Transferring the system to an SSD without reinstalling is the best way. Transferring Windows to another empty hard drive using AOMEI Partition Assistant How to reinstall the system on another hard drive

Purchasing a new SSD or HDD does not necessarily have to result in installing Windows from scratch. Windows with all its settings and installed software can be transferred to a new hard drive, if the old one is still connected to the computer, using special software. This process is called operating system migration. It involves cloning the system partition (drive C and boot sector) to another hard drive. Such operations can be carried out by the Acronis True Image program, various software assemblies from Paragon, including the Paragon Migrate OS to SSD utility specially designed only for these purposes, as well as products from the developer AOMEI. But while products from Acronis and Paragon can only be used on a paid basis, software from AOMEI is available completely free of charge.

The ability to transfer Windows to another hard drive is available in two AOMEI products - AOMEI Backupper Professional backup software and AOMEI Partition Assistant disk manager. You can use the Windows migration function in AOMEI Backupper Professional for free only for a month, until the full-featured trial version expires. But with the help of the free Standard edition of the AOMEI Partition Assistant disk manager, you can constantly transfer Windows from one hard drive to another. But not only this point makes AOMEI Partition Assistant a profitable solution for transferring Windows to another hard drive. This program is, in fact, a single tool both for migrating the operating system and for allocating space on the new hard drive for the specific needs of the user. Today we’ll look at how to use AOMEI Partition Assistant to transfer Windows to another empty hard drive.

1. Specifics of the operation: required reading

The Windows migration method described below does not preserve the partition structure and data of the target hard drive (the one to which the operating system will be transferred). Therefore, this method is only suitable for cases when nothing should be saved on the target SSD or HDD. For example, if you purchase a new device with unallocated space. Or when connecting a used device whose data is not valuable. AOMEI Partition Assistant can transfer Windows to a separate system partition of the target hard drive while preserving the structure of the latter and data stored on other partitions. In this case, the migration method will be different from the one below. If there is important data on the target hard drive, you cannot use the instructions below.

2. Download and run the program

AOMEI Partition Assistant can be downloaded from the official website of the creators. In the list of program editions, you can select the free Standard one. Its capabilities will be enough to transfer Windows to another hard drive and create partitions on it (if necessary).

After launching the program, in the center of the window we will see a picture of all connected disks and their partitions - in a tabular format at the top and in a visual format at the bottom. If the target SSD or HDD is new, its space will be unallocated as shown in the screenshot.

In this case, remember its serial number - Disk 1, Disk 2, etc. - and immediately proceed to paragraph 4 of the article.

3. Removing partitions on the target hard drive with existing partitions

Before starting the Windows migration operation, the target hard drives with existing partitions must be rid of partitions by deleting them. The operation to remove partitions requires special care. If several hard drives with a similar partition structure are connected to your computer, their properties window will help you figure out which of them is the target one to which you want to transfer Windows. To find out which hard drive is displayed as Disk 1, Disk 2, etc., click on it (on the block of the entire disk, as shown in the screenshot), call up the context menu and select “Properties”.

In the properties window, in the first column we will see the brand and model of the hard drive.

We make sure that the desired hard drive is selected, and delete its partitions one by one. On each partition, call up the context menu and select “Delete partition”.

For each partition, we confirm the deletion without changing the preset “Quickly delete partition” option.

When the entire target hard drive is displayed as unallocated space, click the button at the top of the “Apply” program window.

We once again confirm the decision to delete the partitions.

Upon completion of the operation, click “Ok”.

4. Transfer (migrate) Windows to another hard drive

Well, disk space is not allocated on the target SSD or HDD, now we can proceed directly to the process of transferring Windows to it, which is located on the source hard drive and is currently running. In the AOMEI Partition Assistant window, click the “Wizard” menu and select “Transfer OS SSD or HDD”.

Then click on the target disk with unallocated space. Click “Next”.

