By Michael | Last Updated
Q:"The old SSD is almost full of space and I'm planning to upgrade the 500GB SSD on my computer to a 1TB SSD and set the new SSD as the boot disk. The only problem now is that I don't know how to get all the files on the old SSD to the new SSD, including the Windows OS, please help me. Thanks!"
Upgrading a traditional mechanical hard drive to a SSD can greatly improve the performance of your computer. In the early days, some computers or laptops were equipped with small capacity SSD due to the high price of SSD, which made it easy to run out of space. As a result, more and more users are putting upgrading SSD to larger SSD on their agenda. How to clone SSD to larger SSD in Windows? In this article, we will share with you the best way about this. And how to clone Windows OS to a larger SSD without any software.
The process of cloning an SSD to a larger SSD is not complicated, but if you want to easily create a fully replicated disk, then "clone SSD with a dedicated software" is your best option, which can save you a lot of time. iSunshare CloneGo is a reliable partition/disk clone software. It allows you to directly clone an entire small SSD to a larger SSD without losing any data, or clone HDD to SSD.
The outstanding features of the software:
1. Easy to use interface. Even if you are a beginner, you can easily clone any disk to another disk.
2. Back up the system/partition without losing data.
3. Intelligent Cloning. You can choose between cloning the whole disk or cloning partitions. Moreover, the cloning process will run in the background and it will not interfere with your work on the computer.
Install the new SSD to your computer. If your device does not have two SSD slots, you can use a matching USB cable to connect the SSD to your computer. Then check if it can be recognized.
The new drive will need to be activated in Disk Management before it can be used properly. Open Disk Management tool, initialize the new SSD and create a new simple volume for it.
iSunshare CloneGo is a popular cloning software that not only helps you clone a small hard drive to a large one, and also can effectively backs up your hard drive's data to avoid file corruption. So downloading and installing this excellent tool on your computer first is the key to starting the whole cloning process.
Run iSunshare CloneGo and click the "Disk Clone" option on the left toolbar.
Select the original SSD as the source disk, and then select the larger SSD as the target disk. Click "Start" to start the hard disk cloning process.
The program will erase the data on the target disk, click "Yes" to confirm.
Wait for the cloning process to complete. You will get a message about the success of the clone, click "OK" and exit the software.
Now, you have successfully cloned the SSD to a larger SSD. If you plan to use the new SSD as the system disk, it is a step that should not be overlooked to set the Windows OS to boot from the larger SSD.
Option 1: After disk cloning, if the old SSD is uninstalled and the larger SSD replaces it, the computer will automatically boot from the larger SSD.
Option 2: If you keep both SSD on your computer, you need to go into the BIOS menu and set the larger SSD as the boot disk. Otherwise, your computer system will still boot from the old SSD or get a boot failure error.
If you don't want to use any software to clone SSD to larger SSD, then you can choose to transfer the Windows operating system to larger SSD with System Image. This is another way to improve the performance of your computer. It will backs up Windows' current system settings, programs, files, etc. When restoring a computer from a system image, a full restore will be performed.
Note: This is a more complicated and time consuming route than "clon SSD to larger SSD with a dedicated software". Also, you may easily miss a step and cause the clone to fail.
First you need to prepare an empty larger SSD and connect it to your computer. Then press "Windows+S" to bring up the search box, type "Control Panel", and click the "Open" button.
In the "System and Security" section, click on the "Backup and Restore (Windows 7)" option.
Click on the "Create system image" option on the left, select the disk where you want to store the system image backup and click "Next".
Select the partition that needs to be backed up and wait for the backup process to complete. If your Windows OS is on the C drive, then check the box to clone the C drive to a larger SSD.
Plug the USB into your computer, it should have at least 16GB. Type and open "Create a Recovery Drive" in the Windows search bar. Then follow the wizard to complete the boot disk.
Connect the created boot disk to your computer. Enter the BIOS menu of your computer and boot your computer from the USB drive. Follow the path: "Troubleshoot" > "Advanced Options" > "System Image Recovery".
The system will automatically search for the latest currently available system image, if it is not the correct image, fix it manually. Then click "Next" to continue.
Check your system image restore information and click "Finish" to start the restore process. Wait for the restore process to complete.
Now that you have successfully cloned the Windows OS to a larger one, please remember to complete the setup of booting your computer from the larger SSD drive. If you cannot boot successfully, you should check if you have missed any steps. Finally, our advice is to turn your attention to a professional cloning tool, which is more suitable for novices.
When your computer's system drive is running low on memory, its operation speed will drop rapidly, and the best thing to do is to upgrade the original system disk to a larger SSD/HDD. A simple "copy + paste" does not allow for a complete copy between drives, and dedicated cloning software is perfect for cloning SSD to larger SSD, such as iSunshare CloneGo. You can easily upgrade the SSD on your computer with its help.
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