If your old PC is running slowly, the easiest way to speed up performance is to upgrade your hard drive to an SSD (solid state drive). While updating and installing is easy, the only problem you may encounter is how to transfer your Windows operating system and data to a new SSD without reinstalling it. Luckily, there’s an option to clone Windows 10 from your hard drive to your SSD.
Here is a guide showing how to clone an entire Windows operating system with all files and settings on the SSD intact.
In this article, Niketrainers.com.co will tell you:
Preparation for the cloning process
Various preparations are required before cloning data from a hard drive to an SSD. These include partitioning the SSD to add an additional volume on which data transfer can occur.
Also, try to keep all data on one partition to reduce the risk of incomplete disk cloning. It is important to close all programs before cloning.
It is also recommended to clean the disk to get rid of unnecessary files on the hard disk. This reduces the size of the data transferred. It also prevents you from copying unnecessary files.
To do this, follow the steps below:
1. In the Windows search bar, typeDisk Cleanup
and click your link.
2. A window with a list of file types will open. Select the files you want to delete or delete. Most of them will already be verified as they are files you don’t need like temporary files and other data. Double check that the files you really want to keep are not included.
3. Click “Clean System Files”.
4. Click OK to start the cleaning process.
Start cloning
For computers that only have one hard drive slot, using a hard drive cage allows the SSD to be accessed via USB. Allows cloning to continue through the USB port. Laptops typically have 3.5 inch hard drives, so you would need a 3.5mm USB enclosure to access the drive via USB.
Use CloneGO to clone the data
CloneGo is cloning software available in commercial and free versions. The free version has limited functionality but is available to anyone and you can perform OS and data cloning with ease. If you prefer to use Clonezilla, we also have a tutorial.
1. Download and installCloneGoon Windows 10, then open the program.
2. Click Copy and then select a source partition (hard disk) and a destination partition (SSD).
3. Select “Make the target partition bootable”. This will allow you to boot from the SSD after cloning is complete.
4. After selecting the appropriate options, click Start. Make sure the target partition (SSD) does not contain any needed data as it will be formatted during the process.
5. First, it will format the SSD to the required format, then copy (clone) all data from the hard disk to the SSD.
6. After the data is successfully cloned to the SSD, turn off the computer. If you’re connecting an SSD via USB, you can open the computer, remove the existing hard drive, and put the SSD card in place. Make sure the computer is turned off and disconnected.
I’m breaking it off
After installing the SSD, you can turn on and start your computer. In the BIOS screen, make sure SSD is selected as the first boot option. If everything is fine, you should be able to boot to Windows 10 and all your files and data intact. You will see that it works much faster.
As you can see, cloning Windows 10 to SSD is easy. You can also follow the same steps to clone from SSD to SSD. The best part is that Windows will be back to work quickly.
If you have a Mac, you can also create a Mac boot clone.