How to Clone SSD to HDD in Windows 8/8.1 (4 Steps)

Need to clone SSD to HDD in Windows 8/8.1

HDD and SSD are two common storage device types. Both of them have advantages and disadvantages. The following table compares HDD and SSD in detail:

As you see, cloning HDD to SSD can help you gain better performance, but in some cases, users also need to clone SSD to HDD. Following are three common situations of cloning SSD to HDD:

• Make an exact copy of SSD for backup. There is no doubt that system and data are important for all users, so many users would like to make a backup for them. However, you may also know that SSDs are much more expensive than HDDs, so many users prefer to get an HDD as backup device and copy everything from SSD to HDD.
• Get a larger capacity. As a matter of fact, SSDs are easily filled up due to the small capacity. Therefore, some users choose to clone SSD to HDD to get more disk space for new programs and files.
• Avoid reinstalling OS. Everything will be transferred from SSD to HDD after cloning. So, you don't need to reinstall Windows and programs you will use in the near future.

Best SSD to HDD clone software - AOMEI Backupper

To clone SSD to HDD in Windows 8/8.1 effortlessly, you just need a professional disk cloning software like AOMEI Backupper Professional. It can save you much time and effort.

💙 Multiple clone types

It supports "Disk Clone", "System Clone" and "Partition Clone". To clone all the contents on a hard drive or SSD, you can choose Disk Clone.

💙 Various clone options

It has some helpful features to make this task simple and efficient, such as optimize SSD performance with "SSD Alignment", clone all sectors of a hard drive with "Sector by sector clone", adjust partition size of the destination disk with "Edit Partitions", etc.

💙 Wide compatibility

It supports all Windows PC systems, including Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11. And you can clone between different partition styles, clone MBR disk to GPT, for example.

How do I clone SSD to HDD in Windows 8/8.1?

Now, you can follow the detailed steps below to clone SSD to HDD or clone HDD to SSD in Windows 8/8.1.

💡 Preparations:

• Install the new HDD on your computer and be sure it can be detected. If your computer is a laptop, you may need a USB-to-SATA cable to connect HDD.
• Backup files on the target HDD, or you'll lose them after cloning.
• Download AOMEI Backupper Professional and install it on your computer.

Step 1. Launch powerful clone software for Windows 8/8.1 - AOMEI Backupper Professional. When you enter its dark-blue interface, click Clone -> Disk Clone in order.

Step 2. Select the existing SSD as the source disk (here is Disk0), then click Next.

Step 3. Select the new HDD as the destination disk (here is Disk1), then click Next.

Step 4. In the Operation Summary page, confirm your settings and click Start Clone to clone Windows 8/8.1 to new hard drive immediately.

>> Edit Partitions: use this option to resize partitions on the target disk if it is larger than the original disk. Otherwise, it will not show full capacity after cloning.
>> SSD Alignment: check this option to improve the overall performance of SSD if you are cloning to an SSD.
>> Sector by sector clone: it enables you to clone every bit of the source disk. If you check this option, Edit Partitions will become unavailable.  

✍ Tips: 

• If you want to clone hard drive without booting into Windows, you can create a bootable media to boot your computer.

• AOMEI Backupper is still a Windows backup and restore software, so you can use it to backup disk and then restore it to another place. 

• If your computer is running server system like Windows Server 2003/2008/2011/2012/2016/2019/2022, you could consider using AOMEI Backupper Server.

Now, you can start to clone SSD to HDD in Windows 8/8.1 or clone HDD to SSD with the professional disk cloning software. The whole process has only 4 steps. All you need to do are a few clicks, and this software will take care of the rest. The greatest advantage is you don't need to reinstall Windows and programs. Please download it to explore all the features by yourself.