How to Clone Old Computer to a New One?

Why do users want to clone old computer to a new one?

A new computer and all of the advantages it offers nice mode and better efficiency. Even switching from an HDD to an SSD may improve speed in PCs. All is well until we wish to have the same info that was on the old PC.

After using your computer for several years, it accumulates a large number of files or programs. However, they are also the cause of the computer running slower and slower. When the old device can no longer hold what you need, it may occasionally crash.

In such instances, it's a good idea to improve your computer for a faster boot time and overall performance. But, we can’t just copy and paste all things from the old disk to the new disk in the new PC, so, the most convenient way is to clone the old computer to the new one.

Tips about transferring old PC to new PC

Before we start to clone, first, there are some preparation and some basic knowledge you need to know.

▶ Tools
Since you’ll need to plug your disk into the PC, you’ll need to prepare a screwdriver to open the case or the cover of your laptop. If you have an idle external disk or an external disk that doesn’t have crucial data, you can use it as a medium to clone your old disk to that and then transfer that disk to your new computer to avoid opening the case.

▶Device compatibility
Some users find their computer may not boot and there are errors like hardware abstraction layer, “hal.dll”, or even a BSOD. This is because each computer has its collection of drivers for the motherboard and chipset. So, make sure both disks on your two computers can fit the motherboard, chipset, and other hardware of each other.

▶ Reactivation problem
Reactivation is easier if you have retail or volume licenses. They can be used on any computer, but only one at a time. When you connect to the Internet, Windows will immediately activate your computer. If not, you can reactivate your system by manually entering your license key.

However, if you have an OEM copy of your computer, we recommend that you do not clone your PC or purchase a new license. The OEM license is connected to the first machine that has the operating system installed and is therefore unmovable.

Here is how to check your license type using this method: Press Win + R key combinations or open Command Prompt directly, then input slmgr.vbs –dli, click “OK”.

How to transfer old computer to a new computer?

In this part, we’ll show you how to clone an old computer to a new one via a professional cloning program. Windows doesn’t have built-in clone software, so a reliable clone program is very important.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is a Windows disk and partition manager that supports Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7/XP systems. It’s a multiple PC management. For cloning PC to a new PC, this tool offers 2 options for you:

▶ Migrate OS to a new disk

For users who only wish to keep a familiar OS environment, the “Migrate OS to SSD” feature allows you to transfer only system and relevant data for running your system. You can migrate the system between HDD and SSD, and two disks can have different partition styles so you can transfer your OS from MBR to GPT disk. The only thing you need to pay attention to is to make sure your device supports UEFI boot.

▶Disk Clone Wizard

This function is for users who need to make a complete duplicate of the original disk. After the clone, all your programs and all data are on your new device. During the cloning procedure, you can choose the cloning method:

Just like the OS migration, this function also supports cloning between MBR and GPT, just ensure the UEFI boot is supported.

Now let’s start to clone your PC.

After you plug the disk from your new PC into the old PC, boot your computer from your old disk.

1. Migrate OS to SSD

Step 1. Connect the hard drive in your new computer to your old computer. If the old OS is on a laptop, you need to prepare a SATA-USB adapter.

Step 2. Install and run Partition Assistant Standard.  Click “Clone” on in the top toolbar, and choose “Migrate OS”.

Step 3. Select the new hard drive as the target disk. If there is a partition on SSD, check “I want to delete all partitions on disk 2 to migrate system to the disk” and make “Next” available.

Step 4. Drag to resize the system partition or just type the desired number in the box below.

Don’t forget to read the Note in this window.

Step 5. Click “Apply” and “Proceed” to execute the pending operations.

After the migration, you can remove the new disk and plug it into your new computer, then try to boot to check if the move is successful. Don’t forget to enter BIOS to change the boot order.

2. Disk clone wizard

Step 1. Run AOMEI Partition Assistant, and then click "Clone" in the main interface, and select "Clone Disk".

Step 2. Choose the hard disk that you need to clone as the source disk and click "Next".

Step 3. Select another drive as the destination disk, and then click "Next".

Step 4. Then, you can check the source and destination disk in the next window or change to "Sector to Sector clone", and click the "Confirm" button to continue if there is no problem.

Here, you can also click the "Settings" button to adjust the partition size on the destination disk or tick "4k alignment" to improve the reading and writing speed of the SSD if the target drive is SSD. 

✿ Copy without resizing partitions: The source disk configuration will be copied on the new disk with the same partitions size.
✿ Fit partitions to the entire disk: The partitions on the source disk will occupy the entire destination disk.
✿ Edit partitions on this disk: It allows you to adjust the size of the partition manually, and change the size as you like.

Step 5. After returning to the main interface, check the pending operation and click "Apply" and "Proceed" to commit the operation.

Then you can connect the new disk to your new computer and enter BIOS to finish the boot set.

Summary

Now you know how to clone old computer to a new one. AOMEI Partition Assistant will support you at each step. After your new computer is set up, you can use this tool to wipe/erase your original disk and reuse it as a data disk and move some apps to this old disk to gain more storage capacity on your system disk.

What’s more, this tool can convert a disk to MBR/GPT without data loss, if you’re using an MBR system disk, when you want to upgrade to Windows 11, you can easily convert your disk. And it can convert file systems between NTFS and FAT32 without formatting drive, so if you wish to format a disk larger than 2TB to FAT32, this tool is suitable.

In addition, if you’re running Windows Server 2025/2022/2019/2016/2012(R2)/2008(R2)/2003, you can choose the Server Edition of this tool to manage your Server system more efficiently.