In the next window, you configure the size of the future system partition on the target disk. AOMEI Partition Assistant by default sets the C drive and Windows boot sector to the same sizes as the original hard drive. If the target disk is not a 60 GB SSD, but a medium with a lot of space, we can adjust the system partition slider to 70-100 GB. This is the optimal size today for Windows 7, 8.1 and 10. The remaining space of the target disk will later be allocated to non-system partitions for data storage. Click “Next”.

The wizard’s work is completed – click “Finish”.

Returning to the main program window, click the “Apply” button at the top.

Then we will see another dialog box warning that the operation will be carried out in pre-boot mode. We save the files open on the computer, close other active programs and click “Yes” in the AOMEI Partition Assistant window.

The computer will reboot, and on the screen we will observe the progress of the Windows transfer operation.

5. Check the target hard drive

Once the operation is complete, the system will boot from the original hard drive. You need to restart the computer again in order to configure the BIOS to boot from the target hard drive and check the functionality of the transferred Windows.

For cases where Windows is transferred to a single system partition on an SSD, the process is complete.

6. Create non-system partitions on the target hard drive

AOMEI Partition Assistant has also moved to the target hard drive along with Windows. Having booted the computer from the target disk, we can use the program to create non-system partitions. Click on the unallocated space after partition C, call up the context menu (or use the “Partition” program menu) and select “Create partition”.

In the window that appears, by dragging the slider on the visual block, we select all the available space or only part of it for the section to be created. Click "Ok".

If the disk space is divided into several partitions, we perform this operation the required number of times. Once the partitions are formed, we apply the planned operations.

We confirm their launch.

Click "Ok".

Disk partitioning is complete.

Have a great day!

Under certain conditions, during the installation of the Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems, a hidden System Reserved partition is automatically created. Thus, the operating system can be located on either one or two partitions. The main purpose of the hidden partition is to store and protect operating system boot files - the operating system starts from this partition. This partition has a size of 100÷350 MB (the size is selected automatically by the system),
Attributes of this section:

• System
• Active
• Main section

If the operating system is located on two partitions, the first hidden partition is not visible in Windows in the “My Computer” window (can be seen in the “Disk Management” program). The second is visible in Windows in the “My Computer” window under the letter C. In the second contains the remaining files of the operating system - its size is selected by the user when installing the operating system, depending on the expected number of updates, installed programs and user documents.
On the page of this site we will look at an example of transferring such a “two-partition” operating system to a new hard drive. This operation is not very complicated and consists of two stages:

Let's look at each of them in more detail.

Creating an image of Windows 7 operating system partitions.

At this stage, we will, roughly speaking, copy all the files from two partitions of the hard drive with the Windows 7 operating system into one archive, which is called an image. For this purpose, we will use Acronis True Image 2014 Premium.
Download Acronis True Image 2014 / Acronis Disk Director 11 and burn to CD DVD CD (or flash drive) you can follow these links.
You can download Acronis True Image 2011, for example, from a flash drive - see
Below we continue to consider in detail the transfer of Windows 7 using Acronis True Image 2014 Premium to a new hard drive running from a flash drive:
Insert the USB flash drive and launch it (reboot the computer). During startup, use the F12 key (or other keys intended for this purpose) to open the boot menu, in which we select boot from a flash drive. Let's look.
Through the menu, launch Acronis True Image 2014 Premium. The Acronis True Image 2014 Premium start window opens.

Picture 1

Go to the “Backup” tab.

Figure 2

On the “Backup” tab that opens, select “Backup disks and partitions. Create a backup copy of your computer."

Figure 3

In the “Backup Wizard” window that opens, in the required “Select Data” step, you are asked to select the partitions to be backed up.
Here in our case we see three disks:

• Disk 1, - NTFS (Data 2) (F), - we are going to place the archive on it;
• Disk 2 - with three partitions, two of which contain the Windows 7 operating system.
• Disk 3 is a flash drive from which Acronis True Image 2014 Premium is loaded.

on Disk 2 we mark the partitions related to the operating system that we are going to archive:

• NTFS (OS win7) (C) Main.
• NTFS (No Label) Basic, Active

Figure 4

In the next mandatory step “Archive storage”, select the action - enable the option “Create a new backup archive” and press the button to select the storage location for the backup copy Review.

