How To Transfer Windows 10 From Hdd To Ssd Without Losing Data

How to Transfer Windows 10 From HDD to SSD (Without Losing Information)

You lot can move Windows x from HDD to SSD if you clone your hard drive to a new SSD. Connect your new SSD to your former computer, clone your Windows 10 HDD to SSD and mount your new SSD in your reckoner. There are free deejay clone programs that will successfully clone your Windows ten HDD to SSD without losing data.

While the above mentioned procedure is a 3 g feet view of the procedure, it is actually not much more complicated than that. Upgrading your figurer with an SSD drive is ofttimes an first-class way to speed up your figurer and may let you lot to bask your computer many more years before you lot have to buy a new one.

I have moved dozens of Windows ten boot drives to SSD with several different types of disk cloning software but all in all the process is always the same. And it'southward not a very complicated one.

In this article I will show you how to move Windows 10 to a new SSD footstep by step, so you can upgrade your PC to an SSD drive in a small DIY project.

How to Transfer Windows 10 From HDD to SSD

Can you Motility Windows ten From HDD to SSD?

You tin can move Windows 10 from HDD to SSD if the receiving SSD has enough chapters to incorporate your electric current Windows 10 installation. Therefore information technology is crucial that you cheque your current hard drive capacity. Printing the Windows logo cardinal + x and select "System". And so click "Storage". Your SSD should have matching chapters.

Windows will now display how much storage chapters your boot drive has and also how much gratuitous space you lot have left.

Windows 10 hard drive storage capacity

The total chapters (indicated with the arrow in the image above) tells you how much storage space your current Windows kicking drive has in full. You lot'll likewise run across the amount of used and free space on your hard drive.

Your new SSD bulldoze should at least accept the capacity to store your used portion on your current difficult drive but brand sure that you have enough capacity so that your new SSD bulldoze is not entirely filled up. If you can aim for at to the lowest degree double your electric current used infinite or more, that allows for more than growth in your storage needs and also for a smoothen running Windows.

Windows volition run less optimal if its organization bulldoze is almost full. (The 26.four GB gratuitous infinite in the image in a higher place is certainly not an platonic scenario, which ways I should opt for a larger SSD drive - mayhap 1 TB or so).

What Type of SSD Drive Should I Get to Upgrade my PC?

Check your current hard drive connections in your PC to determine the type of bulldoze. SATA drives are very common and tin can exist recognized by their flat and thin connectors, which ofttimes have a 90 caste angle. A SATA drive frequently has a vii pin connector and an additional power connector.

Below is an image of the within of a reckoner with a typical spinning difficult drive with SATA connection. HDD drives are sometimes referred to as spinning drives considering of the spinning platters they contain (y'all can read more here if y'all want to brush up on your knowledge of HDD drives vs SSD).

a SATA hard drive inside the computer

Here is a more detailed view of the SATA drive connectors, with the bulldoze taken out of its storage bay so you tin meet the connectors better. The carmine cablevision is the SATA cable while the ability connector has black, red and yellow wires running to information technology.

HDD SATA connector and power connector

This is a very mutual type of hard drive, which you lot can hands swap with a SATA SSD bulldoze. If your difficult bulldoze has a different, wider kind of connector with 40 pins that ways that it's probably a much older IDE drive. In the example of computers with IDE hard drives, it'southward usually not worth upgrading to an SSD bulldoze because the speed increase you lot can look volition be disappointing.

In this example, I'm using a 1TB Samsung 860 EVO SSD disk, but the steps in this guide volition piece of work simply fine with some other brand of SSD bulldoze besides. Samsung SSD drives come with their ain data migration software, but in that location are other gratis disk cloning utilities bachelor that you tin utilise if yous accept another brand of SSD (The Samsung data migration software will non work with other brands of disk drives).

