Step by Step Guide: HDD to SSD Migration in Windows 11

Many people may have this question: Can I clone HDD with data to SSD? The answer is yes. As long as the storage capacity of the SSD is equal to or greater than the used space on the HDD, you can migrate everything on the hard drive to the SSD.

Why need HDD to SSD migration in Windows 11?

Due to the high system requirements of Windows 11, after upgrading to Windows 11, some users may not be satisfied with the current performance of the computer. In addition, there are also game users who hope to have a better experience in Windows 11 by upgrading the disk.

So, you need to replace hard drive with SSD. There is no better way to speed up your computer than to upgrade your HDD (Hard Disk Drive) to an SSD (Solid State Drive), as SSD have advantages over traditional HDD in terms of read and write speed, compatibility, durability and temperature.

With HDD to SSD migration, you can transfer all the data in the HDD to the SSD, even without reinstalling the system if the HDD contains Windows OS.

Note: You can also run a disk defragment if you want to improve the performance of your HDD rather than upgrading to SSD.

How to clone HDD to SSD in Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7

To run HDD to SSD migration in Windows 11, all you need is reliable hard drive cloning software – AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, which will free your hands and do all the rest for you. There are some of its advantages below:

● Compatibility: Support Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP; Support different SSD brands (Sandisk, Samsung, Seagate, WD, HP, Kingston, Toshiba, Maxtor, etc.).
● Simple: Provides a friendly interface, the GUI makes it easy for the operator to use.
● Security: You can preview the operation of any task before submitting it, so you don't need to worry about data loss due to operation errors.
● Professional: It provides two cloning methods: Clone Disk Quickly and Sector-by-Sector Clone. The former clones the used sectors of the hard drive to another hard drive, so you can clone large HDD to a smaller SSD; the latter clones the entire HDD, including unused sectors, to the SSD. And also enables SSD 4K alignment to improve SSD performance.

This is a brief introduction to this powerful cloning software. Now, please read on. I will show you the specific steps of HDD to SSD migration.

▶ Part 1. What to do before migration?

☛ Installing an SSD on a desktop or laptop. When the computer has only one hard drive slot, you will need a SATA to USB adapter to connect the SSD to the computer.

☛ If the SSD is unused, you need to initialize the SSD first and make sure to set the partition style as GPT. After that, create a new volume on unallocated space.

☛ If the SSD is used before, then you can secure erase SSD to clean it. If the partition style of SSD is not GPT, please convert SSD from MBR to GPT.

▶ Part 2. Clone HDD to SSD in Windows 11

Next, I will show you how to run HDD to SSD migration with AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional step by step.

Step 1. Download and install AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Run it and click "Clone" on the top pane. Then choose "Clone Partition".

Step 2. Choose a clone method in this window. Generally, we recommend the Clone Disk Quickly and click Next.

Step 3. Choose the HDD as the source drive in this step and click Next.

Step 4. And choose SSD as the destination drive. And you can check“Optimize the performance of SSD” and click Next.

Step 5. You can adjust partitions on the SSD or leave it alone.

Step 6. Finally, click Apply to submit the operations.

▶ Part 3. Boot Windows 11 from SSD without issues

If your PC only supports one hard drive slot, you can boot Windows 11 directly after installing the SSD. But if multiple hard drive slots are supported, then the SSD needs to be set as the boot drive. Please refer to the following steps:

1. Reboot your computer and press a specific key (usually the DEL, ESC, F1, F2, F8, F9, F10, F11,F12 key) constantly to get into UEFI.

2. When you get into the UEFI, you can use the arrow keys to select the cloned SSD as the boot drive, press Enter key to boot from it.

Bonus tip: Clean the HDD as a data disk

After successfully booting Windows 11 from the SSD, you can erase all data on the HDD for sale. Or, make the HDD as a data disk to store personal data. To erase the HDD, you can try the Wipe Hard Drive feature.

Step 1. Right-click the HDD and select Wipe Hard Drive.

Step 2. Choose an erasing method to clean the HDD, then click OK.

Notes:
✍ Fill sectors with Zeros: Overwrites all sectors with zeros. Erasing personal hard drives is common. It's safe and fast.
✍ Fill sectors with random data: It overwrites the hard drive with random data. It's more secure than the first one.
✍ DoD 5220.22-M: The DoD standard was first published by the US Department of Defense, which is much safer than "zero padding" and "random data padding" and faster than Gutman. Therefore, it is often adopted by companies and organizations.
✍ Gutman: It overwrites the hard drive with 35 passes. This is the safest way here, but also takes the longest.

Step 3. Click Apply in the toolbar to perform the operation.

Conclusion

This is the full guide of HDD to SSD migration in Windows 11. With the help of the AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, you can transfer all data from HDD to SSD easily and safely. In addition, you can also migrate only Windows 11 to SSD. By the way, Server users can turn to Server Edition which is designed for Windows Server 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012(R2), 2008(R2), and 2003.