AOMEI Backupper 
Clone Larger Drive to Smaller SSD Drive in Windows 10 or 11
In need of cloning larger drive to smaller SSD drive and making it bootable? You need to use one intelligent hard drive cloning software - AOMEI Backupper.
By Ivy Updated on July 2, 2024
🌟 Video Guide: How to Clone Larger Disk to Smaller Disk
Can I clone larger drive to smaller drive?
"I just installed a 500 GB SSD in my laptop and I'm wanting to move windows and my programs onto it. My laptop currently has a 1tb HDD with about 80% of it full so it won't all fit on the new drive. How do I move just the programs and windows over, because that will fit on the SSD? Seems all the ones I’ve tried want the destination to be the same or bigger. Thanks."
Nowdays, many users would like to replace HDD with SSD to enjoy their high performance, but SSDs are usually smaller, which can be troublesome. Fortunately, with powerful cloning software, it is possible to clone large drive to smaller SSD drive. Because it can handle this problem well by cloning only the used sectors of larger drive instead of every sector.
Benefits of cloning large HDD to smaller SSD
Why do users want to clone large HDD to smaller SSD? What benefits do they get out of it? Here we collect the 3 main benefits below:
💻Improve computer performance👍👍👍
Cloning large HDD to smaller SSD has been proven to boost computer performance, such as short boot time, playing games faster, smoothly browsing multiple pages, etc. It also saves you the trouble of reinstalling Windows by including the operating system, boot partition, installed programs, etc.
💿Upgrade disk
Most hard drives last 3 to 5 years before developing problems, so it is necessary to clone aging disks before then. You also need to clone disks that show "hard disk failure imminent". It preserves all of your data on the old disk, significantly reducing downtime and data migration hassle.
📃Create an exact copy of your large drive
Hard drives are suspected of data loss due to accidental deletion, virus infection, format error, system crash, etc., and regular backups can prevent these misfortunes. It also allows you to directly access your data without the hassle of restoring image files.
Preparations for cloning to smaller SSD drive
To make sure the cloning process runs smoothly, you need to make some preparations.
1️⃣ Prepare your SSD:
- Install the smaller SSD disk on your computer and be sure it can be detected. If your computer is a laptop, you need to prepare a SATA-to-USB cable or adapter as well.
- Check the used space of your larger drive and be sure it can fit the smaller SSD.
2️⃣Backup files on SSD disk: If your SSD disk is not a brand new one, it's necessary to create a disk backup in advance. The cloning process will overwrite data on the SSD disk, causing irreversible data loss.
3️⃣ Disk clone vs. system clone:
Opt for a method before cloning larger drive to smaller drive.
- To copy everything from one hard drive to another, select Disk Clone.
- On the other hand, to clone Windows 10 or 11 to new SSD, select System Clone. It includes the operating system and necessary boot files required to start Windows.
4️⃣ Employ professional cloning software: To complete this task, you need to use third-party software, as Windows does not come with it. You can find a large number of free trial software by searching on Google.
FREE download hard drive or SSD cloning software
Now you are prepared well to clone large HDD to smaller SSD without boot issues. Download the powerful cloning software - AOMEI Backupper Professional and enjoy the key feature of Intelligent Clone to clone only used sectors of a drive. It applies to all cloning methods.
● Three Cloning Methods: Disk Clone, System Clone, and Partition Clone. It gives you a choice to clone the entire disk or migrate OS to smaller SSD, especially useful when your SSD is too small to hold data on the large HDD.
● SSD Alignment: AOMEI Backupper’s built-in technology will take care of 4K partition alignment for SSD to improve performance and prolong lifespan.
● Edit Partitions: It is able to convert smaller SSD from MBR to GPT disk and vice versa to prevent boot failure due to different disk partition styles. So you can easily clone MBR disk to GPT or clone GPT disk to MBR.
● SSD Compatibility: It supports all branded SSDs, such as HP, Samsung, WD, SanDisk, Lenovo, etc., regardless of their capacity, and interface like SATA, NVMe, or PCIe.
● Bootable Clone: It allows you to clone hard drive to SSD without booting into Windows.
Set your mind at ease to free download this software and have a try now. Following paragraph will show you how to clone a larger drive to a smaller drive in detail. Take cloning to smaller SSD for example.
