How to Set up SSD and HDD Combo in Windows 10, 11

Can I use an SSD and HDD together?

To use separate drives for better performance is quite common now, especially after Windows 11 has been released, many users prefer to use a larger disk as the system disk (Windows 11 has a higher requirement of storage) and the old one as the storage disk. You can use an SSD and an HDD together on your computer, and this is a solution with low price but high quality. For people who have installed an HDD already, after you set up your SSD, the old HDD can become your storage disk to save videos, music, games… you don’t have to buy another disk for storage.

In addition, it’s more convenient to use an SSD and HDD together.

▶ The benefits of SSD & HDD combo:

1. Faster boot
As we all know SSD is faster, safer, and more reliable due to its different working way and structure. So, in theory, if you install your OS and some frequently-used programs on SSD, you can get better performance than using an HDD as the system disk.

2. Better maintenance for two disk
Although SSD has better performance than HDD, it has a fatal disadvantage: the time of reading/writing. The times are limited, if you delete or erase large programs or files too often on the SSD, it will soon run out of its service life. However, HDD can offset this disadvantage of SSD. You may store big files like movies or other personal files on a hard drive, and the only thing you need to do is defrag it regularly to maintain its health.
What’s more, an SSD with the same capacity as an HDD costs more money than an HDD, so, keeping your SSD well can also save money.

3. More disk capacity
Of course, there will be more available capacity for you to save your data. You no longer need to worry about having to delete an old program to save a new program. And you can classify your files and install programs on separate hard drives to manage your data easily and orderly.

How to set up SSD and HDD combo in Windows 10, 11

Since there are many benefits of setup SSD and HDD combo in Windows 10 or 11, lots of users would like to have a try. But it’s bothering to waste too much time to reinstall OS and installed programs on SSD, what’s worst, all settings and data will lose.

If you’re thinking “why not directly move what I need to the target disk”, then, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is what you need the most.

Programs are not like your small files that can be moved by “Copy & Paste”; they won’t boot after you change a location as the files, not to mention OS. To make sure the OS and programs can be booted successfully, you’ll need professional software. It has “Migrate OS to SSD” and “App Mover” features to ensure the migration can be executed successfully. And if you wish to clone the old disk to the new one, it has another function called “Disk Clone Wizard” that allows you to clone HDD to SSD or SSD to HDD.

We’ll introduce “Migrate OS to SSD”, “App Mover”, and “Disk Clone Wizard” to show you how to set up SSD and HDD combo in Windows 10 or 11.

Plan 1. Migrate OS & Apps from HDD to SSD without reinstalling

Because after the migration, the software will ask you to reboot your computer to finish the moving, we’ll move Apps at first.

Connect the target SSD to your computer, and make sure it can be detected by your devices.

Step 1. Install and run the application, go to “Free up” > “App Mover”.

Step 2. In the pop-up window, choose the drive that has the programs you want to move and click “Next”.

Step 3. In the window, all movable apps on the selected drive will be listed. You can choose one or multiple apps that you need to move and the target disk. Then click “Move” to execute the operation.

Step 4. Confirm that you have closed the apps that you will move. Then, click "OK".

Step 5. Wait for the move process to complete. Then, click "Finish".

Now, you can try to boot one of the moved programs to check if the moving is successful. Then, we’ll start to migrate OS.

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. To migrate OS to SSD, click "Clone" and “Migrate OS" at the top pane. It will lead you to the wizard of migrating OS to SSD. Click “Next” to move on.

Step 2. Then, you should select the SSD as the destination place to store the system files.

Step 3. Next, you can resize the system partition on the SSD.

Step 4. A note for how to boot from the SSD after migration will appear. After reading it, click "Finish".

Step 5. Do not forget to click ‘’Apply“to submit all operations.

After migration, you can reboot your computer enter the BIOS setup environment to change the boot order to boot the computer from the target SSD to check if the SSD is bootable.

Then, if you wish to format the HDD, you can choose “Wipe Hard Drive” to clean your HDD for reusing.

Plan 2. Clone one disk to the target disk

If you just wish to make a disk upgrade to make SSD bootable to replace the old HDD and make it as the storage device, the “Disk Clone Wizard” feature can offer you a favor. It can clone MBR disk to GPT disk without converting the destination GPT disk to MBR partition style at first.

Step 1. Run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional and choose “Clone” > “Clone Disk” in the main interface.

Step 2. In the new window, you can choose a way to clone HDD to SSD based on your situation. We recommend you choose “Clone Disk Quickly”.

Step 3. Choose the HDD as the source disk and click “Next”.

Step 4. Choose the SSD as the destination disk, tick the option “Optimize the performance of SSD”, and click “Next”.

Step 5. Here you can adjust the partition size on the SSD. Then click “Next” to continue. Because the SSD we use is smaller, the first option is greyed out.

Step 6. Then a boot note will appear. Read it and click “Finish”.

Step 7. In the main interface, click “Apply” to commit the pending operation.

Then you can reboot your PC from the SSD (don’t forget to enter BIOS to change the boot order.).

Further knowledge: How to optimize SSD and HDD combo on one PC

After we set up the SSD and HDD combo on the PC, to ensure they will work well in the future, you need to maintain them properly in daily use.

For SSD, you don’t need to defrag it. The Trim feature is enough to manage it well.

Step 1. Press “Windows” + “R” and type CMD to open it.

Step 2. Type: “fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify” to check the Trim feature is on or off.

• DisableDeleteNotify = 0 : TRIM is already available and working in Windows

• DisableDeleteNotify = 1 : TRIM is not available

Step 3. If it’s not available, please type: "fsutil behavior set DisableDeleteNotify" and press “Enter”. Then the Trim feature is enabled.

You can also make a 4k alignment to decrease the spread data.

If you buy a larger SSD and wish to erase the current SSD, you can choose “SSD Secure Erase” to safely erase it without hurting it.

For HDD, you can set a “Schedule defrag” to regularly defrag it. If there are too many fragments on the HDD, the time of accessing programs will be longer. Defragmentation will reorganize the messed files and help HDD work better. You can set when to defrag, how often to defrag, and more details to make sure this task will run automatically at the right time. 

Final lines

Now you know how to use SSD and HDD together in Windows 10 or 11. With AOMEI Partition Assistant, you can easily optimize your PC. You can choose the Server edition to manage your Server device, it can be applied on Server 2022/2019/2016/2012(R2)/2008(R2).

As you see, AOMEI Partition Assistant is a versatile tool, besides the mentioned functions, it can convert the disk to MBR/GPT without reinstalling OS, allocated free space to extend C drive, or create Windows to go USB to allow you to run your Windows on another computer.