How to Clone C Drive to Move Windows to SSD/HDD [Bootable]

Why Clone C Drive to SSD/HDD?

Usually, C drive refers to the system drive. When people talk about cloning C drive in Windows 11/10/8/7, it actually means cloning Windows OS which contains system reserved partition, installed applications, personal settings on C drive, etc. 

There are some situations in which you may need to clone C drive.

🚩Replace the old HDD: There may be more and more data accumulated on C drive until it is almost full. Therefore, you can replace the old hard drive with a larger HDD. If you don’t want to spend much time reinstalling the OS and all your necessary applications, you can directly clone C drive to the new HDD.
🚩Upgrade to SSD: If your computer runs slowly after a long time of use, you may want to improve the performance by upgrading the hard drive. SSD doesn’t contain any moving parts hence, it can obviously improve the booting up and data accessing speed. So it's a good idea to move Windows to the new SSD and use it as the boot disk.  

However, cloning the whole C drive is not easy when it involves so many sophisticated system files. Here I'd like to introduce a pretty simple and reliable way to fulfill the task.

Clone C drive to New HDD/SSD with Reliable Software

While Windows does offer a built-in backup feature to create a system image, it can sometimes fail for various reasons, and the process tends to be slow. Plus, why go through the hassle of backing up and restoring when you can directly clone your C drive?

There are many disk cloning tools available, but most only let you clone the entire hard drive. If you're looking to move just your operating system to a new SSD or HDD, it can be more complicated.

A better solution is to use reliable software like AOMEI Backupper Professional, which offers flexible options like Disk Clone, Partition Clone, and System Clone. This way, you can easily select the cloning option that suits your needs.

💬To clone C drive, System Clone is the best choice. It can save you a lot of time and energy without reinstalling systems and applications and also ensures the secure boot of cloned SSD or HDD.

Meanwhile, if you want to clone the hard drive sometime. The intelligent clone mode enables you to clone only used sectors, thus you can even clone a larger drive to a smaller SSD.

How to Clone C Drive in Windows 10 Without Reinstalling

Before cloning, you need to do the following preparations first:

◆ If you are going to transfer the OS to SSD, you need to connect the SSD to your computer first. For laptop users, a USB-SATA connection cable might be necessary. Make sure the selected drive is large enough to contain the system partitions.
◆ If there is some important data on the target disk, please back up important files to an external hard drive in advance. Because all the data on the target hard drive will be overwritten after cloning.

Now, download AOMEI Backupper Professional, install, and launch it. Then follow the steps to clone C drive.

Step 1. Click Clone on the left column and then select System Clone.

Step 2. The system and boot-related partitions are selected by default. Select the connected SSD or HDD as the destination location and click Next.

Step 3. If the selected location is a used partition, a window will pop up to prompt that this partition will be deleted or overwritten, click OK to continue.

Step 4. Confirm the operation. Tick SSD Alignment option if your target disk is an SSD. Then click Start Clone.

✍Tips:
▪ If you're cloning to an SSD, enabling SSD Alignment can boost read and write speeds, improving overall performance.
▪ By default, cloning is done in intelligent mode (but you can select Sector by Sector Clone if needed). For encrypted system drives, AOMEI Backupper will automatically clone all sectors, even unused ones.
▪ If you only want to clone the C drive, you can select Partition Clone and choose it manually. However, if your goal is to clone the entire Windows OS, System Clone is the best option.

After cloning, shut down the computer, remove the source drive from the computer then restart the computer to enter BIOS (basic input/output system) to set the cloned system disk as the first boot device. Boot from the destination disk.

FAQs About Cloning Your C Drive

Q1: Can I clone my C drive to a smaller drive?

A1: Yes, you can clone your C drive to a smaller drive as long as the used space on your C drive is smaller than the capacity of the new drive. Be sure to resize the partitions if needed before cloning.

Q2: Do I need to reinstall Windows after cloning my C drive?

A2: No, after cloning your C drive, Windows should function just as it did on your original drive. However, if you’re upgrading to a larger or faster drive, make sure your boot settings are correct.

Q3: Can I clone my C drive while the computer is running?

A3: Yes, AOMEI Backupper allows for hot cloning, meaning you can clone your C drive while the computer is running, although it’s recommended to clone from a bootable USB for a smoother process.

Conclusion

To clone C drive quickly and safely, professional and reliable third-party software can be a big help. AOMEI Backupper Professional is such a disk clone software that only takes 4 steps to clone C drive to a new SSD or HDD. 

Furthermore, it's also a backup and restore software that can backup the system, disk, partition, or specific files, and restore them when needed. So even after you've completed OS migration, you can use AOMEI Backupper to protect your important data in daily use.