Samsung 860 EVO SSD disk

Once you lot have determined what size and type of SSD drive you desire it'south fourth dimension to deal with the master question. How to install an SSD drive in your PC without reinstalling Windows?

ane. Connect Your New SSD Drive in Your Current Computer to Clone

How do I connect my new SSD drive in my erstwhile figurer to clone Windows? You can utilise a USB to SATA adapter cablevision to connect your SSD drive to your PC. Alternatively y'all tin power off your computer and temporarily use the SATA and power connector from your DVD drive to connect the SSD drive during the clone operation.

In the image below you can come across the SATA and power cable at the dorsum of my DVD drive, which I could use to temporarily connect my new SATA SSD bulldoze.

SATA cable and power cable on the DVD drive

Delight annotation that some SATA connectors have a lilliputian security clip at the top that you demand to press in order to be able to unplug the connector (encounter paradigm below).

SATA cable connector with clip

If your computer has no DVD drive, you can go an inexpensive SATA cable which y'all tin can connect to a free SATA connector on your motherboard next to where your current hard drive SATA cable sits. Then connect the other end to your SSD drive and besides claw up a ability connector cablevision to the drive.

The red cables in the epitome beneath are the existing SATA cables in my estimator and I accept indicated with a red arrow where on the motherboard I could connect an extra SATA cablevision to connect the SSD drive. If you have several available SATA connectors on your motherboard, you can use any one of them. The second pointer in the image is pointing to a costless power connector that tin exist used to ability the SSD bulldoze.

Free SATA connectors on the motherboard

Alternatively, as mentioned higher up you can too use a USB to SATA connector to connect your SSD drive.

USB to SATA adapter

2. Download and Run MiniTool ShadowMaker for ssd Migration

What free software can I employ to move my Windows boot drive to SSD? MiniTool ShadowMaker for ssd Migration is an fantabulous utility that you can use to move Windows 10 from HDD to SSD without losing information. Use the "Migrate Bone to SSD/HD" option to clone your entire drive onto your new SSD drive.

Download and install MiniTool ShadowMaker. In the MiniTool ShadowMaker utility select tools in the top right corner and and so select "Clone Disk", which is the tool that you lot can use to move Windows x to another hard drive. Here we will use it to move your Windows kick drive to SSD.

MiniTool ShadowMaker Clone Disk

iii. Power off Your Computer

In one case the migration is complete, shut downward your computer. Now yous are gear up to disconnect your old hard bulldoze and make the right cabling connections for your new SSD drive. This is best done with the computer powered down. Y'all can besides unplug the power cable for actress safety.

4. Disconnect Your Old HDD Drive

Disconnect the SATA and power cable from your erstwhile hard disk (HDD). You can leave the physical disk in the calculator case for now so you can test if everything works on your SSD drive first.

5. Connect Your New SSD Drive every bit Boot Device

If you had connected your SSD bulldoze temporarily to your DVD drive cables, now is the time to reconnect your DVD drive. Utilise the SATA and ability cablevision that y'all unplugged from your sometime hard drive to connect the SSD drive now.

vi. Perform a Test Run

Power-up your computer now to see if it boots from your new SSD drive. Normally your computer should load Windows 10 without any trouble and you may already notice that it starts much faster. Depending on your specific state of affairs, y'all might get a notification that Windows detected new hardware and that you lot should restart your reckoner one time again for the installation to complete. If that'south the case, reboot your computer again. Windows should beginning normally now and you should be able to sign in with your username and password.

How to Transfer Windows 10 From HDD to SSD

seven. Shut Down Your Computer

One time yous have verified that everything is ok and working correctly, shutdown the reckoner again. Now is the time to physically remove the old HDD from your figurer and install the new SSD.

8. Physically Mount the SSD Drive and do Cable Management

See if you lot can employ any of the screws or brackets from your old hard drive to physically mount the SSD drive in your computer case.

