Want to keep all data while replacing hard drive in Dell computer
“I have a dell computer and it comes with a 500GB hard drive that contains Windows 10. Now I want to replace the hard drive with a newly bought SSD but retain all data on the old hard drive. I don’t want to make a fresh install for Windows and all other applications. But how can I transfer all content including OS and to new SSD?”
You can clone hard drive to SSD on Dell computer
If you transfer files from old hard drive to SSD via copy and paste, you’ll find that it is troublesome and time-consuming. What’s worse, system won’t boot normally after pasted. Therefore, it is not a workable way to move all data to SSD via copying and paste.
Don’t worry, you can choose to clone Dell hard drive to SSD. By cloning, you can upgrade Dell hard drive to SSD without reinstalling Windows and all applications. Well, how to copy hard drive to SSD on Dell laptop or desktop?
Comprehensive and professional cloning software
Sometimes, your recently purchased SSD is along with data migration software, such as Intel Data Migration software, Samsung Data Migration software and so on. In such condition, you can perform disk copy via built-in cloning tool. If the new SSD has no such tool or the tool is not working, a reliable and powerful third-party hard drive cloning software for Windows 10/8/7, XP, and Vista – AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is recommended.
* It can clone all partitions (recovery partition included) on the current system hard drive to SSD with secure boot in Dell computer.
* It offers two copy methods: Sector-by-Sector Clone and Clone Disk Quickly, satisfying different cloning demands. The first way should be chosen when you need to clone hard drive to smaller SSD; and the second way shall be picked if you want to clone a hard drive with BitLocker encrypted or bad sector.
* What’s more, it allows you to align SSD partitions during cloning, which is helpful in improve SSD’s performance.
How to perform Dell hard drive to SSD copy?
To clone Dell hard drive to SSD with secure boot, in the first place, you should
connect the SSD to your Dell computer and make sure that it can be detected by the
OS. For Dell laptop, a USB-to-SATA cable might be necessary. Then, have a look at
how it works:
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Click All Tools and Disk Clone Wizard.

Step 2. In the pop-up window, choose a method to clone hard drive to SSD. Clone Disk Quickly is recommended.

Step 3. Select your system hard drive as source disk.

Step 4. Choose the new SSD as your destination disk. Check Optimize the performance of SSD... to align SSD partitions.

Step 5. Here you can adjust the partition size on the target SSD or leave it alone.

Step 6. In the main interface, you can review result of cloning hard drive to SSD. If you are satisfied, click Apply and Proceed to execute the operation.

Notes:
A reboot is needed as this operation will be performed under PreOS environment.
It is also available to clone OS partition only to SSD via AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.
All data on the target disk will be erased. If you want to keep the files on
the destination one, you can back up it using AOMEI Backupper before cloning.
Follow-up work of cloning
After cloning Dell hard drive to SSD, you can keep your original hard drive as storage and SSD for OS if the Dell computer is with more than one drive bays. To do so, you need to enter BIOS to set SSD as the priority in boot order. If you clone GPT to MBR disk or MBR to disk, you need to change boot mode as well. After you boot system from SSD successfully, you can format the old hard drive to free up space. If the computer owns only one
drive bay, locate the old HDD and replace it with cloned SSD.