AOMEI Partition Assistant
Top OS Clone Software: Migrate OS without Data Loss
In this page, we will explore what OS cloning software is, its benefits, and offer a step-by-step guide to clone OS on the Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
By Emily / Updated on August 3, 2023
Help! Can I clone just the OS?
"My Windows 10 OS runs on a SanDisk HDD, but it begins to fail. So I bought a new SSD hoping that I would be able to clone the OS from the failing hard drive to it. But I have never done this (copying OS from one drive to another) before. So anyone can tell how can I copy OS from one drive to another? Or is there any SSD OS cloning software? Thanks!"
Suffer from OS running slow or failing and want to clone the old hard drive to a new HDD or SSD? Plan to make a system backup in case of unexpected disasters? In either situation, you can clone the OS to the destination location without reinstalling Windows 10 system & installed applications. Thus, you will need proper OS cloning software.
Best OS clone software: Migrate only OS to another disk
OS cloning software is a specialized tool designed to create an exact copy, or clone, of an entire operating system, including all files, configurations, and installed applications. The cloned OS can then be transferred to another drive, making it an ideal solution for data migration, system replication, and backup.
If you have no idea how to identify a Windows OS cloning software, you can try AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Its "Migrate OS to SSD" can clone Windows 11/10/8/7 OS from one drive to another hard drive (HDD or SSD). Besides, it also allows you to:
▶ Clone OS partition to a smaller hard drive as long as the available space on the destination disk is equal to, or larger than the used space of the current OS partition or disk.
▶ Boot your OS from the target disk after the OS clone since it will copy everything necessary for system startup.
How to clone OS from one hard drive to another
Now you can download this OS cloning software and learn how to clone only OS partition to another disk on Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC.
- ★Tips:
- Ensure the destination disk has an unallocated space, equal to or larger than the used space of OS partition. If no unallocated space, create one by deleting or shrinking existing partitions.
- Back up everything important on the destination disk because this process will delete all data inside.
- Check whether there are some bad sectors or errors on the original system drive.
- To clone the Server OS partition, you can try AOMEI Partition Assistant Server.
Step 1. Install and run the AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Then you can get into the main interface of this software; click “Clone” on in the top toolbar, and choose “Migrate OS”.
Step 2. In the next window, choose an unallocated space on the destination HDD or SSD( or you need to tick the option of "I want to delete all partitions on this disk X to migrate system to the disk"), and then click "Next" to go on.
Step 3. In the pop-out window, you could resize the partition, assign a drive letter to it, or just keep default settings and click “Next”.
Step 4. A helpful note about boot problem will appear. Read it in case you might meet some boot failure problems after OS migration. Then click “Finish”.
Step 5. Click “Apply” in the main interface to start transferring operating system to a new disk.
✦ Note:
After cloning, you need to insert the new disk into your computer and reboot it, change the boot order to set the PC boot from it:
1. Start your computer and keep pressing ESC, F1, F2, F8 or F10 during the initial startup screen to enter BIOS setting.
2. In the Boot option, change boot order, select new HDD/SSD as the new boot drive and save all the changes.
3. Finally, restart the computer, you should be able to see Windows OS running on your new disk without any problems.
If the cloned hard drive or SSD won't boot, you might need to check whether the system files or the Master Boot Record of the current system drive are intact.
Summary
So, with this powerful OS clone software, you can easily copy OS partition to another hard drive as you wish. If you want to clone the entire OS disk (both OS partition and other data partitions) to another disk, you can try the "Disk Clone" function. Moreover, it is far more than an OS copying utility, and it is also a MBR to GPT converter (allowing you to convert disk between MBR and GPT without deleting existing partitions), an SD card repair tool, MBR repair tool, and more.
