User Case
“Hi guys, just a quick question here. Getting a new Samsung 970 EVO Plus for Christmas, upgrading from the 960 model. Don’t want to bother with a fresh install, so what’s the best thing to do with moving my c drive from old to new…?? Thanks…!!”
-Question from Tech Power Up
Why need to clone hard drive in Windows 11?
It has been a while since Windows 11 was officially released, and I believe many users have upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11 to explore its new user experience. The Windows 11 operating system has a new, more Mac-like interface. It features a clean design with rounded corners and pastel tones.
During use, some users want to clone hard drive in Windows 11. Why do they clone the disk? Let’s take a look.
- Upgrade and replace the old system disk without reinstalling the operating system.
- Migrate data from one hard disk to another larger disk.
- Back up hard drive to avoid data loss.
Since Windows doesn’t have a built-in feature to help you clone your hard drive directly, you’ll need powerful disk clone software to help you do this. So, what is the best disk cloning software? Read on to find out.
What’s the best hard drive cloning software for Windows 11?
AOMEI Backupper Professional is the most reliable and comprehensive cloning software for all Windows PCs, such as Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista. This utility can help you easily transfer operating system or data from one hard drive to another. With its help, you save the trouble of reinstalling the operating system, and you do not need to manually reconfigure the system.
AOMEI Backupper has always been trusted and loved by a large number of users, let’s take a look at its excellent features.
- It supports cloning different disk partition styles. You can clone system disks from MBR to MBR, GPT to GPT, MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR.
- It supports cloning multiple kinds of hard drives, including HDD, HDD, SATA SSD, NVMe M.2 SSD, USB flash drives, SD card, etc.
- It supports all brands and modes of HDDs/SSDs, such as Samsung, Western Digital, Kingston, SanDisk, Inland, etc.
- It supports cloning hard drive of different size. You can use it to clone a larger hard drive to a smaller one with its “Intelligent Clone” feature.
After knowing some basic information of this software, I will show you how to use it to clone hard drive in Windows 11.
Step-by-step guide to clone hard drive in Windows 11
In this section, I will show you how to clone a hard drive on Windows 11 without any startup issues. Follow the illustrated tutorial below to clone a hard drive.
Note: If the target hard disk you plan to clone to is a used hard drive, you should first consider whether you need to back up the files on it. Because all the data on the target location will be overwritten after cloning process.
Part 1: Install and initialize new hard drive in Windows 11
- Shut down your computer and cut off the power. If you’re a desktop user, open the sides of the computer tower case and install the new hard drive in the correct location. If you’re a laptop user and don’t have room for another hard drive, then you’ll need to buy something like a SATA to USB cable to connect the hard drive to your laptop.
- Close your computer case and restart it. After the computer turns on, press Windows + R to open the Run dialog, type msc, and click OK to open Disk Management.
- Right-click on the new hard drive and select Initialize Disk. Then choose the partition style for the hard drive. In order to have better compatibility with Windows11, it is recommended to choose GPT.
Part 2: Clone system disk to another without reinstalling Windows 11
- Download AOMEI Backupper on your Windows 11 computer.
- Lauch AOMEI Backupper, you will see the dark blue interface. Click Clone in the left pane and then select Disk Clone.
- Next, select the disk that you want to clone and clone Next.
- Then select the new hard disk you just installed and click Next.
- Then you can preview all settings on the Operation Summary page. After confirming all settings, click Start Clone to perform this task.
Tips: There are 3 additional functions in the bottom left corner of the software to help you customize your cloning tasks.
- Sector By Sector Clone: AOMEI Backupper just clones the used sectors on the disk by default. Check this option if you want to clone all sectors on the source disk, whether used or not.
- SSD Alignment: If the target location is an SSD, you can check this option to optimize the performance of the SSD.
- Edit Partitions: This feature allows you to edit the size of the partitions on the target disk. If you plan to clone to a larger hard drive, you can check Add unused space to all partitions to avoid leaving unallocated space on the larger drive.
Note: The first option is not available when you clone to a smaller disk
- Wait until the operation is complete, click Finish.
Once the operation is complete, you can change the boot order directly in the BIOS or replace the old hard drive with a cloned one.
To sum up
This article provides you with reliable and comprehensive software to help you clone hard drive on Windows 11. With its help, you can move operating system or data on the hard drive easily. Its user-friendly interface and simple operation steps are praised by millions of users.
Apart from the clone function, it also embeds other useful functions such as sync, backup, restore and tools. For instance, you can use it to create a bootable disk in advance to solve problems like a computer crash and not booting properly. What’s more, cloud backup is also a good choice.’
