Steps to Clone HDD to SSD with AOMEI Partition Assistant in Windows 10

Why clone HDD to SSD?

As SSD (Solid-State Drive) can provide a faster speed of loading and a much shorter boot-up time, many users choose SSD as the boot drive.  If you consider that it's a little bit complicated to perform a clean install of Windows 10/8/7 on the new SSD, you can clone your old hard disk drive to SSD. Or you can merely clone the system to SSD and make SSD for OS only.

Overall HDD to SSD cloning software: AOMEI Partition Assistant

To clone HDD to SSD safely and quickly, you can resort to HDD to SSD copy tool, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.  With it, you can clone HDD to a smaller SSD as it can clone only used space on the source HDD.  Of course, it allows you to clone every sector on the source disk as well. 

What's more, it can make 4k alignment when cloning to SSD and allows users to do both basic partition operations like resize partition, merge partition, move partition, delete partition, format partition, and advanced partition managements like, migrate OS to SSD, create Windows to go USB, create bootable media, etc. It’s a multifunctional and one of the best disk management utilities on the market.  

Note: To clone non-system HDD to SSD, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standards supports from MBR to MBR/GPT or GPT to MBR/GPT. When clone system HDD to SSD, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard supports from MBR to MBR. To clone MBR system disk to GPT or clone GPT system disk to MBR/GPT, please upgrade to the Professional version. 

How to: clone HDD to SSD in Windows 10/8/7

Now, free download the HDD to SSD copy tool, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard and see how it works.

Step 1. Connect the SSD to your PC. Install and run the cloning software. Click "All Tools" and choose "Disk Clone Wizard".

Step 2. Choose "Clone Disk Quickly" and click "Next". If you plan to clone hard drive with bad sectors, you need to choose "Sector-by-Sector clone".

Step 3. Choose the old HDD as your source disk and click "Next".

Step 4. Choose the SSD as your destination disk and click "Next".

Step 5.  When you clone to a smaller disk, there will only be only two options available. Choose one and click "Next"> "Finish".

Step 6. Click “Apply” > “Proceed” to implement the HDD to SSD copy after you return to the main interface. 

How to: boot from SSD after cloning HDD to SSD

After you clone HDD to SSD with secure boot, you need to enter BIOS to set the SSD as the first boot device if you keep your SSD and HDD simultaneously.  Here is the whole process:

Step 1. Reboot your PC and constantly press F2, Del, F8, or F12 to access the BIOS menu. 

Step 2. You can use the arrow key to choose the Boot tab.

Step 3. Then move the cloned SSD to the first position in the list. 

Step 4. Save the changes and exit the BIOS setup utility. Then your PC will restart from the SSD.