Figure 5

In the “Search for storage” window that opens, select the drive (folder), “File type” and enter the “File name” under which the archive will be saved. The backup archive file type is left as default: *. tib.
Press the button OK, - the “Search for storage” window closes.

Figure 6

In the “Backup Wizard” window, click the button Further.

Figure 7

“Summary data” appears in the “Backup Wizard” window - click the button Get started.

Figure 8

Operations have begun.
We wait, and upon completion a message appears indicating the successful completion of the operations.

Figure 9

Pressing a button OK, - close the message about the successful completion of the operation, and close the Acronis True Image 2014 Premium program window and shut down the computer.
For reference: The operating system files located on two hard drive partitions with a total volume of 12.01 GB (in the case shown, no programs were installed and there were practically no user documents) in the archive began to have a volume of 5.29 GB. Archive name: archive_2r__ful_b1_s1_v1.tib.
The system image has been created. Now let's move on to the next stage.

Restoring the operating systemWindows7 from the image on the new disk.

We replace the hard drive in the computer with a new one, or restore it on another computer - in this case, the hard drive is not partitioned. Acronis True Image 2014 Premium allows you to restore the operating system on another computer - the image created using the method described above can be “connected” to the computer and removable media.
In the same way as described above, we launch Acronis True Image 2014 Premium from the flash drive.

Figure 10

Select the “Recovery” tab.

Figure 11

On the “Recovery” tab that opens, click the button Searching for a backup...

Figure 12

We indicate where the created backup archive image is located and click the button OK.

Figure 13

Click on the “Disk recovery” field. Restore your computer from a backup."

Figure 14

Select our found copy and press the button Further.

Figure 15

Select the recovery method - enable the options Recover disks or partitions And UseAcronisUniversalRestore. Acronis Universal Restore allows you to restore a system volume from an image to any computer, regardless of hardware configuration.

Figure 16

Specify additional repositories in which you want to search for drivers for installed devices.
We enable the options “Search for drivers on removable media” and “Search for drivers in the following sources:”.
Click +Add search path and show the way.
If you don’t have such sources, it’s okay. The system itself will find drivers on the Internet.
Press the button Further.

Figure 17

We select recovery items - since we need to restore two partitions and the master boot record, we enable the “Disk 2” option. Checkmarks will appear automatically - two partitions to be restored and MBR. Press the button Further.

Figure 18

Next, you need to make recovery settings for each partition. Let's start setting up the recovery of the first partition. Here it is indicated by the letter G, - in Windows 7 it will be hidden (it will not be visible in the “My Computer” window). In the “Partition storage (required)” field, click on the link New storage .

Figure 19

Select the unallocated space Disk 2 (to which we restore the system) and press the button Accept.

Figure 20

We make further settings for restoring the first partition. We take into account that the computer is booted from a flash drive, the partition letters will not match those that will be when Windows 7 is subsequently loaded - therefore, in the “Logical drive letter” field, select “Automatic”. In the “Section Type” field, click on the link .

Figure 21

Accept.

Figure 22

To check the size of the first partition, in the “Partition size” field, click on the link Change default settings .

Figure 23

Accept.

Figure 24

The recovery settings for the first partition are complete, press the button Further.

Figure 25

Let's start setting up the recovery of the second partition. In the “Partition storage (required)” field, click on the link New storage .

Figure 26

Select a location for the second partition, mark the unoccupied space of Disk 2 and press the button Accept.

Figure 27

We continue with the recovery settings for the second partition, in the “Logical drive letter” field, select “Automatic”. In the “Section Type” field, click on the link Change default settings .

Figure 28

We agree that the “Basic” option is enabled and click the button Accept.

Figure 29

To check the size of the second partition, in the “Partition size” field, click on the link Change default settings .

Figure 30

We agree with the sizes and press the button Accept.

Figure 31

The recovery settings for the first and second partitions are completed - press the button Further.

Figure 32

Select disk 2 for MBR recovery and press the button Further.

Figure 33

We check the summary data - if everything is correct, press the button Get started.

Figure 34

Data recovery process in progress...

