Move Boot Partition in Windows 10 to Another Disk (2 Ways)
AOMEI Backupper, the best OS migration software, can help you move boot partition in Windows 10 to another disk effortlessly, either HDD or SSD. There is no need to reinstall Windows.
It’s an emergency to move boot partition in Windows 10 to a new HDD or SSD when you read this article. Take it easy, we will show you the step-by-step guide to troubleshoot your issues.
The key takeaways:
Why Move Boot Partition in Windows 10?
Sometimes you might need to move Windows 10 boot partition to another drive. Below are common reasons account for this:
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Your old drive is slowing down. You get a pretty slow respond time from your old drive after years of using it, thus, you want to transfer Windows 10 to a new disk to speed up your computer and use it as a storage or backup drive.
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Your drive does not have enough space. You get the low disk space warning error and want to change Windows 10 boot partition to larger one to get more space.
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Your bootloader on another disk. Sometimes, Windows puts the bootloader on the wrong drive. So you may want to move boot partition to another one containing OS to avoid system failure, such as error loading operating system.
The Best OS migration software - AOMEI Backupper
Although Windows provides you with backup software to protect your Windows 10 system files and personal files, it requires you to restore system image to a larger drive. Otherwise, you cannot restore Windows 10 image to new hard drive.
Is there an easy way to move Windows 10 boot partition? Definitely, you can try the best OS migration software - AOMEI Backupper Professional to safely move OS-related partitions in Windows 10 (both 32-bit and 64-bit) without boot issues.
- System Clone or Disk Clone: You have 2 ways, either clone only Windows 10 system partition, or the entire disk.
- Bootable clone Windows 10: It will clone all partitions containing system files and boot files like C drive, EFI system partition, or system reserved partition, recovery partition, etc.
- Protect data: It will clone everything including system files, settings, installed programs, personal files, etc., to avoid data loss and program reinstallation.
- Intelligent clone: It clones only used sectors of a drive and makes it easy to clone OS from a larger drive to smaller drive without boot issues.
- SSD Alignment: It optimizes the overall performance of the SSD and its lifespan.
100% SecureHow to Move Boot Partition to New Drive in Windows 10
Here we will show you how to move boot partition to a new drive, either HDD or SSD, and boot from it after cloning via the System Clone feature. To clone the entire disk, select the Disk Clone feature instead. Just refer to the following steps:
Here is the tutorial to perform Windows move boot partition to new drive. For server usage, try AOMEI Backupper Server or Technician Plus edition.
1. To move boot partition in Windows 10, go to the Clone tab and choose System Clone.
2. All the OS-related partitions will be selected automatically. Select the new drive, either HDD or SSD, to save the Windows 10 boot partition. Hit Next to continue.
3. You will receive a prompt that the partition will be overwritten or deleted.Please backup important files on the new disk first if they exist. Click Yes to continue if you have already backed them up.
4. Press the Start Clone >> button to move the Windows 10 boot partition including the C drive, EFI system partition, recovery partition, etc., to HDD or SSD easily and safely. If it's an MBR disk, you will see system reserved partition instead of EFI partition.
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Sector by sector clone: clone all sectors of the system partition whether it is used or not, even bad sectors, and it will cost much longer time. Uncheck this option if your new HDD or SSD is smaller.
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SSD Alignment: if you copy boot partition to SSD, make sure this option is checked to speed up the SSD's reading and writing speed, as well as its lifespan.
5. Wait for a while, the best OS migration software will show you the best ending for your Windows 10 boot partition migration. Once the system cloning is finished, you could set up to boot from the cloned SSD:
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Shut down the computer.
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Remove the original drive and put the new hard drive (HDD or SSD) into the slot.
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Enter the BIOS to change boot order and set the new disk as the first choice.
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Save changes and let Windows 10 boot from the new disk.
Until now, Windows 10 change boot partition to another drive has been done. Note all the above steps are applied to move boot partition in Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and early Windows versions.
Another Way to Copy Boot Partition to Another Drive in Windows 10
If you simply want to move the bootloader to another drive, try the bcdboot command to copy boot files.
1. Insert the bootable media and boot Windows 10 computer from it. Click Next in the initial Windows Setup screen.
2. Click Repair your computer > Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt.
3. In the command prompt window, type the following commands and press Enter to prepare your new HDD or SSD.
- list disk
- select disk x (x is the number of your new HDD or SSD)
- clean
- create partition primary size=y(y is the size of new boot partition)
- format fs=ntfs quick
- assign letter=C(C is the drive letter of the new partition)
- exit
4. Type the following commands and press Enter to copy boot files to the new partition and make it bootable. Note C: is the drive letter you assigned to the new partition.
- bcdboot C:\Windows /s C:
- bootset /nt60 C:/mbr
Conclusion
There are two ways to move Windows 10 boot partition to another disk without reinstalling. Of these two methods, using the best OS migration software is easy and time-saving, even for novices, and it ensures a bootable of Windows 10. Besides, It allows you to clone Windows 10 to smaller SSD without boot issues.
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