How to Clone and Resize Hard Drive in Windows (Different Size)

Need to Resize Hard Drive during Cloning

Cloning a hard drive to another HDD or SSD is a great way to upgrade your disk and boost computer performance in Windows. It’s quicker and easier than reinstalling Windows and programs.

Since there are many disk brands and models, cloning hard drive of different sizes is common. For example, you might clone lager drive to smaller drive. When doing this, resizing partitions is crucial to avoid wasting space.

Some users may want to clone a larger HDD to a smaller SSD. In any situation, you’ll need a reliable cloning tool that can manage both the cloning and partition resizing tasks.

Complete Software to Clone and Expand Hard Drive

It is a pity that Windows misses the clone feature in all editions. As a result, many users turn to third-party software for direct disk copy/system migration. But not all software can meet your cloning needs perfectly - some don't provide a way to adjust partition size during cloning, or just not easy for common computer users to operate.

AOMEI Backupper Professional is reliable cloning software that helps you clone and resize hard drives easily with a secure boot.

📑By default, the software runs in an intelligent-sector mode which copies only used sectors, allowing you to clone larger drive to smaller drive. 

📑After selecting source and target disks, there is an option at the summary interface providing multiple choices of resizing partition for the target drive. To be specific, when you click Edit Partitions, you'll see these options:

📌 Copy without resizing partitions
📌 Add unused space to all partitions
📌Manually adjust partition size
📌Convert the partition style of the target disk

Click the download button below to install the tool and try the cloning function:

*It works on Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, XP, Vista (all editions). If you are running Windows Server, try Server Edition.

How to Clone Hard Drive and Resize Partitions Step by Step

In the first place, connect the target disk to your computer correctly and make sure it can be detected. Note that the disk will be overwritten after cloning, so backup hard drive in advance if necessary.

1. Launch AOMEI Backupper, and click Disk Clone under the Clone tab.

2. Select the source disk you’d like to clone from and click Next.

3. Select the destination disk you’d like to clone to and click Next.

Tips: To clone from GPT to MBR, AOMEI Backupper supports copying up to 3 partitions at a time. If there are more than 3 partitions on the source GPT disk, you can merge partitions without data loss before cloning or cloning other partitions the next time.

4. At the Operation Summary page, click Edit Partitions in the lower-left corner.

In the popping-up window, select one of the methods according to your own needs. The last one would be more flexible.

5. Make sure everything is OK click Start Clone, and wait for it to complete.

Change the boot order after cloning or just replace the old drive with the cloned disk if you've cloned the system disk and want to boot from the drive.

✍Notes:

• Checking the "Sector by sector clone" option will make "Edit Partitions" unavailable.

• Tick "SSD Alignment" to improve reading and writing speed if you clone to SSD.

• When you clone from a large drive to a smaller drive, the option "Copy without resizing partitions" in "Edit Partitions" will be grayed out.

FAQs About How to Clone and Resize Hard Drive

Q1: Can you clone hard drives of different sizes?

A1: Yes, you can clone hard drives that are different sizes. Just make sure to use reliable cloning software to assist you. AOMEI Backupper is a good option for this purpose, and you can find instructions in the article.

Q2: Is it possible to clone an SSD to an HDD?

A2: Yes, you can clone between different types of drives. You'll need one drive as the source and another as the destination. Whether you're cloning from an HDD to an SSD, from an HDD to another HDD, or from an SSD to another SSD, the process is essentially the same.

Q3: Does cloning an SSD delete data?

A3: Cloning a drive won't erase the data on the source drive, but it will wipe the target drive clean. So, if you clone an HDD to an SSD, all data on the HDD will stay intact, but anything on the SSD will be deleted.

Tips for Cloning and Resizing Hard Drives

🚩Check for Disk Errors: Use tools like CHKDSK to scan for and fix any disk errors on your source drive before cloning. This prevents potential issues during the cloning process.

🚩Use Incremental Backups: If you're using software that supports incremental backups, take advantage of this feature. It saves time and space by only backing up changes made since the last backup.

🚩Understand File Systems: Familiarize yourself with different file systems (e.g., NTFS, FAT32) and their characteristics. This knowledge will help you choose the right format for your needs.

Verdict

AOMEI Backupper Professional provides an easy way to clone and resize hard drive in Windows. It allows you to clone large drive to smaller drive or clone smaller drive to larger drive, and adjust partitions to a desired size at the same time. Except for disk clone, you can also clone the boot drive to SSD by System Clone while keeping files on HDD with the software. The Partition Clone feature even assists you in cloning dynamic volumes.

After cloning, it is suggested to keep AOMEI Backupper installed as the protection for your computer. Create a backup task, system backup, disk backup, and/or file backup, to protect your crucial and sensitive data efficiently.