In this article, you’ll get further info on how to copy the operating system to SSD without reinstalling it, which may be crucial if you just bought one to improve your PC.
Solid state drives offer a considerable improvement in terms of speed and reliability over traditional mechanical hard drives. Also, they’re absolutely silent, shock-proof, and energy-efficient.
Many cheaper, low-end computers still come with old hard disks, and upgrading to a new SSD will make a stellar improvement in the overall performance and usability of the system.
For the ones who are still running older machines, an SSD will be a big step up in terms of overall performance. Although, moving the operating system and all the installed programs and apps from the older hard drive to the newly acquired SSD may be tricky.
Also, fresh-installing the windows and everything else from scratch may be a good way to start new with a clean system, but it’s time-consuming and may not be an option for everyone.
Dealing with setting up Windows again, getting all of the personal files and folders back on a new drive, and reinstalling all the apps may be a hassle.
Table of Contents
- Migrate the Windows 10 operating system to an SSD
- Copy operating system to SSD
- Best program to clone HDD to SSD
- Wrap Up
Migrate the Windows 10 operating system to an SSD
As long as your current Windows is running well, there is a way to transfer your Windows installation to an SSD without reinstalling it all over again.
The simplest and most straightforward method to move Windows 10 and all the programs into an SSD is by using cloning software, and there are many good options available for cloning SSD drives.
That process takes everything from your old hard drive to your new SSD, and not only migrates Windows 10, but also installed applications, custom settings, system updates, drivers, and wanted personal data on the system disk.
Copy operating system to SSD
Cloning Windows 10 to SSD is not as difficult process as a lot of people think, although there are some simple steps you need to note before you proceed with the migration.
The first thing you should do is to free up the maximum space possible, backing up non-system data to other media sources (i.e. to an external storage or to the cloud) and deleting all the unwanted data that is no longer necessary.
Bear in mind that, eventually, your new SSD may have a limited storage space compared to your current hard disc. And, if you have all your pictures, music, and videos in your Windows partition, it’s likely that isn’t enough space on your destination drive for all those files to be migrated.
Always check how much space your Windows partition is taking and note the disk space on the SSD can’t be smaller than the used disk space of the source disk.
You can check the capacity of each drive by plugging your SSD into your computer and opening Windows Explorer, comparing its free usable space with the disk space your Windows partition is currently taking.
And also, it’s important not to forget to back up all your data, even the data you want to be migrated to the SSD because if something goes wrong with the process, you might lose it forever.
Now, when you’re sure that your current Windows partition can fit on the new SSD, it’s time to move the data. The next step is to download and run an SSD cloning software that will guide you through the rest of the process.
Best program to clone HDD to SSD
There are several competent and free software to clone SSD you can use to complete this process. The majority are very user-friendly and will guide you, step-by-step, through the whole process.
Here are some of the best apps for cloning Windows 10 to SSD:
- Acronis True Image
- AOMEI Backupper Standard
- Clonezilla
- DiskGenius Free Edition
- EasyUS Todo
- Macrium Reflect
And that’s about that, your Windows 10 is now successfully moved to the SSD drive. Now that your original Windows partition is cloned, reboot your computer, and check to see if everything is working as it should.
This time, you can either delete the cloning tool or keep it around for future data management.
Once your new SSD is up and running, you should do a few last tweaks to make sure everything is running in perfect shape:
- Enable TRIM: It is a specific set of commands that help SSDs to manage empty space on the disk in a more efficient way. You can check that TRIM is enabled by opening a Command Prompt window with Administrator privileges, and entering the following command: “fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify“. If you get a 1, TRIM is not enabled. If you get a 0, TRIM is enabled. If you need to enable it, just type the following command: “fsutil behavior set DisableNotify 0“
- Turn off any defragmentation tool: It is advisable not to run defrag tools on SSDs. It is not needed and may cause unnecessary wear to the disk.
You can now move data from the backup onto your old disc, which is now extra storage for your system.
If you’re using a desktop computer or a laptop with available physical space for a second hard drive (i.e. if it does not feature a DVD player but has a free slot for it), install your old HDD onto the free slot and connect it to another SATA port as a secondary drive, mainly for storage purpose.
Format the old HDD and then, restore your previously backed up non-system data (videos, photos, music, and, other documents).
Wrap Up
Installing a Solid State Drive is one of the best upgrades you can make for your computer, turning a sluggish machine into something perfectly usable and up to date in terms of performance. But how to copy the operating system to SSD without reinstalling it?
Transferring all the data present on your old hard disk may be complex and time-consuming. To clone an SSD is easy.
If you don’t want to reinstall windows and all the apps all over again, then in this article you get the key steps on how to move the operating system to SSD and the best cloning hard drive software to do it without hassle.