Figure 35

Upon completion of the data recovery process, we reboot the computer, as a result of which the Windows 7 operating system starts. During startup, the system is automatically configured and the missing drivers are installed from the Internet.
When restoring to another computer, the operating system may not be activated. In this case, you can activate it again, look
Here is an example of transferring a “two-partition” operating system to a new hard drive - with a “one-partition” system everything is simpler. We do everything in the same way by specifying only one partition and MBR.

If you bought a new hard drive or solid-state SSD drive for your computer, it is very likely that you have no great desire to reinstall Windows, drivers and all programs. In this case, you can clone or, otherwise, transfer Windows to another disk, not only the operating system itself, but also all installed components, programs, etc. Separate instructions for 10 installed on a GPT disk in a UEFI system: .

In fact, Seagate DiscWizard is a complete copy of the previous program, only to work it requires at least one Seagate hard drive on the computer.

All actions that allow you to transfer Windows to another disk and completely clone it are similar to Acronis True Image WD Edition (in fact, it is the same program), the interface is the same.

You can download the Seagate DiscWizard program from the official website https://www.seagate.com/ru/ru/support/downloads/discwizard/

Samsung Data Migration

The Samsung Data Migration program is designed specifically for transferring Windows and data to a Samsung SSD from any other drive. So, if you are the owner of such a solid-state drive, this is what you need.

The transfer process is carried out in the form of a wizard with several steps. At the same time, in the latest versions of the program it is possible not only to completely clone a disk with operating systems and files, but also to selectively transfer data, which may be relevant, given that the size of SSDs is still smaller than modern hard drives.

The Samsung Data Migration program in Russian is available on the official website https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

How to transfer Windows from HDD to SSD (or other HDD) in Aomei Partition Assistant Standard Edition

Another free program, also in Russian, that allows you to conveniently transfer the operating system from a hard drive to a solid-state drive or to a new HDD - Aomei Partition Assistant Standard Edition.

Note: this method only works for Windows 10, 8 and 7 installed on an MBR disk on computers with BIOS (or UEFI and Legacy boot), when you try to transfer the OS from a GPT disk, the program reports that it cannot do this (possibly , here simple copying of disks in Aomei will work, but it was not possible to experiment - failures when rebooting to complete the operation, despite Secure Boot being disabled and checking the digital signature of drivers).

The steps for copying the system to another disk are simple and, I think, will be clear even to a novice user:

If everything goes well, upon completion you will receive a copy of the system that can be booted from your new SSD or hard drive.

You can download Aomei Partition Assistant Standard Edition for free from the official website https://www.disk-partition.com/free-partition-manager.html

Transfer Windows 10, 8 and Windows 7 to another disk in Minitool Partition Wizard Bootable

Minitool Partition Wizard Free, along with Aomei Partition Assistant Standard, I would classify as one of the best free programs for working with disks and partitions. One of the advantages of Minitool's product is the availability of a fully functional bootable ISO image of Partition Wizard on the official website (the free Aomei allows you to create a demo image with important functions disabled).

By writing this image to a disk or flash drive (the developers recommend using Rufus for this) and booting your computer from it, you can transfer the Windows or other system to another hard drive or SSD, and in this case we will not be hampered by possible OS limitations, since it is not running.

Note: I tested cloning the system to another disk in Minitool Partition Wizard Free only without EFI boot and only on MBR disks (Windows 10 was transferred), I can’t vouch for its performance in EFI/GPT systems (I couldn’t get the program to work in this mode, despite Secure Boot being disabled, it looks like this is a bug specifically on my equipment).

The process of transferring a system to another disk consists of the following steps:

Once complete, you can close the Minitool Partition Wizard, reboot your computer and set it to boot from the new disk to which the system was transferred: in my test (as I already mentioned, BIOS+MBR, Windows 10) everything went well and the system booted as usual which did not happen with the source disk disconnected.

