Clone Old Hard Drive to New SSD/HDD without Reinstalling
Quick Navigation:
- Why Clone Old Hard Drive to New SSD?
- Best Software to Clone HDD to SSD in Windows
- How to Clone Your Old Hard Drive to Your SSD Step by Step
- Further reading
- Conclusion
Why Clone Old Hard Drive to New SSD?
As old hard drives age, they become overwhelmed with stored data, including operating systems, software, programs, files, videos, and music. Over time, the hardware on the old hard drive can fail, putting all the stored content at risk of being lost. To prevent this, you can clone the old hard drive to a new one or a new SSD, depending on your budget. This ensures that your important data is safely transferred to a newer, more reliable storage device.
Upgrading a disk's capacity often involves cloning the old disk to a new one, which can be useful for increasing storage space. Additionally, some users prefer to clone their boot drive to a solid-state drive (SSD) for improved performance, while keeping the original hard drive as a storage device, thus maximizing the benefits of each type of storage.
Users who want to clone their laptop hard drive to a new one can do so using specialized software. The process typically involves connecting the old and new hard drives to the laptop, running the cloning software, and following the on-screen instructions to complete the cloning process. This allows users to transfer all data, programs, and settings from the old hard drive to the new one, effectively cloning the laptop's hard drive.
Best Software to Clone HDD to SSD in Windows
When trying to clone a larger hard drive to a smaller SSD using some cloning software, you may encounter the "Target disk is too small for this operation" error. However, this issue is not a technical problem, but rather a limitation of the cloning software itself, which may not support cloning a larger drive to a smaller one.
Specialized cloning software like Qiling Disk Master Professional can effectively handle issues with cloning a disk.
- EaseUS Todo PCToGo offers three clone types: Disk Clone, Partition Clone, and System Clone, allowing users to clone a whole disk, a specific partition, or only the OS to a new disk.
- This software offers two cloning methods: sector by sector clone and intelligent clone. The intelligent clone method, which is the default, allows you to clone an old hard drive to a smaller SSD in a laptop or desktop with secure boot, as long as the SSD is not smaller than the used part of the old hard drive. This method is suitable for cloning an old hard drive to a smaller SSD in a laptop or desktop with secure boot.
- The software can perform a live disk cloning, allowing you to clone one disk to another without interrupting your operating system or programs. This means you can clone your old hard drive in Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11 to a smaller SSD while still working and studying, without any downtime.
How to Clone Your Old Hard Drive to Your SSD Step by Step
1. To upgrade your machine's storage, install an SSD and connect it using a SATA-to-USB cable. Next, download, install, and launch Qiling Disk Master, then navigate to the "Tools and utilities" section and select "Disk Clone" to proceed.
2. Select the current old hard drive as the source disk.
3. Select the smaller SSD as the target disk.
4. The Check SSD Alignment box should be selected since the destination disk is an SSD, and the default cloning method should be set to intelligent clone, which clones only used parts of the source disk. Proceed with the cloning process to copy the old hard drive to the new SSD.
5. To complete the cloning process, shut down the computer. Then, replace your old hard drive with the new SSD. You may need a screwdriver to uninstall the old disk. Once the new SSD is installed, boot up the computer from it. If you choose to keep both disks installed, you'll need to change the boot priority to the SSD in the BIOS settings.
Tip: To clone an old hard drive to a new computer with different hardware, create a backup image of the old hard drive and then perform a dissimilar hardware restore on the new computer.
Further reading
If you clone a GPT disk to an MBR disk with more than 3 partitions, you may receive a message indicating that the disk is not bootable. This is because MBR disks are limited to 4 primary partitions, and the GPT disk may have more than 4 partitions, which cannot be cloned to an MBR disk.
The source disk has more than 3 partitions, but Disk Clone can only copy a maximum of 3 partitions from a GPT disk to an MBR disk. To copy the remaining partitions, you can use Partition Clone to transfer them to the destination disk.
To resolve the issue of having too many partitions on your disk and running out of space for the MBR partition table, consider merging partitions without losing data or reducing the partition number to fit the MBR partition style. This approach can help alleviate the problem.
Conclusion
Cloning an old hard drive to a smaller SSD is a straightforward process with Qiling Disk Master, making it a great backup solution as well. This software offers scheduled backup to external hard drives, serving as a suitable alternative to Windows 8's File History, 10, 11, and Backup and Restore in Windows 7. By utilizing Qiling Disk Master, you can build a comprehensive PC backup strategy.
Related Articles
- 2 Ways: Clone Old Computer to New PC (Bootable)
- Easiest Way to Clone Hard Drive to SSD without Reinstalling (Video Tutorial)
- Easily Transfer/Clone Windows 7 to New Hard Drive (3 Ways Included)
- How to Mirror a Hard Drive in Windows 10 [step by step]
If you want to create a mirrored drive on your existing hard drive, you will first need to partition your hard drive. Want to know how to mirror a hard drive in Windows 10? Read through this detailed guide on the process and related details.