How Do I Transfer OS to a New PC?

How do I transfer OS to a new PC?

It’s cheerful when you get a new computer, it means new performance, new speed, and new experience. But, sometimes, the old doesn’t mean bad, particularly if you’re so used to your OS on your old PC. Wouldn’t it be like an exclusive design to run your OS faster and smoother on a new PC?

The thing is you can migrate Windows 10 to a new computer and it will boot successfully, and even run better than before.

Thus, this guide will help you figure out how to transfer OS to a new PC.

The best tool to transfer Windows OS to a new computer

Well, the sad situation we have to tell you is that there are big risks to transferring Windows OS to a new computer without any tool, you may damage the OS, lose hidden OS data, boot failed… Moving OS is much more complex than moving some files, therefore, we recommend you a powerful and safe OS migration tool, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.

This efficient software can search all OS files and relevant data and copy all from the source disk to the target disk without any damage. And with the hot clone tech, if you just need to move and run the OS on the same PC, you don't even need to reboot your computer.

1. Migrate OS only

If you just want to keep the OS, you can only transfer OS to the new hard drive.

Note: AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard only supports OS migration between MBR and MBR disks.

Step 1. Connect the hard drive in your new computer to your old computer. If the old OS is on a laptop, you need to prepare a SATA-USB adapter.

Step 2. Install and run Partition Assistant Standard. Click “Migrate OS” in the "Clone" function list on the top toolbar. It can also apply to HDD.

Step 3. Select the new hard drive as the target disk. If there is a partition on SSD, check “I want to delete all partitions on disk 2 to migrate system to the disk” and make “Next” available.

Step 4. Drag to resize the system partition or just type the desired number in the box below.

Don’t forget to read the Note in this window.

Step 5. Click “Apply” and “Proceed” to execute the pending operations.

After the migration, you can remove the new disk and plug it into your new computer, then try to boot to check if the move is successful.

2. Clone the whole disk to keep all data

What if you not only want to know how to transfer the operating system from one computer to another but also transfer all data on the disk? Of course, you don’t want to waste your time reinstalling your programs. AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard will assist you without any reinstallation.

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant. Click “Clone” from the top toolbar and then select “Clone Disk”.

Step 2. In the pop-up window, choose "Clone Disk Quickly" if you are going to copy the hard disk to a smaller SSD. If you have a larger disk, just select the better one.

Step 3. Choose the hard disk that you need to clone as the source disk and click "Next".

▶ Tips: You can tick "Optimize the performance of SSD" to improve the reading and writing speed of SSD if the selected destination disk is an SSD storage. If there are partitions on the destination disk, they will be deleted.

Step 4. Select the destination disk to store the data of the source disk on, and then click "Next".

Step 5. In this window, please adjust the partition size on the destination disk.

▶ Note: There are three options for you: “Clone without resizing partition”, “Fit partition to entire disk” and “Edit partition on this disk”. After finishing the adjustment, please click "Next". If you clone to a smaller SSD, the first option is grayed out.

Step 6. You can see the disk cloning operating by viewing the "Pending Operations". To commit the "Pending Operations", please click "Apply" and "Proceed".

Then you can connect the new disk to your new computer and enter BIOS to finish the boot set.

How to migrate Win 10 to SSD without third-party software?

If you still want to know how to transfer the operating system from one computer to another without software, here we’ll show you detailed steps to use “Backup & Restore” in Windows 10. You can make a system image backup and restore it to the SSD drive from your new computer.

However, only NTFS volume can be protected. If the partition that you want to backup or set up as a backup destination drive is formatted with FAT32, you can convert FAT32 to NTFS without data loss.

Now, please carefully read the detailed steps of creating a system image, creating bootable media, and restoring the system image.

◤ Section 1. Create a system backup image

Step 1. Search “Control Panel” in the search bar next to the “Start” button, and choose the best match to open it.

Step 2. Click “Backup and Restore (Windows 7)” under the “System and Security” menu.

Step 3. Click “Create a system image” in the left menu.

Step 3. You’ll be asked where we want to save the backup. Select a partition as the destination drive. Click Next to proceed.

Step 4. And then you’ll be asked which drives you to want to include in the backup file. The system drive and system reserved drive are included by default. You can add more drives to the image file. Click “Next” to continue.

Step 5. You can check the backup location and the size of the backup image. Confirm the settings via clicking “Start backup”.

Step 6. The image files are saved in the “WindowsImageBackup” menu on the SSD.

◤ Section 2. Create a bootable media

First, you need to download official Windows 10 ISO files, if you’re using an external hard drive, make sure its free space is larger than 4 GB.

Step 1. Press Windows and R together, type diskpart, and click "Enter".

Step 2. In the CMD window, please type the following command step by step.

format fs=ntf quick(If you need to create a UEFI bootable USB, you should type format fs=fat32 quick)

active

Step 3. Type “Exit” to finish the operation. And then, connect the SSD to the new computer. Go to BIOS when booting and change the boot type to a USB drive.

◤ Section 3. Restore the image to the SSD

Step 1. Boot your computer, The Windows logo will appear on the screen, this might be here for a while, as long as you see the indicator, everything should be ok.

Step 2. Click “Repair your computer”.

Step 3. Click “Troubleshoot”.

Step 4. Choose “System Image Recovery”.

Step 5. Make sure your external hard disk where the system image is located is connected and turned on.

Step 6. System Image will select the latest system image, if you would rather restore another image, select the Select a system image radio box and click “Next” and follow the on-screen instructions to select an available system image.

Step 7. System Image will format and repartition your hard disk, if you have partitions or other attached storage you would exclude, click the “Exclude disks...” button and do so then click “Next”

Step 8. Click “Finish” to begin

Step 9. One final warning before the restoration begins. Click “Yes” to continue.

Step 10. Wait for a while until the restoration takes place. This can take some time.

When complete, your computer will restart automatically and your Windows 10 has been cloned to SSD.

Summary

As you see, AOMEI Partition Assistant offers you an easier path to help you transfer OS to a new computer. No matter whether the transfer of OS only or all data on the disk, AOMEI Partition Assistant can protect your disk and the data. You can manage all disks and partitions securely and conveniently. What’s more, this software has other practical functions, such as, converting MBR/GPT to GPT/MBR, Extending Drive Wizard, moving installed programs, etc.

If you need to restore a system state backup from one computer to another with dissimilar hardware, such as a different make, model, or configuration, the “universal restore function” of AOMEI Backupper can handle this for you.