Freeware: Move Data to New Hard Drive in Windows 10, 8, 7

When need to move data to new hard drive?

In many cases, you will need to transfer data from the old hard drive to another new one. For example, when you want to replace the old hard drive on your laptop or desktop computer, you need to move data to a new hard drive. Or if you just bought a new laptop, you will need to move the OS and all your personal data from the old hard drive to the new computer. Many users have urgent and frequent needs but only a few know an effective method to get it done. Thus, today we will share you the details about transferring data from old hard drive to a new one.

Freeware to transfer data from old hard drive to new one

Undoubtedly, to move all data from one hard drive to another one, the most direct and simplest way is simply copying and pasting data: connect the old hard drive to the computer with the new hard drive, or connect the new hard drive to the computer with the old hard drive; copy data and paste them to the new hard drive. This way is so easy that anyone can finish it effortlessly.

However, the direct copying method is only proper for transferring a small amount of data (documents, files, photos, music, movies). When you have to move OS, applications, programs to the new hard drive, you will have to apply another different method since the “Copying+Pasting” will make the bootable files invalid and the OS or apps cannot load successfully. Thus, you need a professional data transfer tool: AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard.

This freeware can move data to new hard drive via its cloning feature. “Partition Clone” allows you to transfer data from one partition to another partition via copying one partition. “Disk Clone” can help move data from one disk to another disk via cloning an entire disk. In either way, everything will work successfully and even the OS/programs can load and run as well as in the source location. So, it is a great tool to migrate all your data including the OS and important programs between different hard drives. You can download this freeware and check out the following tutorial.

Steps to move data to new hard drive in Windows 10/8/7

The free Standard edition can only support cloning MBR data disk to MBR disk. If you are going to transfer OS and data from MBR disk to a GPT disk, you can first convert the GPT disk to MBR disk. But if you are cloning GPT-based data or system disk to another MBR/GPT disk, you have to upgrade to the Professional edition. For cloning either data or system disk, the Pro edition has no such limits. The below stepwise guide takes how to clone an MBR data disk to another MBR disk as an example.

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard. Right-click the MBR boot disk and select “Disk Clone”. 

Step 2. Now, choose a method to clone the disk and click “Next”.

Notes:✎...

“Clone Disk Quickly” only clones used sectors to the target disk, allowing for cloning a larger disk to a smaller disk.

“Sector-by-Sector Clone” clones both blank and used sectors to the destination disk, a great solution to clone BitLocker Encrypted hard drive.

Step 3. Select the new hard drive as the destination location to store the data and click “Next”. If the new hard drive is an SSD drive, you can tick “Optimize the performance of SSD” that will align SSD partitions to further improve its performance.

Step 4. Then you will be informed that this process will delete all partitions and data on the target disk, so make sure you have made a backup, then click “Yes” to confirm your operation.

Step 5. You can adjust partition size on the destination disk based on your needs. Or directly click “Next” to go on.

Step 6. Click “Apply” and “Proceed” to execute this operation.

Since we are cloning the system disk, a reboot is required afterward. When all data have been moved to the new hard drive, you need to take the following extra steps in order to boot computer from the new hard drive.

1. Restart your computer. During the initialization process, long press ESC, delete, F2 or other specific keys to enter BIOS environment.
2. Use the arrow key to access to Boot tab. System devices will appear in order of priority. Move the new hard drive to the first place.

3. Save and exit the BIOS setup utility. Then your computer will restart with the changed settings.

Or you can swap out the old hard drive with the new hard drive to boot from it.

Summary

Briefly, to move some personal data to new hard drive, directly copying them to the new hard drive is a good option. To move OS and data to a new hard drive, the AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard is more recommended. Besides that, it has many other great functions: transfer only OS to SSD/HDD, move partition, merge partition, make a bootable media, check bad sector, rebuild MBR, Windows to Go Creator and more. For Windows Server users, there is the AOMEI Partition Assistant Server.