[Free] Backup SSD to HDD in Windows 11/10 Automatically

Learn how to backup an SSD to internal or external hard drive (HDD) partition to keep OS safe in case the SSD fails for Windows 10/8/7 with free SSD/HDD backup software.

Delia

By Delia Updated on July 17, 2023

Share this: instagram reddit

Why Backup SSD to HDD

Nowadays many people get used to installing Windows operating system and frequently-used applications on SSD. This is due to a consensus - an solid state drive (SSD) is faster than a mechanical hard disk drive (HDD) especially in writing & reading.

But at the same price point, a hard disk drive usually has more storage space than an SSD. This makes many users prefer to store large or infrequently used files on an external hard disk drive. It's also a wise decision to save the backup image of SSD to HDD.

To summarize, backing up SSD to HDD has the following benefits:

  • Increase PC performance with SSDs while solving insufficient storage space (with lower budget).
  • The backup files on the HDD are independent of the operating system, so if your SSD crashes or the system fails, you can still easily recover your data.
  • If you create an exact copy of the SSD (including the operating system) to the HDD, you can choose to restore system image to new hard drive or SSD in an emergency.

Then, what's the best method to backup SSD to external HDD?

SSD Intel Samsung Kingston

Best Free SSD Disk Backup Software - AOMEI Backupper Standard

To backup SSD to HDD easily, you need the best free SSD disk backup software - AOMEI Backupper Standard. And you can enjoy the following advantages:

Backup SSD disk automatically: It supports backup disk with daily, weekly or monthly frequency. Thus, you don't need to manually create a backup for SSD disk and worry about data loss due to forgetting backup.
Backup only changed files on the SSD disk: By default this software uses Incremental Backup as default backup method, which backup only changed files since last backup. This saves much backup time and disk space. And you can enjoy more disk space savior, such as, normal compression, intelligent sector backup, etc.
Multiple backup destinations: It allows you to backup SSD to HDD and other devices recognized by Windows, such as, external had drive, USB drive, network drive, NAS, etc.
Other useful features: It is able to create a bootable media with USB or CD/DVD to boot computer and perform offline system or disk restore. This is especially useful when your computer does not boot.

Please download this software and explore more yourself. It applies only in Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista. For server users, try AOMEI Backupper Server.

Download FreewareWin 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
Secure Download

How to Backup SSD to HDD in Windows 10 Step by Step

Before backing up SSD to HDD in Windows 10, you need to connect HDD and check if has enough space store everything on the SSD disk. If it is a laptop, you need to disk connector to connect it.

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Backupper. Select "Disk Backup" under "Backup" tab.

Disk Backup

Note: If there is only one partition (namely C drive) on your SSD, you also can select "System Backup".

Step 2. You can change "Task Name" as you want. Select the SSD you want to backup and select HDD disk or partition on it to save SSD backup image:

Add Disk

Step 3. When the SSD and HDD partition have been selected, you are almost done. You can click "Start Backup" to backup SSD to HDD.

Start Backup

This only backup item on the SSD when you backed it up, not including changes made later. To keep all changes made later, you need to set Schedule Backup and backup SSD to HDD automatically. You can choose among Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Event trigger, and USB Plug in. The last two premium features are available on the professional version.

Schedule Backup

By default this software will create one full backup and 6 incremental backup if you set a scheduled backup task. This may result in backup disk full issue in the long run, thus it's suggested to enable Backup Scheme and delete backup file automatically. You have 3 options, By quantity, By time, By daily/weekly/monthly. You need to upgrade now (5% off for one computer) before using it.

Enable Automatic Backup Cleanup

Besides, you still can enable email notification after the task finished. Comment, split, compress the backup image, or select a backup mode, etc.

AOMEI Email SMS Notification Settings

Now, you can feel free to do your own things, this software will create disk backup for SSD and be sure there is always enough space to store new backups. And you don't need to worry about computer failure and data loss due to many reasons.

Besides, this software still provides you with another way to achieve the same effect - clone SSD to HDD in Windows 10 with Disk Clone feature, and you can directly use the cloned drive without restoring. If you want the best of performance, it's suggested to clone SSD to larger SSD or migrate OS from SSD to another SSD.

Disk Clone

Summary

You can easily backup SSD to HDD in Windows 10 or other systems with the help of best free SSD disk backup software - AOMEI Backkupper Standard. And it allows you to make this task run automatically and backup only changes to save backup time and disk space.

And you can enjoy many premium features on the professional version to free up your hand, for example, delete old backup image automatically with By quantity, By time, or By daily/weekly/monthly cleanup methods.

Besides, it is still a disk cloning software, you clone large HDD to smaller SSD, replace laptop HDD with SSD, clone SATA to NVMe, clone NVMe to NVMe, etc.

Delia
Delia · Editor
Delia owns extensive experience in writing technology-related blog posts, and has been a part of AOMEI since 2020 to provide expertise in data security and disaster recovery. She works with Windows operating systems, SQL databases, and virtualization platforms such as VMware and Hyper-V, specializing in troubleshooting and advising on data protection and migration.