Best Software to Clone USB Drive to SSD in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7

How to clone USB drive to SSD especially when there are apps and boot files involved? This article will show you the easiest way with an effective disk clone software.

By @Jonna Last Updated January 23, 2024

Why clone USB drive to SSD?

USB drives are widely used to store important files and even boot files for their portability. But the data stored in USB is not 100% safe, you may still want to make a backup in case of data loss or USB  failure.

For files like photos, music, documents and videos, you can copy & paste them directly. But if it's a USB bootable drive, or you've stored some applications on the USB flash drive/hard drive, you may need to copy it via disk clone. Can you clone from USB to SSD?

Specifically, cloning bootable USB drive to SSD or HDD will create an exact copy of all the contents including boot files and apps. If you clone a USB drive with Windows installed to SSD, you can also boot from the SSD after cloning.

Then, how to clone USB drive to SSD in Windows 11/10/8/7?

Best free USB clone software - AOMEI Backupper

When it comes to clone partition or hard drive, it is better to turn to a third-party tool. As an example, the freeware AOMEI Backupper Standard owns a powerful Disk Clone feature to clone USB stick or USB hard drive to SSD, HDD as well as another USB drive.

  • If the USB drive is smaller than the target SSD, that's okay because AOMEI Backupper enables you to clone USB to larger SSD by sector-by-sector clone, copying all the sectors bit by bit.
  • If the target SSD is smaller, its intelligent cloning technology also allows you to clone larger drive to smaller drive as long as it's large enough to hold all the used sectors.
  • For the target SSD, there's also an alignment option to improve its performance and prolong its life span.

Download the clone software to have a try: 

Download Freeware Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
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Note: The Standard edition supports cloning all the data disks. If you want to clone a bootable USB or clone system drive on your computer, please upgrade to the Professional or higher edition for OS clone.

How to clone USB drive to SSD or HDD via AOMEI Backupper

To clone USB to SSD, you can follow the guides below to run the best USB cloning software AOMEI Backuper, and get it done free with ease.

1. Plug in the USB drive and make sure the SSD is connected properly. Then install and launch AOMEI Backupper. All existing partitions on the destination disk will be overwritten, so it's suggested to backup important files beforehand.

2. Go to Clone tab and choose Disk Clone to clone the entire USB drive. You can also choose the Partition Clone option to transfer a partition or volume.

3. Select the USB drive as the source disk, then select the SSD as the destination disk. Click Next to continue.

4. Check SSD Alignment to accelerate the SSD's writing & reading speed. Then, click Start Clone and wait for the process to complete.

>> You can tick Sector By Sector Clone to copy all the sectors, including the blank or bad sectors. It requires the target disk to be larger or equally sized. >> For a larger target disk, you can also use Edit Partitions to resize partitions and assign unallocated space. Note that it will make the Sector by Sector Clone option unavailable.

Tips:
The above steps can be used to clone USB drive to another USB drive as well.
It can still be used as SSD cloning software to help you clone all brands of SSDs, such as clone HDD to Samsung SSD, clone PNY SSD, clone SSD to new SSD, etc.

Summary

Generally speaking, clone USB drive either to SSD, hard drive or another USB, the vital part is choosing the right cloning software. With AOMEI Backupper, the entire clone process could be done in four steps. As a matter of fact, this cloning software is a great USB image tool as well since it is also a backup solution.