[Step by Step] How to Transfer Windows to Another Drive

Can I move Windows to another drive?

Besides the reason mentioned in the example, you may also want to move Windows to another hard drive for the following reasons:

★ When you find there're some errors on the current hard drive, to avoid losing important data, you can try to migrate Windows to another hard drive without reinstalling it.
★ When the hard drive space is insufficient, you need to replace a hard drive with a larger space.

But how to transfer Windows to another drive? Next, we'll introduce a powerful Windows migration tool and detailed the steps to do it.

Overview of a powerful Windows migration tool 

Different from creating a system image, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional does not require any skill. This third-party tool designed for managing disk can easily help you to transfer Windows to another hard drive. 

There're some points that we should pay attention to:

► Compatibility: It supports Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP
► Convenience: users can manage the disk with detailed guidance
► Practicality: It can not only perform basic operations like extend/reducing/deleting/formatting partitions, but also has advanced functions such as Convert system disk between MBR and GPT, Allocate free space, and Move Application from one partition to another.

Its "Migrate OS to SSD" function can migrate Windows and system-related data with a few simple steps. If you want to transfer the entire hard drive, the "Clone Disk" function can meet your needs.

You can download the demo version to experience how to transfer windows to another hard drive.

Step by step: Move Windows to another drive

How to transfer Windows to another drive? In the content below, we will discuss the three most important stages of moving a Windows system to another drive.

│Stage 1. Before transferring Windows to another drive

Before operating the work of migrating Windows, please note the following programs:

✦ If your computer is a desktop computer, please use a screwdriver to install the new hard drive into the host computer; if your computer is a laptop, please prepare a SATA to USB adapter, then connect the new hard drive to your PC.

✦ Please make sure that the capacity of the target hard drive is larger than the space used to install and run Windows, or you will not be able to move Windows to it.
✦ The power connection must be stable, or the migration may fail due to power loss.
✦ If the target hard drive is new, don't forget to initialize it and set the partition style to be the same as the old hard drive.

│Stage 2. How to transfer Windows to another drive

After checking the precautions mentioned above, you can refer to the following steps on how to transfer Windows to another drive.

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. In the main interface, you can see all disks and partitions, click "Migrate OS" from the top panel.

Step 2. Select disk space on the drive you want move Windows to, then tick the "I want to delete all partitions on this disk 2 to migrate system to the disk" and click "Next".

Step 3. In the pop up window, set the size of the system partition by dragging the double arrow leftward or rightward.

Step 4. Read a "Note" about how to boot OS after your migration carefully. (It's quite useful for you to set the boot order.)

Step 5. Click "Apply" to see the result of migration and "Proceed" to realize it.

│Stage 3. How to boot Windows from the new drive

As we all know, BIOS and UEFI are two common boot modes of computers. BIOS is an old boot mode suitable for Windows systems before Windows 8. It has good compatibility and supports MBR disks. As an alternative to BIOS, UEFI is currently the most popular boot mode. It has higher security and supports GPT disks. Let's see how to boot from it after successfully migrating Windows.

Situation 1. Boot new drive from UEFI

You need to do the following to change the boot order (UEFI boot mode):

Step 1. Restart the computer and repeatedly press F1/F2/F3/F5/Esc to enter the UEFI settings.

Step 2. (UEFI boot mode)Turn to the Boot Menu and set the new drive as the boot drive in the boot priority section.

Situation 2. Boot new drive from BIOS

You can also change the boot order from the BIOS interface with the following steps:

Step 1. Restart the computer and repeatedly press F1/F2/F3/F5/Esc to enter the BIOS settings.

Step 2. Turn to the Boot Menu under the BIOS boot mode, then set the new drive as the boot drive.

Final words

How to transfer Windows to another drive? In this tutorial, we detailed a versatile software to help you move Windows system to a different hard drive. By the way, if you use Windows Server, we also provide the corresponding Server Version for you.