SSD drives are less frail and tin can withstand shocks improve than traditional hard drives, so if you cannot find a manner to securely tighten your SSD drive in the calculator case, y'all can just put it in a location in the case equally long every bit it doesn't interfere with air flow, cables or spinning fans within the example.

Here I have just put my SSD disk (which is physically quite smaller - two.5 inch vs five.25 inch - than my old HDD) in the old HDD 5.25 inch drive bay.

SSD drive in the computer case

Cheque your cablevision management: see if you tin strap loose cables together and perform an extra check that no loose cables can go caught between the blades of rotating case fans of your computer.

9. Power-up your computer

Your computer will now kicking Windows x from your new SSD drive and you will probably already notice the gain in performance. Don't exist surprised if information technology takes less than half the time it previously took to start Windows (commonly the subtract in startup time volition fifty-fifty be higher).

10. Savour Working With Your new SSD and Upgraded Reckoner

Y'all will meet that it now takes considerably less time not alone to get-go your computer, only likewise to start programs similar your Microsoft Edge browser or Office programs. Not just that, just your computer volition now besides operate without the typical noises of a mechanical hard drive. SSD drives are completely silent and likewise eat less free energy.

With all of this covered, you might still have a few questions about upgrading your figurer to SSD, so let'south go over a few common questions.

Which is a Better Upgrade RAM or SSD?

Mostly speaking an SSD upgrade is an first-class fashion to extend the lifespan of your older reckoner. Even if your PC is low on RAM the SSD upgrade will still increase speed because low RAM systems depend heavily on the hard drive every bit a ways of virtual memory.

That beingness said a minimum of 4 GB RAM or preferably more is recommended for Windows 10.

If you lot tin can make sure that your PC has at least 4 GB of RAM, an SSD upgrade will virtually always be an upgrade worth considering.

Does SSD Speed upwardly my Computer?

An SSD upgrade for your computer is past far ane of the most effective ways to speed upward your figurer. Windows startup time volition typically exist reduced dramatically while the time it takes to offset your programs will be spectacularly meliorate. Speed improvements of 200% - 800% are realistically achievable.

How Much RAM do I Demand for SSD?

The amount of RAM your system needs to run Windows on an SSD deejay is not dissimilar from the corporeality of RAM needed to run on a mechanical HDD. As a general rule four GB of RAM or more is recommended to run Windows 10. The more programs you want to be able to run simultaneously, the more RAM retentiveness your system will need.

Is it Worth Replacing HDD With SSD?

Replacing your old HDD with a Solid State Drive is worth considering to speed up your computer, especially if your PC has a good CPU. High-functioning CPU often take high idle fourth dimension considering they are basically waiting on the slower hard drives to deliver data. Replacing your HDD with an SSD drive can solve this trouble and speed upwards your computer.

Tin I put an SSD in my Old PC?

Even if you have an older PC, an SSD upgrade can still make a lot of sense to finer speed up your computer and extend its lifespan considerably. Mechanical SATA hard drives are very common and are excellent candidates for SSD upgrades. If your estimator has an IDE hard drive with twoscore pin flat cablevision connectors though, it might be too one-time to upgrade to SSD.

Will Upgrading to SSD Speed up my Laptop?

Every bit a general rule you can realistically await a 200% - 800% increase in speed if yous upgrade your laptop HDD to an SSD drive. Laptop mechanical hard drives oft operate at lower rotational speeds which brand them ideal candidates for an SSD upgrade. In addition to better operation you can likewise expect longer battery life because SSD drives are less ability-hungry than traditional hard drives.

How do I Transfer my Windows License to a New SSD?

You lot transfer Windows to a new SSD drive by cloning your original hard bulldoze to an SSD drive. This automatically takes intendance of your Windows license. Every bit long as you don't use your former difficult drive while also running the cloned SSD bulldoze you won't have any problems with your Windows x license.

If you lot've enjoyed this commodity or found it useful, I'd appreciate it if y'all'd let me know by clicking the Like (or Share) push button beneath. Thank you!