How to Move Windows 11 to Another Drive - Easy & No Data Loss

Can I transfer Windows 11 to a new hard drive?

Need to Move Windows 11 to Another Drive

Windows 11 starts to become available on October 5, 2021. Eligible Windows 10 PCs can perform a free upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11. After using it for a period of time, some users want to move Windows to another drive because of different needs. See if you are in one of the following situations:

♨ Situation 1: After using the computer for a period of time, the startup time of your computer may become longer. In addition, your original disk may run out of memory space, which will affect computer performance. At this time, you may choose to upgrade hard drive on Windows 11 to replace the original one.
♨ Situation 2: In the digital age, computers are used more and more frequently. Having a good backup habit is essential. Backing up Windows 11 can prevent unforeseen disasters such as system crashes, hardware failures, man-made damage, etc.
♨ Situation 3: Some users may need to replace their computers, but do not want to reinstall the system. Because reinstalling the operating system, reinstalling other necessary applications, and resetting the system is a big project, which is time-consuming and laborious.

Since you have the need to migrate Windows 11 to another/new hard drive, you need reliable software to help you accomplish this.

Best Software to Transfer Windows 11 to Another/New Hard Drive

If you plan to move Windows 11 to another drive, you can do it by cloning. As we all know, Windows does not have its own cloning software. You can only use third-party software to perform disk cloning. Speaking of the most reliable disk cloning software that can help you transfer Windows 11 to a new/another hard drive, AOMEI Backupper will be your best choice. It can help you transfer data or OS while ensuring data integrity. After cloning is complete, it also ensures that you can safely boot from the cloned drive. You can use it to:

◑ Transfer Windows 11 to different kinds of hard drives. It supports HDD, SATA SSD, NVMe M.2 SSD, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc. All brands of hard drives are supported, such as Western Digital, Samsung, SanDisk, Inland, Kingston, etc.
◑ Clone hard drive of different sizes (large to small and vice versa). It provides you with "Intelligent Clone" and "Sector-by-sector Clone." By default, it will execute an intelligent clone and only clone the used part to another drive. You can also choose to execute the latter one to make a 1:1 copy of the hard disk.
◑ Migrate all Windows operating systems, such as Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP. So apart from Windows 11, you can transfer Windows 10 to new hard drive with ease.

The software is easy to use, you can have a try by clicking the download button below. For Windows Server users, you can turn to AOMEI Backupper Server.

How to Move Windows 11 to Another Drive Without Boot Issues

How to move Windows 11 to another drive without losing data? After installing AOMEI Backupper on your computer, I will show you the detailed guide on moving Windows 11 to another drive while keeping all your data safe. Here is an example of migrating Windows 11 to SSD.

#1. Preparations Before Moving Windows 11

1. First, you need to install or connect another drive to your computer. Confirm the number of SSD slots in your computer. If there is more than one slot, you can install the SSD on the computer with a screwdriver. If there is only one, you may also need to prepare a SATA to USB cable.

2. Then, restart your computer.

▶ If the SSD is used and there are important files on it, please backup files in advance. Because all the data in the target will be overwritten during the cloning process.
▶ If the SSD is new, press Win + R to open the Run dialog box, type diskmgmt.msc and click OK to open Disk Management. Right-click on the SSD and select Initialize Disk. Set the partition style the same as the source disk (MBR or GPT) and click OK to confirm.

#2. Move Windows 11 with All Data to Another Drive

After the preparation work is completed, you can use AOMEI Backupper to migrate Windows 11 to SSD, please follow the graphic tutorial for details for how to move Windows 11 to another SSD.

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Backupper, click Clone ->Disk Clone on the dark blue interface.

Tip✍:
🧃 AOMEI Backupper allows you to clone system disks from MBR to MBR, GPT to GPT, MBR to GPT, or GPT to MBR. You don't need to convert the partition style.
🧃 If you just want to clone a disk without OS, such as clone an external drive or USB drive, you can try free disk clone software - AOMEI Backupper Standard.

Step 2. Then select the hard disk containing Windows 11 as the source disk and click Next.

Step 3. Select the SSD as the destination path to clone the source disk and click on Next.

Step 4. Then you can see the source and destination disk information on the Operation Summary page. Considering that the target disk is an SSD, click SSD Alignment in the lower left corner of this program to increase the reading and writing speed of the SSD disk. Confirm all other settings and click Start Clone.

Tips✍: Edit Partitions - This feature is very useful if you clone disk to a larger disk. It can help you adjust the partition size of the destination disk and avoid unallocated space after cloning.

#3. Transfer Only Windows 11 OS to Another Drive

If you only want to transfer Windows 11 to new hard drive, excluding any other files and data, you can use this tool to perform System Clone. The entire operation only needs three steps to complete.

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Backupper and navigate to the Clone tab. Click System Clone to migrate Windows 11 to new hard drive.

Step 2. The system partitions are auto-selected, so you just need to specify a destination location. Choose the new SSD drive you have connected and click Next.

Step 3. Confirm all your settings on the Operation Summary page. Then, you can click Start Clone and wait for it to complete.

After the cloning process is complete, you can go to BIOS setting and set the cloned SSD drive as the first boot device, and then check if you can safely boot from the cloned drive. If the cloned SSD won't boot, you can troubleshoot it with the solutions provided in the related article.

Frequently Asked Questions about Windows 11 Transfer

#1. Can I install Windows 11 on another drive without USB?

Yes, you can clone Windows 11 to SSD and other drives with USB, rely on professional cloning software like AOMEI Backupper. With this tool, you can copy Windows 11 directly to the destination disk.

#2. Can I choose which drive to install Windows on?

Yes, you are able to choose which drive you want to install Windows on during the installation process. And you can select a different drive than the one where Windows was previously installed.

#3. How do I create a Windows 11 installation drive?

You can rely on the Create Bootable Media feature of AOMEI Backupper to create Windows 11 bootable USB or DVD, so that you can clean install Windows 11 on a new drive or repair Windows 11 from a system failure easily.

Final Words

That’s all for how to move Windows 11 to another drive. With the help of AOMEI Backupper, you can easily migrate Windows 11 to any other place without boot issues. And its operation is very simple, the interface is very concise. All of these can bring you a good user experience.

The software is not limited to cloning, you can also use it for backup, recovery, and synchronization. You can also use it to move Windows 11 to new computer. Whether your new computer and your old computer have the same hardware or different hardware, it can safely transfer Windows 11. Download it now and try it!