The Easiest Way to Install Windows 10 on New Hard Drive

How can I Install Windows on a new hard drive?

This is the rank 1 question from the Microsoft Community website according to Google. Thus it can be seen that the demand for it is very large. People want to solve the problem but don't know where to start. That is why they ask the question of how to install Windows on a new hard drive in the official community or forums and hope someone can help them.

Well, to install Windows 10 onto a new hard drive, you can choose to use Windows 10 built-in tool or reliable third-party software to help you. This article will introduce you to the steps of the two methods in turn, and you can choose any of them according to your own needs.

Why need to Install Windows 10 on a New Hard Drive

adding a new hard drive is a convenient and effective way to address various disk or computer issues. Here are some common scenarios where you might need to install Windows on a new hard drive:

⭐Upgrading to a Larger Drive: Users may need more storage space or better performance and opt to replace their current hard drive with a larger HDD or faster SSD. Installing Windows 10 on the new drive ensures optimal use of the new hardware.
⭐Replacing a Failing Drive: If the existing hard drive is malfunctioning or has failed, installing Windows 10 on a new hard drive is necessary to restore the system to a functional state.
⭐Improving System Performance: Upgrading from an older, slower drive to a modern SSD can significantly enhance system performance, boot times, and overall responsiveness. A fresh Windows 10 installation on the new drive maximizes these benefits.
⭐Clean Installation for Troubleshooting: Sometimes, persistent software issues, malware, or corrupted files necessitate a clean installation of Windows 10. Installing the OS on a new hard drive can eliminate these issues and provide a fresh start.

How to Install Windows on a New Hard Drive

If you want to use the Windows 10 built-in tool to help you, you need to create Windows 10 installation media first and then install Windows 10 on the new hard drive. You can see the specific tutorial in method 1. However, this approach is a little more complex, and you need to follow each of the following steps carefully to make sure that everything is correct.

If you prefer the easier way, you can select a reliable third-party tool to clone the disk containing Windows 10 to a new hard drive. And you can follow the steps in method 2. You can select any one of the methods based on your needs.

Method 1. Install Windows 10 on New Hard Drive using the Windows Media Creation Tool

In order to solve the problem of how to install Windows on a new hard drive, the first method is to use the Media Creation Tool provided by Microsoft. It can help you to prepare the installation media and then install Windows 10 on your new hard drive. You can follow the tutorial below.

Before you use the Windows Media Creation Tool to install Windows 10 on the new hard drive, you need to do some preparation work:

❗Prepare a USB drive: The drive’s capacity should be large enough (at least 8GB).
❗Unplug other disks: If your computer has more than one drive, the BIOS may recognize it incorrectly and not boot from the bootable USB drive.
❗Backup important files: Since the disk will be formatted during the process of creating Windows installation media, you should make sure you’ve copied all files you want to keep off it.

Create Windows 10 Installation Media

Step 1. Download the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool and launch it.

Step 2. Choose Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC. Then click Next.

Step 3. You can set Language, Windows Edition, and Architecture by yourself, or you can accept the recommended options. Then click Next.

Step 4. Choose USB flash drive and click Next. If you choose the other option ISO file, you need to burn it to a DVD later by yourself.

Step 5. Select the removable drive from the list, and click Next to continue.

Step 6. It will start downloading Windows 10 as well as any available updates to the USB drive and make it bootable so that you can install Windows 10 later.

Step 7. When you see the message Your USB flash drive is ready, it means the process is successful. Then click Finish to exit.

Install Windows 10 on a new hard drive

Step 1. First, insert the new hard drive and USB flash drive to your computer. Then, restart your computer, press F2 or F12 to enter the BIOS, and select the USB flash drive as the first option, finally press F10 or Enter to exit and reboot.

Step 2. When the computer boots from the USB drive, you can see the screen below. Please confirm the language to install, time and currency format, and keyboard or input method. Then click Next.

Step 3 . Click Install Now.

Step 4. Input your product key or leave it blank.

Step 5. Select Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).

Step 6. Since you only have one new drive connected, you will see a screen below. Select Drive 0 Unallocated Space and click Next to install Windows 10 on a new hard drive.

However, as you can see, this method is extremely time-consuming and complex for an amateur user to try to install Windows 10 on a new hard drive. A step wrong and you may need to go all over again. That is why we want to recommend a much simpler tool to install Windows OS.

Method 2. Install Windows 10 on a New Hard Drive using a Third-party Tool

Besides the Windows built-in tool, you can also choose a safe and reliable third-party tool to help you install Windows 10 on your new hard drive. For example, AOMEI Backupper Professional is a good choice. 

You can use the disk clone feature to clone Windows 10 to a new hard drive without reinstalling it. After cloning, you can get a bootable disk and boot your computer from it directly. As a popular disk cloning software, it has some brilliant advantages below:

Secure boot: You can boot the computer directly from the cloned hard drive.

Intelligent clone: By default, it only clones the used sectors so that you can easily clone a larger HDD to a smaller SSD if you need to. 

Live clone: It can operate the disk clone task in the background without affecting the normal use of a computer. So, you can access all your data at any time.

Multiple disk types: It supports cloning disk to not only a hard drive but also an external USB drive, SSD, etc.

Different system: It supports Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista, etc.

Note: Disk Clone will delete all data, please use this software to backup your important files in advance. Then you can follow the steps below.

Step 1. Connect the new hard drive to your computer. Download AOMEI Backupper Standard, install it, and launch it. Click Clone > Disk Clone.

Note: 

Professional edition supports cloning both data disks and systems disks from MBR to MBR/MBR to GPT, or GPT to  GPT/GPT to MBR. If you only want to clone data disks, you can pick the complete free Standard edition.

Step 2. Choose your old disk as the source disk.

Step 3. Choose your new hard drive as the destination disk.

Step 4. Confirm your operations and click Start Clone.

Notes:
Edit Partitions: If the target disk is larger than the source disk, you can use the feature to resize your disk automatically or manually. 
SSD Alignment: If your target disk is an SSD, you can use this feature to accelerate its reading and writing speed.
Sector By Sector Clone: It can clone all sectors on your disk so that you don’t miss any sectors, whether it is used or not.

When the cloning process has finished, you can get a bootable disk including the system, applications files, etc. Boot your computer from it and then use the computer as usual.

FAQs about installing Windows 10 on new hard drive

1. Do I need to format my hard drive before installing Windows?

No, you don't need to format the drive or delete existing partitions. Simply select the primary partition where the Windows OS is installed during setup. The installation process will handle any necessary formatting and will re-use previously existing partitions, such as the Recovery partition.

2. Will I lose Windows 10 if I change my hard drive?

Yes, replacing your hard drive will result in the loss of everything stored on it, including the operating system and your files. This is because Windows and your data reside on the hard drive. To avoid data loss, you should back up your system or use a system cloning tool before replacing the drive.

3. Will reinstalling Windows 10 remove my license?

OEM licenses are typically embedded in the BIOS or firmware of your device and are tied to the computer's hardware. As long as you reinstall the same version of Windows that originally came with your laptop, the license should automatically reactivate after the installation.

Summary

This article shares 2 useful ways to install Windows 10 on a new hard drive. It’s easy to find out the second method is the easiest one. Since it can clone Windows 10 to a new hard drive without creating a bootable disk in advance, you can boot successfully from the cloned disk after cloning.

In addition to the previously mentioned features, it also supports clone dynamic disk, clone OS, clone MBR to GPT, etc. You can download the software to explore more features.