How to Copy MBR from One Disk to Another in Windows 11,10, 8, 7?

"Can I copy MBR from one disk to another?"

“Hi, guys, I got a problem and needed your help. I actually got 2 SATA HDD: one is primary HDD (120GB), which contains MBR, bootable files, and Windows 10 SP2; while another is the second HDD (200GB), which contains Windows 10 SP2.”

“On my 120GB HDD was my old Windows 10 SP2 installation, and I have bought a new 200GB HDD (the second one). I have installed Windows 10 SP2 on the new HDD, by the way, my boot files (boot.ini / ntldr / ...) and MBR still are on my first HDD. I tried to copy MBR to the new disk but failed. So anyone knows how to copy or move MBR from one disk to another Windows 10 successfully.”

Why copy MBR from one disk to another?

The MBR (Master Boot Record) is a boot sector at the very beginning of computers' hard drive, which contains crucial information of all partitions, including file systems, partition size, organizations, ect. Besides, it also contains execute code, used to connect each partition’s volume boot record (VBR). When fully executed by BIOS, this code will transfer control to boot program stored on the boot partition to load the operating system to ensure a successful boot.

If you failed to copy MBR from one hard drive to another hard drive as aforementioned, you’ll be unable to boot from the new drive successfully. It is not an easy task to copy MBR only; thus, you can choose to clone the whole disk containing Master Boot Record to another disk. It will ensure you a smooth boot as long as you employ a reliable cloning tool.

Software to move MBR to another disk in Windows 11/10/8/7

To copy MBR from one disk to another in Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista, you can use AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Its “Disk Clone” function allows you to copy an entire disk (all partitions including the MBR boot drive) to another disk. Its "Partition Clone" enables you to copy only MBR boot partition to a new disk.

Moreover, this software can also help you to fix MBR when it is corrupted. Next, we will guide you on how to use the "Disk Clone" feature to clone Master Boot Record from one disk to another. You can download the Demo edition for a free trial.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, 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. 

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

✍ Notes:
● Since the copying process involves the system disk, a reboot is required.
● If your computer runs very slow on the traditional HDD, you can use "Migrate OS to SSD Wizard" to transfer OS to SSD to optimize your computer performance.
● If you are planning to copy MBR system disk to GPT disk, please ensure your motherboard supports UEFI boot mode because you will need to change boot mode from BIOS to UEFI after the copying task is finished, then you can boot successfully.

At last, you need to boot from the new hard drive. For laptops with only one disk tray, you can remove the old disk and place the new one in its location, then your computer will boot from it. For desktops, you need to take extra steps:

Step 1. Reboot your computer and constantly press a function key (such as F1, F2, ESC, or Delete) to enter the BIOS setup menu.

Step 2. Locate and Navigate to the Boot Order Options in BIOS.

Step 3. Make Changes to the Boot Order to place the new hard drive at the first place in the list.

Step 4. Save Changes to the BIOS Setup Utility.

Step 5. Then your computer will boot from the destination disk successfully.

Bottom line

This article has shown how to copy MBR from one disk to another on Windows 10, as well as told how to boot the computer from the destination disk successfully. Hopefully, you can get help from it. Besides, if you want to make similar operations on Windows Server 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012, 2008, or 2003, you can make use of AOMEI Partition Assistant Server.