How Do I Clone HDD to SSD in Windows 11 and Make It Bootable? 2022 Complete Guide

To Beginners: This page tells how easy it could be for you to clone a hard drive to SSD in Windows 11 without losing any data. If it's an OS drive, you don't even need to reinstall the operating system.

For a quick guide to Clone HDD to SSD in Windows 11? Follow this page and let's get started:

PAGE CONTENT:

Guide 1: Download and Install Windows 11 Hard Drive Cloning Software
Guide 2: Install and Initialize New SSD in Windows 11
Guide 3: Clone HDD to SSD and Make It Bootable in Windows 11
Tips to Make Use of Old Hard Drive in Windows 11

How Do You Clone HDD to SSD in Windows 11

Speaking of upgrading the computer hard drive, what comes to your mind at first? Here are two common questions that you may have one of them in your mind currently:

1. How do I clone my current hard drive to my SSD and make it bootable?

2. What tools do I need for HDD to SSD cloning in Windows 11?

Note that as long as the SSD has equal or bigger storage capacity than the used space on the original hard drive, you can copy everything on your hard drive to the new SSD.

Guide 1: Download and Install Windows 11 Hard Drive Cloning Software

Note that there are many hard drive cloning software online, and here what we would like to recommend you to try is Qiling Partition Master. It's more than a disk cloning software, but a comprehensive hard drive partition management software.

You can directly click and free download this software here:

Free Download

Guide 2: Install and Initialize New SSD in Windows 11

Note that if you are planning to copy the hard drive to a used SSD, you may jump this part and directly follow Guide 3 to start the disk cloning procedure.

However, if you are planning to use a new SSD, please make sure that you'll correctly install it to your computer and initialize it with the following steps:

Step 1. Open computer case with a screwdriver.

Computer use No.2, laptop use No.1.

Step 2. Install the SSD into your computer.

For a SATA SSD, plug it into the computer via a power cable and a SATA cable.

For an M.2/NVMe SSD, insert it into the SSD slot and fasten its screws.

Step 3. Once done, close the computer case and reboot the computer.

Step 4. When Windows 11 boots up, press Windows + R keys, type diskmgmt.msc, and hit Enter to open Disk Management.

Step 5. Right-click on the new SSD and select Initialize Disk and select MBR or GPT as the disk type.

Note that the disk type on SSD should be the same as your source hard drive. If the source hard drive is installed with Windows 11, set the type as GPT.

Guide 3: Clone HDD to SSD and Make It Bootable in Windows 11

Now, you are good to go and clone hard drive to SSD in Windows 11. The shown process is operated with the help of Qiling Partition Master:

Free Download

1. Clone Hard Drive to SSD

Step 1. Connect the GPT/MBR HDD and the SSD to your PC, launch Qiling cloning software and click "Clone".

Step 2. It will show the below window and choose the source disk partition (here the GPT/MBR HDD) you want to clone. And then click "Next" to continue.

Step 3. Choose the destination disk or partition (here the SSD). Tick "Sector by sector clone" in Advanced options, with it, you can clone all sectors from source disk to the destination disk.

Step 4. You are allowed to preview the disk layout in advance, then click "Proceed" to clone GPT/MBR HDD to SSD.

Tick the option for "Optimize for SSD" if the destination disk is SSD.

2. Make Cloned SSD Bootable in Windows 11

If the old hard drive contained your operating system - Windows 11, you'll need to follow the steps here to make the newly cloned SSD bootable:

Step 1. Restart the computer and press F2/F10/Del key to enter BIOS.

Step 2. Go to the Boot Menu, at the boot priority section, set the new SSD as the boot drive.

Step 3. Press F10 to save all the changes and restart the computer.

After this, you'll see your Windows 11 successfully boot up from the new SSD.

Tips to Make Use of Old Hard Drive in Windows 11

After cloning the hard drive to your SSD in Windows 11, the new question that comes up in your mind could be how to make use of the old drive.

Wipe and Safe Old Hard Drive

To sell the drive, you'll need to wipe and clean up everything on the drive. Qiling Partition Master with its wipe feature can help:

We've set two options for you to wipe data. Choose the one you need.

Option 1. Wipe Partition

Choose "Wipe Data", click the partition you want to erase data from.
In the new window, set the time for which you want to wipe your partition, then click "Proceed".

Option 2. Wipe Disk

Click "Wipe Data", select the HDD/SSD want to erase data from.
In the new window, set the number of times to wipe data., then click "Proceed".

Clean Up and Make Use of Old HDD

To make use of the old drive as a data disk, you can delete all partitions on it and repartition it by using Qiling Partition Master with the guide here:

Free Download

To delete all partitions:

Step 1. Launch Qiling Partition Master on your computer.

Step 2. Select to delete partition or delete all partitions on hard drive.

Make sure that you've backed up the important data on the selected partition because this manner will compeletely remove data.

Step 3. Click "Proceed" to confirm the deletion.

Cloning HDD to SSD in Windows 11 Is Easy, You Can Upgrade Your Disk Now

This page provides a complete and simple guide for cloning HDD to SSD without any boot issues in Windows 11.

If you are a beginner, stay here and you can fully upgrade your computer disk to a new SSD with the help of Qiling Partition Master. Besides disk cloning, you can also apply this software to clean up your old drive for selling or new usage.

Free Download

In a word, the process of cloning HDD to SSD in Windows 11 is easy and possibly be done on your own. Just follow to upgrade your computer drive now.