You can download the Minitool Partition Wizard Free bootable image for free from the official website https://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html

Macrium Reflect

The free Macrium Reflect program allows you to clone entire drives (both hard drives and SSDs) or individual sections, no matter what brand your drive is. In addition, you can create an image of a separate disk partition (including Windows) and later use it to restore the system. Creating bootable recovery disks based on Windows PE is also supported.

After launching the program, in the main window you will see a list of connected hard drives and SSDs. Mark the disk where the operating system is located and click “Clone this disk”.

At the next stage, in the “Source” item the source hard drive will already be selected, and in the “Destination” item you will need to indicate the one to which you want to transfer the data. You can also select only individual partitions on the disk to copy. Everything else happens automatically and is not difficult even for a novice user.

Official download site: https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

Additional Information

Once you have transferred Windows and files, be sure to either set the new drive to boot in the BIOS or disconnect the old drive from the computer.

It happens that it is necessary to replace an old computer or laptop, or to replace the motherboard. Then you would have to reinstall the operating system. Yes, this process is not complicated, but you can transfer the operating system using the utility Sysprep. This utility is from Microsoft, which allows users to transfer the OS to new hardware while preserving all data.

As soon as you run the sysprep utility, all information about drivers and the operating system will be cleared. The main thing is that all installed programs will not be touched. There will be no need to make all sorts of backups, reinstall programs, etc. Another nuance is that information about the activation of Windows 7 is also lost, so you will have to re-activate it. This does not apply to the version, since activation is tied to the hardware and it occurs automatically.

To migrate Windows 7 using the sysprep utility, you need to open a command prompt. To do this, click Win+R and enter cmd. Now enter the following command on the command line:

%windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep

A system preparation window will open where you need to make some settings.

Where it is written System cleaning action, you need to select the item Go to the system welcome window (OOBE) and be sure to check the box Preparation for use.

In parameters shutdown You can select shutdown, or you can select reboot the system.

After running Sysprep, in order to avoid having to go through this procedure again when transferring to a new computer, it is not recommended to boot on the same computer.

So, click OK We are waiting for the work to finish. After everything, the computer will turn off and now you can change the motherboard, or transfer the hard drive to a new computer.

When you turn on a new computer, or a PC with a new motherboard, Windows 7 will be installed, checked and detected. The system may be rebooted. We don’t touch anything and wait. Afterwards, a window will appear with a choice of regional parameters: country, language, etc.

Having done everything necessary, you can now log in using your account that you had on your old computer. Don't forget to install the necessary drivers before. Now you can work as usual.

As you can see, the procedure is not complicated, and it is better to use the Sysprep utility and do everything quickly than to reinstall Windows again.

Microsoft does not guarantee 100% that all data will be saved during the transfer, and there may be some failures, but this depends on what hardware you are transferring to. Mostly everything goes smoothly.

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Good afternoon, please tell me How without reinstalling. I’ll explain my situation: My Windows 7 is located on an old 120 GB hard drive that is NOT partitioned, is it possible to move the system to a new 1.5 TB hard drive, but unfortunately it is not empty, it has two partitions. One partition contains data (nothing should happen to it), the other is unoccupied, and the operating system must be transferred to it. I want to use my old hard drive for file storage. Alexander.

How to move Windows to another drive

Friends, several more people have made the same request, and before we begin, a small note: If you are a novice user, then this article is given to you primarily for your information. Before you begin, read everything from beginning to end and think about whether this method is right for you, maybe it will be easier for you to simply reinstall Windows. Basically, any operations related to the Acronis program are carried out by professionals. If you doubt your abilities, be careful, practice from the beginning on a virtual machine or contact a specialist.
Personally, I always work on everything on a virtual machine, sometimes for several days, then on my work computer, and then I move on to the customer’s machine. Many people express in their letters that they didn’t succeed in this or that. I think there’s nothing wrong with this, don’t be afraid of mistakes and failures, win in the end. For those same experienced users, not everything worked out right away either, the whole difference between a pro and an ordinary person is experience, and experience, friends, is acquired quickly, but you can’t sit in one place and do nothing. Even if you don’t succeed today, you will succeed tomorrow. Be sure to make backups and roll back in case of unfamiliar and unforeseen situations.
To show how move Windows to another drive, I simulated a similar situation on my computer. There are also two hard drives:

• The first hard drive is NOT divided into partitions and is designated in Disk Management as Disk (C:) with a capacity of 465.00 GB and the operating system is installed on it.

