Want to make your PC faster but worried about losing important files? Cloning your hard disk to an SSD is one of the best ways to cut the operating system’s loading time while keeping all your data.
Cloning or changing the partitions of a failing drive can make the case worse. If the files matter, first see how SSD recovery works.
Cloning lets you move everything, from the operating system to your installed programs, from one drive to another, without having to reinstall or reconfigure any of your software.
What’s more, solid-state drives, or SSDs, have no moving parts, which makes them more resistant to knocks and vibration than traditional hard disks.
That makes them an ideal replacement if you’re planning to upgrade the hard disk in a laptop or desktop that has become slow.
With an SSD, the system starts up and shuts down faster, and programs open and respond much more quickly.
Read on to learn about the advantages of cloning and how to clone your hard disk to an SSD, step by step.
What is hard disk cloning?
Hard disk cloning is the process of creating an identical copy of one drive on another, so that you end up with two drives with the same partitions, file structure and data. A sector-by-sector clone copies absolutely everything, so it requires a target at least as large as the source; to move to a smaller SSD, you clone only the used data and the partitions are resized.
Cloning a hard disk preserves not only your data but also an exact copy of the programs installed on the PC, the operating system settings and the way your folders and files are organized.
This means you can move everything across without wasting time reinstalling or reconfiguring your software.
All of this is done with cloning software that copies the information from the hard disk to the SSD exactly as it is, so your files and settings stay unchanged; the only difference is that the operating system now runs from the new drive.
Why clone a hard disk to an SSD?
It’s no secret that cloning a hard disk drive (HDD) to a solid-state drive (SSD) makes a PC or laptop faster, more resistant to knocks and less power-hungry.
But there are several other good reasons to clone a disk. Here are the main ones.
Moving the operating system
Cloning is very useful if you want to keep all your operating system settings, updates, installed programs and their data, as well as the files and documents on drive C.
That way you don’t have to reinstall or download programs again, reorganize your information by hand, or track down drivers and operating system updates.
Upgrading the hard disk
After a few years of use, it’s normal for a hard disk to start showing signs of wear and to become noticeably slower.
In that case, it’s worth cloning it to a new drive so you can carry on using your PC exactly as before, while it’s still healthy. This reduces the risk of failures and keeps your machine running at its best.
Read also: Hard disk health: what it is, how to check it and how to restore it
Data migration
Users often want to move their information to another storage device, whether to gain space, organize their files better or for security reasons.
Cloning is a very convenient way to migrate data, because it reduces the risk of leaving something behind or losing files, which often happens when people simply copy and paste.
Disk duplication
Copying your data to another disk is a good idea if you don’t want to depend on a single hard disk or SSD, or if you want peace of mind should something go wrong.
Cloning is a good option here: the information ends up on both the new drive and the original disk, with all the settings intact.
Protecting your data
No hard disk or SSD is immune to failure, so cloning a disk while it is still healthy is a good way to protect yourself: all the data, programs and settings are copied, and the new drive can be used straight away if the original fails.
If the source disk is already failing, however, don’t try to clone it with ordinary software: repeated reads can make the damage worse. In that case, a specialized lab can create the image with professional equipment and recover your files, such as documents, programs and settings, as long as they are still on the source drive.
How do I clone a hard disk to an SSD without losing anything?
So how do you clone a hard disk to an SSD without losing data? Start with two steps: prepare the SSD and clear out the files you don’t need from the hard disk.
Prepare the SSD
The SSD you bought is probably smaller than your old disk, so you need to check that the space used on the hard disk is smaller than the total capacity of the new SSD.
To do this, open File Explorer with the Win + E shortcut, right-click drive C and choose “Properties”. On the “General” tab, check the figure shown under “Used space”.
Delete unwanted files from your hard disk
If the space used on drive C is larger than the capacity of the SSD, you’ll need to free up space until it is smaller than the SSD’s total capacity.
So delete the files you don’t need and, once you’ve freed up enough space, you can defragment the drive to move all the files to the beginning of the disk. Only do this on a healthy hard disk: never defragment a disk that is showing signs of failure, and never defragment an SSD.
On Windows, you can use the built-in “Defragment and Optimize Drives” tool for this: open it, select drive C and click “Optimize”.
Step by step: cloning a larger disk to an SSD
Before you start cloning your hard disk to an SSD, make sure the SSD doesn’t hold any important data, because everything on it will be erased.
Also make sure the SSD’s capacity is greater than or equal to the space used on the source disk.
Once you’ve checked this, download the free edition of MiniTool Partition Wizard and use its Copy Disk feature to clone a data disk.
Bear in mind that to clone the system disk you’ll need the Pro edition or another, more advanced program.
Here’s how to clone a hard disk to an SSD, step by step:
Step 1 – Start the disk copy
First, select the hard disk you want to clone. Then click “Copy Disk” in the action panel, or right-click the source disk and choose “Copy”.
Step 2 – Choose the target disk
Next, select the target disk, the SSD that will receive the contents of the source disk.
Note that everything on the target disk will be erased and replaced with the contents of the source disk. Click “Yes” to continue.
Step 3 – Choose the copy options
First, choose between “Fit partitions to entire disk” (the partitions are resized automatically to fill the whole target disk) and “Copy partitions without resizing” (the partitions keep the sizes they have on the source disk), depending on what you need.
In this example we’ll use “Fit partitions to entire disk”. To get the best performance from your SSD, also tick “Align partitions to 1 MB”.
Finally, if you want the cloned system disk to use the GPT partition style, tick “Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk” (this requires a computer that boots in UEFI mode).
Step 4 – Read the note on booting from the target disk
A note will then explain that, to boot the PC from the new disk, you need to change the boot order in the BIOS/UEFI settings once the cloning is done. Read it and click “Finish”.
Step 5 – Apply the changes
Check that all the partitions are listed to be copied to your SSD. If everything looks right, click “Apply” to start the cloning.
Tip: if you only want to move the system partitions to another disk, MiniTool Partition Wizard also has a feature called “Migrate OS to SSD/HD”.
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Conclusion
In this post, we’ve seen that cloning a hard disk to an SSD is one of the best ways to make your PC or laptop faster, without losing data or having to reinstall programs, the operating system or your settings.
You can clone a disk yourself, but if you’re unsure, or if the disk is showing signs of failure, it’s best to seek help from a specialist to give the procedure the best chance of success.
A specialist will clone your hard disk to an SSD with professional tools, so you don’t have to worry about a thing.
Bot is a company specializing in data recovery, with more than two decades of experience and a team of highly qualified professionals. We can help with a wide range of challenges, from data recovery on hard disks, external disks, SSDs and other devices to secure data destruction.
If you need expert help to answer your questions and carry out the whole procedure, contact us now!
Need to recover the files? Bot runs a free diagnosis in its lab: see our SSD data recovery service.
