShadowMaker or MiniTool Partition Wizard will help you to clone HDD to smaller SSD easily and successfully.

Quick Navigation :

Can I Clone Hard Drive to Smaller SSD

Disk cloning has become a good way to transfer all contents including system, settings, programs, and data from a hard drive to another disk. In today’s era, disk cloning is public demand and you are required to do disk cloning in many cases, for example, upgrade your disk, make a backup and more.

In general, many users decide to clone a hard drive to SSD or migrate OS from HDD to SSD because of the fast read-write speed of SSD so that Windows can boot up in a few seconds.

Then, a question comes up: what if the disk capacity of an SSD is smaller than a traditional HDD? This is bothering the majority. Let’s see a true case:

“I am attempting to upgrade several computers from HDD to SSD and would like to use a stand-alone cloner to do so. The problem is that all of the SSD’s are of smaller capacity than the HDD’s and the cloners that I have found do not allow for this. Does anyone know of a stand-alone cloner that would allow me to do this?” tomshardware

Are you facing the same situation? Is it possible to finish the disk cloning from a large HDD to smaller SDD? Actually, it can be done with ease. Here, let’s focus on the effective methods now.

How to Clone Hard Drive to Smaller SSD

Based on user feedback, it is not easy to clone a large disk to a smaller one. In the software market, you will find there are many types of hard drive cloning software, however, most software only supports cloning a small disk to a larger one. Well then, is there any available tool for this job?

Of course, MiniTool Solution Ltd. has released two programs including MiniTool ShadowMaker and MiniTool Partition Wizard. Right now, let’s see some detailed information.

Clone HDD to Smaller SSD Using MiniTool ShadowMaker

Is MiniTool ShadowMaker suitable for you to clone a disk from large to smaller? Maybe this is the thing you want to know.

At first glance, you can find it is a good piece of Windows backup software mainly for important files, Windows OS, partition or disk on your computer.

As a matter of fact, it also offers you a powerful feature called Clone Disk, enabling you to transfer the entire system disk or data disk to HDD or SSD although the hard drive is smaller than the original disk in Windows 10/8/7.

Right now, download the Trial Edition of this SSD cloning software from the following button to start to clone HDD to smaller HDD or directly use its Professional Edition for cloning.

Step 1: Connect the SSD that has enough disk space to your computer. Then, double-click on the program icon and then enter the following interface. Here, you are required to choose one computer to manage, either Local Computer or Remote PC. Just click the Connect button accordingly

Step 2: Then, perhaps you will ask where the cloning feature is. Please navigate to Tools tab located in the toolbar, and then click Clone Disk module to start to clone large HDD to smaller SSD.

Step 3: After that, for a hard drive cloning, it is necessary to choose the large source disk and the smaller target disk.

After the selections, Click OK to continue. A warning will appear, saying all target disk contents will be deleted. Well then, ensure that no important files are saved on the SSD or use MiniTool ShadowMaker to make a backup at once.

Step 4: In the process page, all the information about the cloning will be listed including the source disk, destination disk, cloning elapsed time and remaining time.

If you can’t wait for the cloning to complete, click the button Shut down the computer when the operation is completed in advance. Conversely, please wait patiently.

There are some details that you should know:

• To replace large HDD with smaller SSD, for a laptop, you can shut down it, remove the source disk, and then put the smaller SSD containing system disk copy to the original location. Then, boot your laptop to enjoy the good performance of SSD.
• If you use a desktop and want to use both the large HDD and small SSD, just enter BIOS to change the boot order so as to boot your computer from the SSD.

Are you searching for a way to clone HDD to smaller SSD? Just get MiniTool ShadowMaker Trial Edition and install it on Windows 10/8/7. Besides, you can also share this professional cloning software to Twitter so that it can help your friends out.

Clone Large HDD to Smaller SSD via MiniTool Partition Wizard

In addition, MiniTool ® Software Ltd. is also the developer of MiniTool Partition Wizard which is specially designed to cope with many disk issues, for instance, low disk space warning, the Format did not complete successfully issue, can’t read from the source file or disk error and so forth.