First of all, what would move Windows to another drive Let's create a backup of the current operating system in Acronis True Image Home 2011 using an Acronis boot disk or flash drive. How to make bootable media? I won’t repeat myself, read our Acronis article on how to use it. How can I boot from the media by changing the boot priority? Also read from us or How to boot from a flash drive.
Let me also remind you that if you, like me, contacted Acronis, do not forget that it often confuses drive letters when working from bootable media.
After creating a backup of the current Windows 7, you just need to deploy it to a free partition of the new hard drive (E:) 350.59 GB.

• Digression: If you don’t need the old hard drive, before deploying the backup you need to turn off the computer and remove the old hard drive completely, this will reduce problems with two operating systems.

As a result, we will have two identical systems on one computer, but one will boot. Next, using the EasyBCD program (a very simple method, link to our article) or whoever wants the Bootrec.exe command and the command line, we will achieve loading of two operating systems. Next, we’ll remove one Windows 7 located on the old disk from the boot menu and use this disk as a file storage, that’s all.

Result: All data on all hard drives is safe and sound, including the old one with 465.00 GB. The operating system is now located on one of the partitions of the new hard drive (E:) 350.59 GB and loads smoothly, which is what we wanted at the beginning. In the future, if you completely get rid of the old 465.00 GB hard drive and remove it, you may have problems booting Windows 7, they can always be fixed with the help of our articles: Restoring the Windows 7 bootloader, How to restore the Windows 7 system, BOOTMGR is missing in Windows 7. In the case of using the EasyBCD program, it is generally simple, you can leave the boot record as desired on any disk.

So we loaded into our program, select Backup. Discs.

We create a backup of our Windows 7 located on the drive (C:) 465.00 GB, put a checkmark on it and Next.

In this window you need to select a location to store the backup of our operating system, click Browse.

Disk (C:) is excluded according to the rules, (E:) is also excluded, but (D:) 1030.35 GB is just right, by the way, the volume is large and there is a lot of free space. Select it once with the mouse.

Write the name of the backup in the File name field, for example No. 13 and OK. Further

So, a Windows 7 backup has been created, if you open my computer, then drive (D:) we can see it,

Now we deploy our backup to a new hard drive partition (E:) 350.59 GB,

• Note: If you do not need the old hard drive at all, it is better to disconnect and remove it at this point.

Choose Recovery. Disks.

Review

we find our backup number 13. As you remember, we have it on disk (D:),

We go into it, see our Backup, select it and press the OK button.

As you can see, Acronis wants to restore the default backup to the partition (C:) 465.00 GB, but we need (E:), we still check the box and Next.

In this window, select the New storage option.

And only in this window select our drive (E:) 350.59 GB and Accept

Click Change default settings

The Primary item should be checked and read: Thus, the partition will become bootable even if restored to a partition or disk different from the original one. Accept.

We see what is being restored where. Get started.

We wait. The Windows 7 operating system is deployed to disk (E:) 350.59 GB. In theory, it should boot from it immediately. OK and reboot.

Unfortunately, we are loading old Windows 7. As we agreed, now the easiest way to get two operating systems to boot is to install the EasyBCD utility; read the entire step-by-step guide here.
Or another way, boot from the Windows 7 installation disk and select recovery, then the command line.

It’s clear that now it should have a different letter. We go to disk management, we see our disk is safe and sound, we assign it a different letter and that’s it.

Change the drive letter or path, assign any one, for example (F:).

A drive appears (F:), which we can use as file storage.

If we don’t need any menu when we boot the computer, go to Control Panel->System and Security->System->Advanced Settings->Advanced Tab->Boot and Recovery->Options->Select the Windows 7 we need from the drop-down list, in in our case the second one, we can also uncheck the box Show recovery options and by default it will boot into Windows 7, which is located on the new hard drive.

You may need to reactivate Windows 7.