AOMEI Partition Assistant
[Freeware] How to Copy Partition to Another Drive in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7
With the free AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, you can easily clone partition to another drive or disk in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7. It also allows you to clone C drive to another drive effectively.
By Emily / Updated on July 28, 2023
Reasons to copy partition to another drive
Different from cloning an entire disk, copying a partition is a process of migrating only a selected partition (a part of the whole disk, not an entire disk) to another partition or other SSD/HDD. Generally, you can enjoy the following benefits from this operation.
• Back up important data: No matter if you plan to copy the system partition or data partition to SSD/HDD; you can make an exact backup of data stored on the selected partition.
• Get rid of bad sectors: If the disk, containing the selected partition, suffers some bad sectors, you can copy important partitions to another disk to avoid bad sectors.
• Transfer data quickly: When all crucial data is saved in one partition, or you just want to only keep this partition during disk replacement, copying a partition will help transfer data more quickly than copying a whole disk or copying files one by one.
Freeware to clone partition to another hard drive in Windows PC
If you are planning to delete partition, format partition, shrink partition, or extend partition, Windows built-in tools like Disk Management and Diskpart can help you a lot. But for cloning partition, you need to use a third-party utility since Windows doesn't offer such functions by far. AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is a great tool to copy partition to another hard drive in Windows 11/10/8/7 and Windows XP/Vista all editions.
This free disk partition software provides you with two copy methods:
● Clone Partition Quickly (file by file): only copies all existing files from the source partition to the destination disk.
● Sector-by-Sector Clone (complete copy): copy both all available files and lost/deleted files from the source partition to the destination disk.
Simple steps to copy partition to another drive free
Now you can free download AOMEI Partition Assistant and learn how to copy partition to another partition in five steps.
▶Before proceeding, pay attention to:
1. Only the unallocated space could be selected as the destination place to hold the source partition. So if there is not such a space, please first create one by shrinking existing partitions or deleting an unused partition.
2. The unallocated space must be equal to or larger than the used space on the source drive if you choose "Copy Partition Quickly". For "Sector-by-Sector Copy", the free space must be equal to or larger than the original drive.
3. Please close programs running on the partition which you are going to copy, otherwise, this partition copying operation will be executed under PreOS Mode.
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, right-click the partition you wish to copy to another drive and select "Clone Partition".
Step 2. In this window, two different ways are available to copy the partition. Select one according to your needs and then click "Next".
Step 3. Select an unallocated space to save the copy of the selected partition, and then click "Next" to continue. If you are copying partition to SSD drive, you can tick the option "Optimize the performance of SSD".
Step 4. In the pop-out window, you can resize the partition as you like, or you can keep the default settings and click "Finish".
Step 5. In the main interface, you can preview the result. If you are satisfied with it, click "Apply" and "Proceed" to execute this operation.
▶Notes:
1. To copy the C drive to another drive and boot from the cloned drive, the Standard edition only supports cloning the boot drive from MBR to MBR disk. If you are trying to copy the OS partition from MBR to GPT (If you wish to upgrade to Windows 11, this may be necessary for you.), GPT to GPT, GPT to MBR, please upgrade to the Professional version.
2. To clone partition to another hard drive in Windows Server 2003, 2008 (R2), 2012 (R2), 2016, 2019, 2022. please check out AOMEI Partition Assistant Server.
Further reading: copy partition to another drive using CMD
Besides using a professional partition clone tool to copy partition, you can also make use of the xcopy command to copy files and directories, including subdirectories from one partition to another. See how to use xcopy commands to clone a partition:
Step 1. Click “Start” and type “cmd”. Right-click on "cmd" and select “Run as administrator”.
Step 2. Type "xcopy c:\ f:\ /s /e /h /i /c /y" and press Enter to copy all the files and subdirectories (including any empty subdirectories, any system, or hidden files) from partition C to partition F. Replace the drive letter based on your situation.
The above parameters mean:
/s: copy directories and subdirectories except for empty ones. If you omit “/s”, xcopy will work within a single directory.
/e: copy all subdirectories, including the empty one.
/h: copy the hidden and system file.
/i: force xcopy to assume that destination is a directory
/c: force xcopy to continue even if it encounters an error.
/y: stop the xcopy command from prompting you about overwriting files from sources that already exist in the destination location.
FAQs
What is clone partition?
Partition cloning, also known as copy partition, is a seamless procedure that duplicates the contents of one disk partition onto another, ensuring zero data loss. The target partition will be populated with identical data as the source partition.
Can you clone a boot partition?
Absolutely, indeed it is! AOMEI Partition Assistant stands as an all-inclusive backup and disk cloning solution, enabling effortless boot hard drive cloning to SSD on various Windows operating systems, including Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, XP, and Vista. This remarkable software offers three distinct cloning options: Disk Clone, System Clone, and Partition Clone, catering to your diverse requirements.
How do I clone all partitions on a hard drive?
To clone all partitions on a hard drive, you can utilize AOMEI software to copy the entire drive to another one at once. Here is how to do:
1. Connect the SSD to your computer. On laptops, you may need a SATA-to-USB cable. Make sure the disk can be detected.
2. Run the disk cloning software, and click Clone > Clone Disk.
3. Select the current hard drive as the source disk.
4. Select the connected SSD as the destination disk.
5. On the summary page, check the option “SSD Alignment” to improve SSD performance. You can click "Edit partitions" to resize the partition size or convert disk types if you want to. Note that checking "Sector-by-sector clone" method will make partition editing unavailable.
6. Finally, click Start Clone to execute the task. Wait for it to be completed.
Bottom Line
Compared with copy partition to another drive using CMD, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard provides an easier way to clone partition in Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista. Besides, its "quick copy (with file by file)" method makes it possible for you to copy a larger partition to a smaller partition and copy a larger HDD to a smaller HDD.
What's more, the "Migrate OS to SSD" wizard offered by Professional enables you to migrate only OS partition to SSD or HDD. It also has many other amazing features like converting boot disk between MBR and GPT disk without deleting partitions, converting dynamic to basic disk without losing data, and recovering lost/deleted partitions.
