How do I move Windows from one hard drive to another?

As soon as it is time to update your hard drive, learning how to move Windows might feel like a waste of time. You will have to periodically upgrade your hardware parts to ensure that technology doesn’t outgrow current devices. An SSD (solid-state disk) is a good choice for increased storage and better performance.

Your operating system will also have to be migrated when your HDD is upgraded. Two options are available for migrating Windows.  

Start by installing Windows completely from scratch. First, install Windows from scratch. Next, you’ll have to reinstall all apps and use the backup to set everything up. You can also transfer Windows 10/11 from your old hard drive to skip the lengthy Windows installation. This guide will show you how to do the second.

Here are some things to consider before you move windows to another drive

These are the things you must know about migrating your operating systems before you can do so.

Note that you cannot move Microsoft Windows from one hard drive to another, but you might be able move it to another installed hard drive. This depends on what your computer is capable of doing You have a license. 

OEM licenses cannot be transferred to new computers like retail or volume licenses. If you are unsure of your license type, use the Command Prompt/PowerShell command below:

slmgr /dli

The second is a list of things you will need:

• An external storage device You can use this device to create an image of your system and another one for a backup.
• The new hard disk You can install them on your computer. The hard drives are stored differently on laptop and desktop computers. Your laptop might not be serviceable. Make sure you read the manual.  

After the hard drive is installed, you will need to connect the SATA data cables (or the IDE for older computers) to your motherboard. The next step is to boot your computer and verify that the BIOS (or UEFI) firmware has been installed. The firmware will detect your hard drive and it is ready to use.

• A third-party disk cloning tool like AOMEI or EaseUS Todo Backup If your SSD or HDD drive is larger than your existing hard drive.

You should allow 60-90 minutes for this process once you are ready to begin.

Use the built-in system imaging to move Windows 10 from one drive to another

Windows includes a built in tool for creating a system snapshot. To move Windows from one drive to another, you can use the system picture to avoid installing Windows again.  

This method should only be used if the new HDD/SSD hard drive is equal or greater in size to your older HDD. Windows will not allow you to use this method if you attempt it anyway. Windows will display a message telling you that your new HDD or SSD is too small. Use the following guide if your new drive is larger than the one you have.

You can use the built-in tools in two ways. First, you will create a system imaging. This is the second section, where you can migrate Windows from your system image.

Part 1: Creating a System Image

1. Start the Control Panel, and then select Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

2. Select Create a system image You can access the right sidebar.

3. It will open the system image wizard and begin searching for drives where it can save its backup file.  

You can choose your disk from the wizard, or you can choose it manually. You should choose an external storage device or hard drive to ensure that you have a backup of your data in the event of a disk failure. Once you have selected the disk that is best for your needs, click Next.

4. You’ll see the option to pick which partitions you wish to back up, however, all partitions required by Windows will appear on the next screen.  

You might be wondering why other partitions than the system partition were selected. This is because they may contain the program files that you need to use the current apps installed on your machine. Choose Next Once you have chosen your drives.

5. Verify that all is well on the previous screen. Then, select Start backup.

6. When the wizard is done creating the system images, the wizard will ask you if it would like to create a repair disk. A system repair disk is a useful tool to have just in case. Change something you don’t have to, or you end up corrupting it MBR and GPT A system repair disk is a great way to save your boot files.

Part 2: Moving Windows to Another Drive

After you’ve installed the system image on your computer and have copied the hard drive to it, you can start migrating Windows from your old drive.  

1. You will need to launch a Windows install using the media you have downloaded. Go to Repair your computer Instead of Install now.

2. Select the option you want to use after your computer has rebooted Advanced Options > Troubleshoot > System Image Recovery.

3. This will prompt the wizard to detect the current system image. If the wizard doesn’t detect it, then you will have to manually select the new system image. Select the final image once you are finished Next.

4. It will copy the partitions from your previous drive to create new ones. If you’d rather, however, you have the option to Exclude disks, Next.

5. The next screen will appear. Click Finish Click on the “Continue” button to confirm your acceptance Yes. Restart Now. Change the order of boot in BIOS or to UEFI settings. Then reboot your computer and make the new drive the default boot drive.

6. A larger new drive will require you to also install an additional firewall Allocate the additional space using the Disk Management console. New Simple Volume You can create a partition by using unallocated space. You have the option to modify or resize unallocated spaces as desired. It is possible to make one or more partitions and resize them depending on your needs.

A Third-Party tool can be used to transfer Windows 10 from one drive to the other

Windows will not allow you to use the system images for imaging to smaller drives. To migrate Windows 10/11, you will need to copy the HDD/SSD that is smaller than your older drive. Although there are many tools available to create a Windows copy, we will show you how it works using the following AOMEI Backupper Standard .

1. You can start by downloading AOMEI or another third-party software to your computer.

2. Select Clone Select from the sidebar on left System Clone You can clone Windows.

3. Choose the destination partition. This is the drive to which the system should be migrated from its source disk.

4. Select the option to confirm that you wish to continue OK.

When the process is finished, Windows will be able boot from your newly formatted hard drive. After you log in to Windows using the new hard disk, the Disk Management console will allow you to either format it or remove it.

What happens if something goes wrong?

You can minimize the chance of things going wrong if you carefully follow these steps. It is rare that things will go wrong, even when you have done everything correctly. You can’t fix a problem if you don’t have enough power or a UPS to keep you going for over an hour.

There are always options for you to fix it if things go wrong Windows installation is clean On the new drive. To reinstall Windows you will have to reinstall all your applications and reactivate Windows. But you can transfer your files to the new disk without problems.