How to Transfer Boot Drive to M.2 SSD and Boot It Successfully

Real case

"Hi, I just bought an M.2 NVMe SSD to speed up my games. However, I wonder if it is possible to transfer the boot drive there. There are so many programs and personal data on this OS and I don't want to reinstall or reactivate. What should I do?"

This is a real case from a tech forum. Due to the powerful performance of M.2 NVMe SSD, most people tend to replace HDD with M.2 SSD. However, changing a new disk will loss data, which is make people upset. Fortunately, this article will mention a top disk transfer software and use it to show you how to transfer boot drive to M.2 without losing data. Read on to learn all the information here.

What to prepare for transferring boot drive to M.2 SSD?

We need to do some jobs in advance to make sure there is no problem happens when transferring the boot drive.

▶ Section 1. Insert M.2 SSD into PC

Keep in mind that M.2 SSD are only compatible with motherboards that support M.2 slots. So check your computer motherboard to make sure it has an M.2 slot.

For laptops:

Step 1. Use a Phillips screwdriver to remove the back cover of the laptop from the hard drive area (the area where the hard drive is located varies with different laptop brands, please read the product manual first).

Step 2. Insert the M.2 SSD obliquely into the M.2 slot to ensure that the SSD is tightly connected to the motherboard interface.

Step 3. Then, tighten the screws and reattach the laptop back cover.

For desktop:

Step 1. With the computer turned off, unplug the power cord. Open the case and locate the M.2 slot. Then, insert the M.2 SSD into the M.2 slot.

Step 2. Insert the screw into the mounting hole on the motherboard, and tighten it with a Phillips screwdriver. Finally, replace the desktop computer back cover and power on the computer.

▶ Section 2. Initialize M.2 SSD

After the installation is complete, we need to initialize M.2 SSD. Otherwise, it will not be recognized by Windows. Please open Disk Management and select "Initialize Disk". To avoid a different boot mode, set the partition style (MBR or GPT) to be the same as the old disk.

▶ Section 3. Download the top disk transfer software

To transfer boot drive to M.2 SSD, what you cannot lack is a good disk transfer software. There are much similar software on the market, but they always have limitations and cannot guarantee 100% data security.

But AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional (compatible with Windows 11, 10, 8 and 7) is different. It supports transfer boot drive or data drive to HDD/M.2 SSD without data loss. And the migrated M.2 SSD can be booted successfully.

If you need to transfer entire disk to HDD/M.2 SSD, you can try Clone Disk feature. Please download it to see how to switch boot drive to M.2 SSD.

[Whole process]How to transfer boot drive to M.2 SSD

Now, you can follow the steps to transfer boot drive to new disk with AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.

Step 1. On the main interface, choose "Migrate OS" under "Clone" column.

Step 2. Select an unallocated space on the new M.2 SSD and click "Next".

Step 3. In the window, you can resize the partition being created on the M.2 SSD drive and click "Next".

Step 4. Read the note about how to boot Windows from the M.2 SSD and click "Finish".

Step 5. Back to the main interface, click "Apply" to finish the last step.

Set PC boot from cloned M.2 SSD

After the migration is complete, you need to manually set M.2 SSD as boot drive. Restart the computer and press F10, F11, F12, or Esc to enter the BIOS. Then, set up to boot from the cloned M.2.

Conclusion

By now, you should have learned how to transfer boot drive to M.2. As you can see, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is an all-in-one software, when the performance of M.2 SSD is poor, you can even make M.2 SSD run faster.

By the way, if you need to manage a Server device, you can turn to Server Edition or if you're an enterprise user, you can try Unlimited Edition.