Install Windows 10 on New Hard Drive from USB Easily (2 Ways)

User Case

“I just got a new hard drive. And I have Windows10 installed on my old HDD so I want to have it on my new drive from now on. Can someone please help me and tell me how to do that?

Do I just plug the old disk and change boot options to the new one from BIOS and that's it? I guess first I will have to use a USB (ISO Windows) to install it, correct? I want a detailed introduction about how to install my Windows 10 on the new hard drive from USB. Thank you very much!”

Yes, you should first download the ISO files of your Windows 10 to a USB if you use Windows 10 Media Creation Tool, then change the boot order in the BIOS and finally install it on the new hard drive.

But if you are not minding using a free disk cloning software to make it, things will become much easier. For detailed steps to install windows 10 on new hard drive, please read the following parts and you will learn both of them. Just select one of them according to your needs.

How to Install Windows on Hard Drive

You can use the software called Media Creation Tool to create a bootable USB containing a Windows ISO file, and then use the USB to install Windows 10 on your new hard drive. Of course, you can also choose to use third-party cloning software to help you. It will clone Windows 10 from your old hard drive to a new hard drive without USB, and you can directly use the system, applications and access all the data after cloning. you can choose them according to your needs.

Method 1. Install Windows 10 on New Hard Drive from USB using Media Creation Tool

In the past, users had to download ISO files of Windows 10, burn them to DVD with third-party software, and then install Windows 10 from the DVD. now Microsoft provides users with a media creation tool to help you prepare your installation media. You can follow the steps to create the installation USB at first and then install the Windows on a new hard drive from USB.

Create Windows 10 Installation Media

Step 1. Download Windows 10 Media Creation Tool and open it.

Step 2. Select Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC. Then click Next.

Step 3. Set Language, Windows Edition, and Architecture you prefer. Then click Next.

Step 4. Select USB flash drive and click Next.

Step 5. Select the removable drive from the list, and click Next. Then it will download Windows 10 to the USB drive and make it bootable.

Step 6. When the downloading process has been done, you can click Finish to exit.

Install Windows 10 on a new hard drive

Step 1. Insert the new hard drive and USB drive into your computer. Next, restart the computer, pressing F2 or F12 to enter the BIOS setting. Then, select the USB drive as the first boot drive. Finally, press F10 or Enter to exit and reboot the computer.

Step 2. Set the language to install, time and currency format, and keyboard or input method. Then click Next.

Step 3 . Click Install Now.

Step 4. Input your product key or leave it blank.

Step 5. Select Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).

Step 6. Select Drive 0 Unallocated Space and click Next to install Windows 10 on a new hard drive.

Method 2. Install Windows 10 on New Hard Drive Without USB

Except to use the Media Creation Tool to install Windows 10 from USB to a new hard drive, you can also choose a simpler method. It is to use free third-party cloning software, such as AOMEI Backupper Standard. You can clone the hard drive containing the Windows 10 to a new hard drive without USB. When the cloning process is complete, you can use your Windows system and installed software directly. You can also access all your data at any time. And it has the advantages below:

• Ensure secure boot: You can directly boot your computer with the cloned USB drive after cloning.
• Various cloning types: It supports 3 cloning types, namely System Clone, Disk Clone, and Partition Clone.
• Intelligent clone: It will only copy the used sectors by default, so you can clone a larger HDD to a smaller SSD if you want. 
• Multiple storage paths: It supports clone disk to a USB drive, SSD, HDD, etc.
• Different system: It supports Windows 11/10/8/7/XP/Vista, etc.

Before you start the cloning process, download the AOMEI Backupper first and make a backup of your important files and data using its backup feature. Since the data of the target drive will be erased during the cloning process.

Step 1. Open AOMEI Backupper. Click Clone > Disk Clone.

Tip:

You can enjoy clone MBR to MBR as well as data disk clone in the standard version. If you want to clone system disk from GPT to GPT or between GPT and MBR, you can upgrade to AOMEI Backupper Professional.

Step 2. Choose your old disk as the source disk.

Step 3. Choose the new hard drive as the destination disk.

Step 4. Confirm your operations and click Start Clone.

Notes:

• Edit Partitions: This feature can help you change the partition size and it’s available in professional version.
• SSD Alignment: If your target disk is an SSD, you can tick the option. This feature can accelerate the reading and writing speed of the SSD. It makes you install Windows from USB on new SSD easily.
• Sector By Sector Clone: It will clone all the sectors, no matter it’s used or not, even if the sector is blank or it’s a logically bad sector. You can upgrade to the pro version or higher version to enjoy the feature.

When the cloning process is done, you can safely boot your computer from the new hard drive. What's more, you can use your Windows 10 system and software directly. And you are able to access all the data you need at any time.

Summary

When you need to install windows on new hard drive from USB, you can choose to use Media Creation Tool or a third-party tool like AOMEI Backupper. I prefer the second one because it can make the cloned disk securely boot after cloning. You can directly use your system, applications and access to all the data on your computer. And it allows you to clone a larger disk to a smaller one. Furthermore, it supports cloning disk to multiple storage paths, not only USB drive and hard drive but also SSD, network, etc.

This software also applies to clone HDD to Samsung SSD, clone NVME to NVME SSD, etc. You can download it and explore more functions.