There might be several different reasons to clone your Windows operating system. But one of the most common reasons is to change your PC or the storage drive. Nowadays SSD is the most popular storage drive. And if your system is not equipped with an SSD and you are planning to install one, then you can either install a fresh OS or may clone your operating system from your previous system. But in case you are installing the fresh OS, you may lose the files or application that was installed into your previous one. Thus if you are not ready to lose the file and apps installed in your previous system, then cloning OS is a better option for you. And in case you are installing SSD storage in the same system, then you can clone Windows to SSD with the app discussed below.
In this article, we will discuss mainly how to clone Windows OS to new storage, that is to a new SSD or HDD or to a new system as we all know that SSDs are mainly two types as per the connection. One is the SATA and the other one is the NVMe for the PCIe port. For laptops with smaller space, M.2 type SSDs are used. All types of SSDs are fast compared to regular HDDs. But among them, the NVMe is the faster one, because the data transfer rate is much faster in the PCIe port than in the SATA port. But if you are planning to install a new NVMe SSD into your previous system, then please check, whether your computer does have the PCIe port or not. If not then you may opt for SATA SSD.
Choosing the right SSD is a different issue. If you are not aware of choosing the right one, then you may consult a technician, for proper guidance. However, without wasting much time, let’s move on to see, which application lets us clone Windows to SSD.
Top 5 applications to clone Windows to SSD
1. EasyUS TODO Backup or Disk Copy application
Both these applications are developed by EasyUS and have the option to clone your Windows operating system. At first, you need to back up your Windows operating system from your previous storage drive and then restore it to the new SSD or storage device. Alternatively, you can perform both tasks simultaneously if the source drive and the destination drive, are connected in the same system. However, the system clone option is not included in the free version.
2. AOMEI Backupper
This application also lets you back up, clone, or migrate your operating system to SSD. However, there are other features too, which are available such as disk backup, file backup, partition backup, cloud backup, disk clone, partition clone, and so on. However, all these features are not active in the free version. But it is free to use for the first 30 days. So you can easily give a trial, and if you like it, then you may think of purchasing the license.
3. MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard is really an excellent tool for managing your hard drives or SSDs. With this tool, you can easily create, copy, delete, and recover any disk partition and perform a lot more other tasks. Migrating your system disk to another drive or SSD is one of them. However, the migration option is not available in the free version. But before you purchase the license key, you may opt to try the demo of the pro version.
4. CloneGo
This application also serves the same as others on the list. You just need to download the application and install it on your system. Now while running the application, you will get the option of “Disk Clone”. Just hit that option, properly select the source and the destination drive, and click the start button. The application will start cloning the disk with the operating system installed on it. You need not have to reinstall a fresh copy of the operating system on the destination drive. But, this application is not freeware, you need to purchase the license to use it. However, 7 days trial will be offered to you, if you find it useful then you may purchase the license key.
5. Clonezilla
This is really an excellent open-source tool to clone any operating system to another HD or SSD. But before you use this application to clone your system drive, you need to either create a bootable CD/DVD or USB drive of Clonezilla Live OS. If you are aware of how to create a bootable drive, then refer to our post on how to create a bootable drive with Rufus and Yumi. After that boot your system with that newly created bootable drive, and follow the steps to clone your drive. Both the source and the destination drives need to connect to the system with proper partition setup. And while selecting the source and the destination drive, special attention needs to be taken, otherwise, all your data may get erased. Clonezilla can be used even to clone any network drive.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed the top 5 applications or software to clone Windows to SSD in 2023. Most of them are not free. But the last one on the list, that is Clonezilla is open-source software and is completely free to use. So according to us, Clonezilla is the top pick on the list. If you are familiar with the process of creating bootable media and booting your system from the removable drive, then Clonezilla will prove beneficial in cloning a drive or partition without any hassle and spending a single penny for this job.
Others are GUI based and can be handled with just a few clicks. But you need to spend to purchase the license keys of these apps. So we are leaving this decision to you, which you want to select. However, after cloning the operating system, don’t forget to change the booting drive from the BIOS setting to the new destination drive.
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