Besides, it can also be a piece of hard drive cloning software. With its powerful features, you are able to perform a cloning operation in the most user-friendly way. What’s more, it supports mainstream operating systems including Windows 10/8/7, etc.

To clone HDD to smaller SSD, get its Free Edition from the following button first and foremost, install it on your PC and have a try.

Step 1: Run MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition and then click Launch Application. In its main interface, you can see many useful functions displayed.

To clone to smaller SSD, here use its Copy Disk function and the following interface shows you how to get it:

Step 2: Select a target disk and here it should be the smaller SSD connected to your PC. Then, click Next to proceed. A warning will appear and tell you the process will destroy all data on the SSD. For a successful cloning operation, click the Yes button. Please make sure no important data is put in this SSD.

Step 3: Then, there are two copy options listed in the following interface. But you are only allowed to choose Fit partitions to entire disk when you choose to clone to smaller SSD. This is the thing you should pay attention to.

Besides, for the target disk SSD, we suggest checking Align partitions to 1MB to improve performance.

Moreover, if you attempt to clone system disk to the SSD with GPT partition style, Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk option is helpful. But this feature is only included in the Professional or other advanced editions.

Step 4: The following page will show you how to boot from the destination disk. If you are cloning the system disk, pay more attention to this notice.

Step 5: MiniTool Partition Wizard will return to its main interface. Here, you can preview all the changes you are going to make to the smaller SSD. Just make a confirmation, then, press Apply to bring all operations into effect.

To clone HDD to smaller SSD, in addition to Copy Disk feature of MiniTool Partition Wizard, Migrate OS to SSD/HD feature is still available. After clicking it in the toolbar, you are required to choose one migration way:

• If you want to replace your system disk with another hard disk, A can help to copy all the partitions on the system disk.
• If you decide to only move operating system from HDD to smaller SSD, choose B.

Then, begin the migration according to its instructions. This post — How Can You Migrate Windows 10 to SSD without Reinstalling OS gives you more information.

MiniTool ShadowMaker VS Partition Wizard

In the second part, we have walked you through how to clone HDD to smaller SSD by means of MiniTool programs. In all probability, you feel curious which one you should use. Let’s see some details.

MiniTool ShadowMaker enables you to clone a hard drive which can be system disk and data disk to smaller SSD. This feature is powerful to transfer all disk data to another hard drive. Note that, this PC clone software only allows cloning the entire disk.

MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition has two helpful functions: Copy Disk is suitable for the entire disk cloning including system disk and data disk. This is the same as MiniTool ShadowMaker. Besides, this tool offers you an additional feature to only move system required partitions from HDD to SSD.

Both of them support booting your computer from the target disk after disk cloning. Which one do you prefer? Just get the appropriate tool based on your needs to begin the cloning and then enjoy the fast read-write speed.

Buy the Right SSD

Knowing the way to clone HDD to smaller SSD, it is necessary for you to choose the right SSD for disk cloning. Here are the top sellers on Amazon for you to choose from:

Как просто перенести систему с HDD на SSD

Приходишь к IT-шнику и видишь, что в его ПК все «летает». Спрашиваешь, как? Отвечает – SSD. Думаешь, хорошо бы и себе SSD установить. Но это же полдня на переустановку Windows, да потом еще ее настраивать. А есть ли способ заменить HDD на SSD без переустановки Windows?

Почему SSD?

Компьютер без накопителя — груда «железа». Традиционно для постоянного хранения информации в компьютерах использовались накопители на жестких магнитных дисках. Любой жесткий диск — это прежде всего механическое устройство, в котором вращаются магнитные пластины, а запись и чтение информации осуществляется с помощью магнитной головки.

