Q: “I have purchased a new M.2 SSD and am going to replace my old hard drive with a larger M.2 SSD, but it is a hassle to transfer files such as photos, software, and documents from the old hard drive to the new SSD, is there any way to transfer files from a hard drive to an SSD without losing data?”

After SSD became popular, we often received similar questions. Solid State Drives are often used to improve computer performance because they run faster, consume less power, and are quieter than traditional hard drives. So how do you migrate data from an old hard drive to an SSD before replacing it with an SSD? The best way is to clone the hard drive to an SSD. However, Windows does not provide support for cloning-related programs. In this article, we will share a detailed guide on how to clone a hard drive to SSD.

What Do You Need to Prepare for Hard Drive Cloning

HDD cloning means copying all your data from the source HDD to the target HDD, and it can save you from going through the annoying process of reinstalling your system and transferring files on a new SSD. So, how to clone HDD to SSD? Before you start, you need to do the following preparations:

1. Install or connect the SSD on your computer, and then check if it can already be successfully detected by your computer.

2. Organize and delete the extra files on the old HDD, which will help reduce the cloning time. Also, you need to make sure that the new SSD has enough storage space.

3. It is important to note that the data on the new SSD will be automatically formatted during the cloning process. If important data is already stored on SSD, please remember to back it up.

4. Choose a reliable cloning software. A professional cloning software is able to clone the entire disk to the SSD and you can safely make a 1:1 copy of the disk or partition. Which is the best cloning software program on the market? Please refer to the next section.

Best Software for Clone a Hard Drive to SSD

Whether it is a Windows system or a Mac system, there is no official built-in software and functions for disk cloning, the best choice for users is to use third-party professional disk cloning software to move HDD to SSD. CloneGo, a reliable cloning software developed by iSunshare, is now one of the most popular cloning software on the market and has received five-star reviews from tens of thousands of users thanks to its excellent work. All in all, it’s worth your time to try it out.

Overview of iSunshare CloneGo features:

1. Smart Cloning – You will be able to clone a disc/partition to another SSD/HDD in a few clicks.
2. Backup and restore data – it supports you to create backup archives for selected partitions on SSD/HDD and restore them on any computer at any time.
3. Multiple cloning capabilities – The tool has multiple cloning modes such as disk cloning, partition/volume cloning, system cloning, etc.

Detailed Steps to Clone a Hard Drive to SSD with CloneGo

How to clone a hard drive to SSD in Windows 11/10? iSunshare CloneGo will make this complicated job easier. Follow the detailed guide below.

Please Free download and install iSunshare CloneGo on your computer first.

Step 1: Initialize SSD and Create a New Simple Volume. Press the “Windows + X” shortcut to open your computer’s system-level command menu and go to “Disk Management“, then your computer will automatically pop up a dialog box prompting you to initialize the disk. Select the partition style consistent with the source disk and click “OK“.

After the disk is initialized, right-click on the target disk and select the “New Simple Volume” option, then follow the system instructions to create a new volume for the SSD.

Step 2: Select the “Disk Clone” feature. Launch the software and click on the “Disk Clone” function from the left side of the function options bar to continue.

Confirm the source partition and target partition. In the “Select disk” box, choose the HDD as the source disk , and then select the new SSD as the target disk.

Step 3: Start the disk cloning process. Click the “Start” button at the bottom right of the interface, and then click “Yes” to confirm and start cloning.

Wait for a while and after the cloning is complete, the interface will indicate that the drive has been successfully cloned.

Tip: If you keep two hard drives on your computer at the same time, you will need to enter the BIOS menu to set the new SSD as the boot disk, which will increase the speed of your computer more effectively.

FAQ about Cloning a Hard Drive to an SSD

Q1: How long does it usually take to clone a hard drive to an SSD?

The cloning time depends on the amount of space used on the drive and the degree of fragmentation of the file system, it usually takes about 50 minutes to clone a drive with 1TB of storage. CloneGo is a software that allows you to run in the background of your system and its cloning process will not interfere with other work on your computer.

Q2: Is it possible to clone SSD to HDD?

HDD is better for mass storage than SSD. As long as the HDD is large enough to hold all the data stored in the SSD, you can clone the SSD to HDD with iSunshare CloneGo.

Q3: Can I migrate Window 10 to HDD/SSD?

Of course. You can migrate all the data on the source partition to the target partition, including Windows OS, hard disk/partition, dynamic volume, etc.

Conclusion

When your computer runs out of memory and becomes laggy, a common solution is to upgrade the smaller HDD to a larger SSD, or clone SDD to a larger SSD. If you are new to the process of hard disk cloning, the dedicated disk cloning software – iSunshare CloneGo will be your best helper, maybe it is the key step for you to successfully clone HDD to SSD.