How to Image Windows 8/8.1 to a New Hard Drive

Why Image Windows 8/8.1 to New Hard Drive?

Window 8/8.1 operating system is acclaimed among Windows users, no matter home users or small business users. Windows 8/8.1 acts as an important role. However, it still faces a serious problem that the hard drive disk may break because of a series of reasons, such as virus, human wrong operation, a great heavy shock, or some other unexpected situations. Once those happened, the data loss will make users suffer a big damage. In case of those errors, imaging Windows 8/8.1 to new hard drive is necessary.

Actually, backing up Windows 8/8.1 disk to new hard drive can not only protect the data, but also apply to installing the same system on another PC. If you want to upgrade the system or change a new hard drive for your PC, imaging Windows 8/8.1 can provide a simple way that you can restore the image of Windows 8/8.1 backup. It could save a lot of time.

The Way to Image Windows 8/8.1 Disk to New Hard Drive

Imaging Windows 8/8.1 to a new hard drive is a good way to prevent data loss caused by the broken hard disk. But how to do it? With the help of Windows 8/8.1 snap-in tool, you may create a system backup image easily. However, a disk image is different from a system image.

There isn’t a built-in tool that you can use to backup disk directly in Windows 8/8.1. You’d better use a third party backup software to help you. Considering the security and convenience, here we recommend the free backup software - AOMEI Backupper Standard to you. It runs well on Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP.

Before you do, please prepare a new hard drive which has enough space to store the Windows 8/8.1 backup image and plug it into the computer.

First, download AOMEI Backupper Standard, install and launch it. You will see the main interface of this software. Click Backup and there are many backup types - System Backup, Disk Backup, Partition Backup, and File Backup. Select the Disk Backup.

Second, after opening the interface of disk backup, you can choose the Windows 8/8.1 disk to backup by clicking Add Disk, and select the destination path (the new hard drive you prepared before) by clicking the destination box.

If you want to set up more for the disk backup, for example, add a comment, you can click Options, and set it under the General label.

Finally, click Start Backup to start the process. When the process reaches 100%, click Finish to end up the task.

Notes:

• When the disk is broken or the data is lost, you can use AOMEI Backupper to restore the disk image.
• To restore system to dissimilar hardware, you may upgrade to higher editions and use the Universal Restore feature.
• To restore the backup image to a new computer, you can create a bootable media or use the PXE Boot Tool (available on Workstation edition and higher) to boot the target computer.

That's all about how to make the disk backup image of Windows 8/8.1 to a new hard drive with AOMEI Backupper. In addition to the backup and restore features, AOMEI Backupper is capable of clone. You can use it to clone hard drive to SSD in Windows 8. Try it now to discover more!