[Bootable] How to Clone Laptop Disk to GPT SSD in Windows 8/8.1/10/11

About cloning laptop disk to GPT SSD in Windows 8

Why clone laptop hard drive to SSD?

Does it take a long time for your laptop to boot up after using it for a long time? Compared with changing a new computer, it is more cost-effective to transfer data to a more advanced hard drive. To avoid the arduous task of reinstalling Windows and applications, many users prefer to clone their laptops' disks to save valuable time and energy.

For optimal experience, people often replace HDD with SSD (solid state drive). This can significantly improve boot times, application launch, data transfers, gaming experience, and overall system responsiveness.

Why clone a disk to GPT instead of MBR?

When choosing the proper partition style for the target SSD, many users may be suggested to use GPT (GUID Partition Table) but they don't know why. Actually, this is because GPT has obvious advantages over MBR (Master Boot Record) :

☛ GPT allows disks to be larger than 2 TB, while MBR cannot.

☛ GPT supports volumes up to 18 EB and allows 128 partitions per disk, while MBR is capped at 2 TB and up to 4 primary partitions (or three primary partitions with extended partitions and unlimited logical drives).

☛ GPT supports UEFI firmware interface, while MBR supports BIOS firmware interface

☛ GPT is compatible with newer versions of Windows.

Therefore, to maximize your user experience, the combination of GPT and SSD is strongly recommended.

The best cloning software for Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11: AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional

If you want to clone HDD to SSD Windows 8, 8.1, 10, 11, or even 7, you will need reliable third-party software as Windows lacks built-in cloning tools. You are suggested to pick AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, a trusted and user-friendly solution for disk cloning tasks, especially able to directly clone MBR to GPT SSD without conversion and make the cloned drive bootable.

The software offers a comprehensive set of features tailored for optimized disk cloning:

✍ Clone Disk: Seamlessly clone laptop HDD to smaller SDD or larger HDD, ensuring complete data integrity.
✍ Clone Partition: Selectively copy specific partitions from the original disk to the new SSD/HDD, providing flexibility in data migration.
✍ Clone System: Easily migrate the operating system individually to another SSD/HDD without a complete reinstall.
✍ Secure Boot: Ensures successful booting from cloned drives and maintains system stability.
✍ Clone Disk Quickly: Transfer only used sectors from the source disk to clone a larger drive to a smaller drive, provided the destination disk can accommodate the used sectors.
✍ Sector by Sector Clone: Performs a sector-to-sector clone, copies used and unused sectors from the source disk, and requires a larger destination drive.

How to clone laptop drive to GPT SSD in Windows 8/8.1/10/11

After downloading AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, read this part and get step-by-step instructions on how to clone laptop hard drive to SSD Windows 8 GPT.

Before you begin:

1. Connect the new SSD to your computer to ensure it is detected.

2. Back up important files on the target SSD as the cloning process will erase all existing data.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional Edition.

Step 2. Click the "Clone" main tab and select "Clone Disk". (You can also right-click the Disk you want to clone and select the "Clone Disk" tool to run disk clone.)

Step 3. Choose the hard disk that you need to clone as the source disk and click "Next".

Step 4. Select the destination disk to put the data of the source disk on, and then click "Next".

Step 5. Then, you will enter the Confirm interface where you can check the source and destination disk. After all is set, you can click the "Confirm" button to continue.

In lower left corner of the window, you can click the "Settings" button to adjust the partition size on the destination disk. There are three options for you:

• Clone without resizing partitions: all partitions will be cloned to the target disk as the original partition size. It is available when the target disk is larger than the source disk. If it is smaller, this option will be grayed out.
• Fit partitions to entire disk: all partitions will be cloned to the target disk and take up its full capacity according to the original partition size proportion.
• Edit partitions on this disk: you can change every partition size on the target disk as you need.

After finishing the adjustment, please click "Save".

Notes:

• You can tick "4k alignment" to improve the reading and writing speed of SSD if the selected destination disk is an SSD storage.
• All data on this selected destination disk will be wiped out after you save the operation to physical disk. If there is important data on the destination drive, please make a backup in advance.
• If you clone to a smaller SSD, the first option is grayed out. If you select Sector-by-Sector Clone, it is unable to adjust the size on the destination disk.

Step 6. You can preview the disk cloning operating by viewing the "Pending Operations". To commit the "Pending Operations", please click "Apply" and "Proceed".

Step 7. The cloning process will start and you can check the cloning process.

Once completed, your old laptop drive will be successfully cloned from MBR to the new GPT SSD. This "Clone Disk" feature also allows users to clone GPT disk to SSD.

How to successfully boot from the cloned hard drive

To successfully boot your laptop from a cloned GPT SSD drive in Windows 8 after the cloning process, follow these steps to set the SSD as the boot disk:

Step 1: Restart your computer and press the designated key (usually Del, F2, F12, or Esc) to enter the BIOS setup.

Step 2: Use the arrow keys in the BIOS setup to navigate and find the Boot or Boot Sequence section.

Step 3: Adjust the boot order settings to prioritize the newly cloned GPT SSD as the first boot device.

Step 4: Follow the prompts or instructions in the BIOS utility to navigate to the Exit tab.

Step 5: Find the Exit Saving Changes option.

After completing these steps and saving the changes in the BIOS settings, restart the laptop. Your Windows 8 system should now boot successfully from the newly cloned GPT SSD drive as the primary boot disk.

Conclusion

This article discusses how to clone laptop hard drive to SSD Windows 8 GPT using the best disk cloning software AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional Edition. Following these steps, you can either replace the laptop hard drive with an SSD or transfer files to a new drive easily and safely.

Apart from cloning GPT disk to SSD, this pragmatic program also enables you to migrate only OS partition to SSD/HDD, safely convert disks to GPT or MBR style, move installed programs to D or other drives to free up space, etc.

Whenever you want to clone disks, download AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional and it won't let you down.