How to Clone C Drive to SSD in Windows Server 2019

Why need to clone C drive in Server 2019?

As you know, C drive (C:) is the main hard drive partition that contains the operating system, related system files, user profile, and other applications, etc. As the number of Server 2019 users increases, so does the need to clone Windows Server 2019. Generally speaking, 3 aspects are responsible for this action.

✍ Clone C drive to a new computer. The most common situation is that you bought a new computer, but reinstalling Server 2019 on the new computer is a troublesome job. C drive clone can save you from system reinstallation.
✍ Clone C drive to larger SSD or HDD to enlarge storage space. It is very common that C drive or the disk which contains C drive is filled up. At this time, you have to transfer data from C drive to a new larger drive.
✍ Clone C drive to another drive for better performance. Using SSD for OS and HDD for storage is the best arrangement for hard drives. Compared to hard disk drive, solid-state drive has more merits like lighter volume, faster speed, and lower consumption, etc. Thus, many users would rather clone C drive to SSD in Server 2019.

Best C drive clone software in Server 2019/2016/2012

To clone Server hard drive as easily as possible, a professional and reliable utility – AOMEI Backupper Server has been developed. It supports Windows Server 2003/2008/2011/2012/2016/2019/2022 (including R2), SBS 2003/2008/2011, and Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista. Following are its main features in regard to clone:

AOMEI Backupper

Easy and Safe Server Cloning Software

• Disk Clone: it allows you to clone an entire disk to another disk, such as clone SSD to larger SSD or clone HDD to SSD.

• Partition Clone: it enables you to copy a particular partition on a disk to another partition. It supports NTFS, FAT32, and exFAT partition, etc.

• System Clone: it can help you migrate OS to SSD or another HDD easily by cloning only system related partitions.

• Intelligent clone: it will clone only the used part of the source disk/partition by default, which makes it possible to clone C drive to a smaller drive.

• Make full use of disk space: it allows you to extend the system partition size with unallocated space, thereby making your computer run faster.

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Windows Servers & PCs

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How to clone C drive to SSD in Windows Server 2019 efficiently

To clone C drive in Server 2019, it is suggested to use System Clone rather than Partition Clone. System Clone will choose C drive and boot related partitions like System Reserved Partition automatically as the source partitions, thus ensuring you can boot OS from the cloned drive successfully later. Let's see how it works.

Before cloning, connect the new SSD to your computer and make sure it can be detected by Server 2019. Please note that all data on the new SSD will be overwritten after cloning. You’d better backup files on the new SSD if you don't want to lose them.

Step 1. Navigate to the System Clone option

Install and open this Windows Server clone software. Select System Clone under Clone tab.

Step 2. Choose destination SSD

Choose the SSD drive to clone C drive to. Then click Next.

Step 3. Optimize SSD performance and begin C drive clone

Tick SSD Alignment to improve the performance of the destination SSD. Then click Start Clone.

Step 4. Boot from the cloned SSD

Now, you can change boot order in BIOS or replace old hard drive with the new SSD to boot from the cloned drive. The second method is recommended.

Notes:
✬ If you tick Sector by sector clone in Step 3, the program will clone all sectors on the source partitions whether they are used or not. It requires the destination drive to be equal to or larger than the source drives.
✬ If you are cloning C drive to a larger drive, it's suggested to tick Make full use of disk space to extend the size of system partition.
✬ If the cloned OS works fine after a period of time, you can wipe the original C drive and use it as a secondary storage device.

Learn more about Windows Server 2019

Windows Server 2019, a part of the Windows NT family of operating systems, is the ninth version of the Server operating system by Microsoft. It is built on the strong foundation of Server 2016 but with more features than Server 2016.

Gratifyingly, Server 2019 has made numerous innovations on four key themes: Hybrid Cloud, Security, Application Platform and Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI). This is why more and more organizations or companies are willing to upgrade to Windows Server 2019.

Verdict

From the above you can see that all the steps are very easy to learn, even for a beginner. By the way, the cloning process will not interrupt the operations that are running, so you can do your work while cloning.

Why not use AOMEI Backupper Server to clone C drive in Server 2019? Apart from cloning Windows Server 2019, this utility also enables you to do Windows Server 2019 backup and restore and create Server 2019 bootable USB. Give it a chance! See if it's suitable!