Самая большая проблема жестких дисков — произвольный доступ к необходимым секторам с информацией. Еще 10-15 лет назад было отчетливо слышно «стрекотание» жестаков, когда они активно использовались. Сейчас такой звук может означать скорый выход накопителя из строя.

В противовес HDD (hard disk drive) твердотельный накопитель SSD (solid-state drive) движущихся частей не имеет. По скорости записи SSD уже давно обогнали традиционные HDD, а по скорости доступа к произвольным блокам информации соревнуются исключительно друг с другом.

В реальных сценариях работы на персональном компьютере использование твердотельного накопителя отражается самым положительным образом. Загрузка операционной системы вместо пары минут происходит за считанные секунды, рабочие приложения запускаются практически мгновенно. Даже самые объемные игры загружаются в несколько раз быстрее, чем с HDD, а в процессе игры почти отсутствуют так называемые «фризы», когда в оперативную память подгружаются данные с накопителя.

Пара кликов мышкой

Итак, для того, чтобы ускорить работу компьютера или ноутбука, вы решили приобрести себе SSD. Но тут возникает проблема. Компьютер у вас уже несколько лет, операционная система настроена так, как вам необходимо, и все работает, как часы.

Любая переустановка операционной системы — это если и не стресс, то уж точно не самое интересное занятие. А попробовать SSD все же хочется.

Сегодня перенос системы с жесткого диска на SSD проблемой не является. Существует масса как коммерческих, так и свободных программ для побайтного переноса операционных систем, отдельных разделов и полного клонирования жестких дисков.

Например, Acronis True Image, EASEUS Disk Copy, Paragon Drive Backup, AOMEI Backupper, Clonezilla, Renee Becca.

Renee Becca

Для примера посмотрим, что представляет собой популярная программа для клонирования жестких дисков Renee Becca. При ее запуске перед нами появляется следующее диалоговое окно.

Выбрав пункт «Clone», мы попадаем в диалоговое окно, в котором можно выбрать необходимую операцию, будь то клонирование диска/системного диска, отдельного раздела или развертывание системы из образа.

Перейдя в раздел Disk Clone, можно выбрать раздел, который предполагается клонировать, и накопитель, на который он будет переноситься.

В целом это очень добротная программа, основной ее недостаток — англоязычный интерфейс. Для кого-то это не проблема, другим же важен полностью русскоязычный интерфейс.

HDClone

Одной из полностью русифицированных программ для клонирования разделов и операционных систем является утилита HDClone. Существуют как коммерческие, так и бесплатные версии этой программы.

Бесплатная версия программы имеет ограничение по скорости клонирования и не дает возможности перенести ОС на накопитель меньшего объема, нежели искомый.

Принцип действия программы предельно простой. Чтобы создать клон своего системного жесткого диска, выбираем соответствующий раздел программы.

Затем нам необходимо выбрать диск, который мы будем клонировать.

Следующий шаг — это выбор SSD, на который будет переноситься система.

Программа автоматически подберет оптимальные настройки, но при необходимости можно все настроить вручную.

Следующим нашим шагом будет начало непосредственно клонирования операционной системы и данных на SSD.

В бесплатной версии программы процесс клонирования занимает достаточно длительное время.

Однако спешка в таких делах совершенно ни к чему. Тем более что скорость чтения данных с HDD заведомо проигрывает современным SSD.

По завершении процесса клонирования программа еще раз предложит внести автоматически необходимые изменения, после чего у вас появится полноценный клон полностью настроенной Windows.

Как видите, ничего сложного в переносе операционной системы нет. Осталось перезагрузить компьютер и настроить загрузку с вновь установленного SSD.

До того, как вы убедитесь, что операционная система перенесена без ошибок, информацию со старого жесткого диска лучше не удалять. Но, если проблем за несколько дней не выявлено, у вас останется дополнительный накопитель для хранения и переноски данных.

Как правило, старый HDD оставляют в компьютере в качестве резервного накопителя. Но можно его и просто положить на полку, тем самым уменьшив шум и вибрации корпуса системного блока.