When you plan to replace the current disk with an SSD, you'd better clone HDD to SSD. This article will explain why and show you how to do it.
By
Dervish
/ Last Updated March 10, 2022
As we all know, HDD and SSD are two different hard disks. The read and write speed of SSD is much higher than HDD. In order to achieve the best performance of Windows PC, many users will replace HDD with SSD. But when you replace the hard disk, you need to migrate all the data in the original disk to the SSD, including the operating system. In this case, you need to implement it through cloning. Clone is the copy of the disk, it allows you to avoid a series of complicated and time-consuming tasks such as reinstalling the Windows system and redownloading applications.
To clone HDD to SSD safely and quickly, I recommend you to use AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. This is a market-leading free cloning tool with simple operation and friendly interface. Even if you are a beginner, you can easily complete the cloning under instructions.
It provides two cloning methods: "Clone Disk Quickly" and "Sector-by-Sector clone". The former only clones the used space on the hard disk, so you can clone HDD to smaller SSD. The latter clones all sectors on the hard disk, so your SSD needs to be the same size or even larger than the HDD.
In addition, you can also use Migrate OS to SSD to migrate the entire Windows OS to SSD. More features are waiting for you to try.
Now, I will show you the specific steps of clone HDD to SSD software. Before starting, you need to prepare a SATA to USB cable to connect the SSD to the PC. After the cloning is complete, replace the HDD in the host PC with an SSD.
Note: If you plan to clone data disk from MBR/GPT to MBR/GPT, Standard version is enough. But for system disks, Standard version only supports cloning from MBR to MBR. If you need to clone the system disk from MBR to GPT, GPT to MBR, GPT to GPT, please upgrade to the Professional version.
Step 1. Connect the SSD to your PC. Install and run the cloning software. Click "All Tools" and choose "Disk Clone Wizard".
Step 2. Here, We choose "Clone Disk Quickly" and click "Next".
Step 3. Choose the old HDD as your source disk and click "Next".
Step 4. Choose the SSD as your destination disk. Then, check "Optimize the performance of SSD" to improve SSD running speed and click "Next".
Step 5. When you clone to a smaller disk, there will only be 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.
After you clone HDD to SSD with secure boot, you need to enter BIOS to set the SSD as the first boot device. 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.
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