AOMEI Partition Assistant
Free Data Migration Software: Easily Migrate OS or App in Windows
Looking for a data migration software? Then AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard can satisfy your needs best. This freeware allows you to transfer system, data, or programs from one hard drive to another easily.
By Emily / Updated on June 12, 2024
What is data migration software?
As its name suggests, data migration software is a kind of program that can transfer data from one storage location to another, from one computer storage system to another. It provides a great way to make a data backup.
Why do we need a professional data migration tool? Why not use the “copy & paste” feature? That’s because the “copy & paste” can only migrate personal files, such as pictures, documents, music, etc. For moving a small amount of data from one location to another, this traditional method can be a nice choice.
What if you plan to migrate applications, programs, and even the operating system to another location? Copying them in the original drive and pasting them into the destination one might lead to startup failure. Namely, you might be unable to start up the OS or launch the apps/programs from the destination disk. Therefore, a professional data migration tool is quite necessary.
How about Intel/Samsung data migration software?
For data migration between different hard disks, some manufacturers develop a specialized tool to help their users migrate data among their disks. For example, Intel has released the Intel Data Migration Software for users who have bought Intel hard drives. But it can only work on SSD drives, and the SSD must be initialized as GUID Partition Table (GPT) and partitioned as New Technology File System (NTFS).
Similarly, the Samsung Data Migration Software is designed to help users migrate all of their data (operating system, application software, and personal data) from their existing storage device (e.g. HDD) to their new Samsung SSD. But most users often meet kinds of error messages during the data migration process such as Samsung Data Migration access violation, Samsung Data Migration Software cloning failed 00001, and more.
Moreover, Intel Data Migration Software and Samsung Data Migration can only work on their own hard drives. If you have multiple hard drives, you might need to download several data migration programs for each one. In this case, getting a versatile data migration utility that is compatible with many brand hard drives is a wise choice.
Best free data migration tool for Windows PC
To successfully do data migration among different branded HDD or SSD, you can try the free AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. No matter whether you want to transfer everything from Samsung, Intel, Crucial, Corsair, and more to another different disk, this versatile freeware can satisfy you well in Windows 10/8/8.1/7/XP/Vista.
Besides migrating data from one disk to another, it is also able to transfer data from just one partition to another partition via the “Clone Partition” function. Compared with Intel or Samsung Data Migration software, it is far more a data migration utility. You can also use it to:
✌Wipe external hard drive to protect private information from leakage;
✌Convert data disk from MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR without deleting volumes or losing important data;
✌Convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing data and vice versa;
✌Merge two adjacent partitions or merge unallocated space into an existing partition;
✌Delete hidden partitions on the USB drive or recovery partition.
How to finish data migration from one disk to another step by step?
If you have a new disk and want to move all data on the older disk to the new one, this "Disk Clone" feature is suitable for you. Free download it and follow the steps.
Note: When copying disk 1 to disk 2, all the data on disk 2 will be deleted and erased, so make a backup in advance if necessary.
Step 1.Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, click the "Clone" main tab and select "Clone Disk". (You can also right-click the Disk you want to clone and select the "Clone Disk" tool to run disk clone.)
Step 2. Choose the hard disk that you need to clone as the source disk and click "Next".
Step 3. Select the destination disk to put the data of the source disk on, and then click "Next".
Step 4. Then, you will enter the Confirm interface where you can check the source and destination disk. After all is set, you can click the "Confirm" button to continue.
In lower left corner of the window, you can click the "Settings" button to adjust the partition size on the destination disk. There are three options for you:
- Clone without resizing partitions: all partitions will be cloned to the target disk as the original partition size. It is available when the target disk is larger than the source disk. If it is smaller, this option will be grayed out.
- Fit partitions to entire disk: all partitions will be cloned to the target disk and take up its full capacity according to the original partition size proportion.
- Edit partitions on this disk: you can change every partition size on the target disk as you need.
After finishing the adjustment, please click "Save".
Notes:
- You can tick "4k alignment" to improve the reading and writing speed of SSD if the selected destination disk is an SSD storage.
- All data on this selected destination disk will be wiped out after you save the operation to physical disk. If there is important data on the destination drive, please make a backup in advance.
- If you clone to a smaller SSD, the first option is grayed out. If you select Sector-by-Sector Clone, it is unable to adjust the size on the destination disk.
Step 5. You can preview the disk cloning operating by viewing the "Pending Operations". To commit the "Pending Operations", please click "Apply" and "Proceed".
Step 6. The cloning process will start and you can check the cloning process.
When it is finished, you have migrated everything from HDD to SSD successfully. The above steps also apply to migrate data from SSD to HDD as well. If you want to boot a computer from the destination disk, you can enter the BIOS environment, and change the boot order to set the cloned hard drive as the first boot device.
Extra info: Migrate one app or multiple apps between drives
The free AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard allows you to migrate OS or files by cloning an entire partition or hard disk. What if you just want to migrate some App or program from one location to another one instead of migrating all content? In such a case, you can upgrade to the Professional edition. It offers the "App Mover" feature, allowing you to move apps from one partition to another partition. These moved Apps can load up and run successfully after migration.
Step 1. Download, install, and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Click “Free up” on in the top toolbar, and choose “App Mover”.
Step 2. Select the partition from which you want to move the app to another location and click on "Next".
Step 3. Choose the applications you want to move and select the destination path. Then click on "Move".
Summary
As the best data migration software for all branded hard drives, AOMEI Partition Assistant makes it quite easy to migrate data between partitions and disks. If you want to migrate data from the MBR system disk to GPT, GPT to MBR, or GPT to GPT, please upgrade to AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. If you are looking for a data migration utility for Windows Server, AOMEI Partition Assistant Server can meet your demands.