Step by step guide to clone larger hard drive to smaller SSD
Here is a stepwise guide to help you clone larger HDD to smaller SSD with secure boot. You can easily follow it to perform disk clone on your own.
Step 1. Launch AOMEI Backupper Professional, and then you will see its deep-blue interface. Click Clone and then choose Disk Clone to start the cloning process.
Note: The "Disk Clone" feature can only be demonstrated in the trial version. To clone larger drive to smaller drive and boot from it, you need to upgrade pro trial to the full version.
Step 2. Choose the larger drive as the source disk, and then click Next.
Step 3. Choose the smaller SSD drive as the destination disk and click Next.
Step 4. This software uses Intelligent Clone by default, so you can easily clone to smaller drive. Tick SSD Alignment if your target disk is SSD. It will optimize your SSD disk performance and make your computer run faster after cloning. Then, click Start Clone to execute.
Notes:
① Don't check Sector by sector clone while cloning bigger drive to smaller drive. Because this feature clones all sectors of a large drive.
② Edit Partitions is used to avoid cloned hard drive unallocated space left and clone hard drive with different partition styles, such as clone MBR disk to GPT disk.
Step 5. (Optional) Replace larger drive with the smaller SSD and try to boot from it. If it doesn't automatically boot from the cloned drive, change boot priority in BIOS and try again. If you clone MBR to GPT or vice versa, change boot mode from Legacy to UEFI or UEFI to Legacy as well.
Tips:
① To get the best performance of cloned SSD disk, it's suggested to clone Windows 10 to NVMe SSD. Because it has the fastest speed.
② To clone larger HDD to smaller SSD without booting Windows, you can create a bootable media with this software and boot from it, then perform disk clone.
What to do when cloned SSD won’t boot?
Cloned hard drive may not boot as expected due to various causes, such as a corrupted operating system, missing boot related partition, operation mistakes, wrong boot order, etc.
Don’t panic if you confront such a situation. In the first place, you need to understand that the cloning operation has no harm to the original hard drive since it just makes duplications. You can then check if you set the correct boot drive or mode.
Step 1. Continuously press a specific key (usually F2, F8, F12,Del) to enter BIOS Setup.
Step 2. Go to the Boot tab and check if your new SSD is the first choice. If not, set it as.
Step 3. Then, go to UEFI/BIOS Boot Mode, and you will see if it's Legacy or UEFI. Set it with your boot mode.
Step 4. Press F10 to save the settings and then exit. Then, restart your computer from the cloned SSD.
🔗For more practical methods, please refer to cloned SSD won’t boot.
Summary
It is quite easy to clone larger drive to smaller drive like smaller SSD on the condition that you choose the right cloning tool. AOMEI Backupper can be a great choice because it can ensure a safe boot after cloning. At the same time, it provides some useful features to optimize the process, such as intelligent clone, 4k alignment technology, edit partitions, etc.
Also, you can use it to clone hard drive to a larger drive, migrate Windows 10 to M.2 SSD, create bootable Win PE & Linux media, and so on. If you happen to have these needs, download it to have a try right now. After all, practice is the truth of everything.
AOMEI BackupperIf you are looking for software to clone larger drive to smaller SSD drive, try AOMEI Backupper Professional👍👍👍! Its Disk Clone feature can handle this process well. To clone Windows 10 or 11 to SSD, try the System Clone feature.
FAQs
1. Can I clone my 1TB HDD to a 500GB SSD?
Yes, you can clone 1TB HDD to 500GB SSD, provided that the total amount of data on the HDD is 500GB or less. You will need to reduce the amount of data on your HDD by deleting unnecessary files or moving them to another storage device before starting the cloning process.
2. What should I do if my data exceeds the capacity of the smaller SSD?
If your data exceeds the capacity of the smaller SSD, you need to free up space on your HDD. This can be done by backing up and removing non-essential files, uninstalling unused programs, and moving large files such as videos and photos to external drives, cloud storage, etc.
3. Do I need to format the SSD before cloning?
If the target SSD isn't brand new, you don't need to format it before cloning. Because the cloning software will handle the necessary formatting during the cloning process.
4. What should I do after cloning my HDD to an SSD?
You should set the SSD as the primary boot drive in your computer's BIOS/UEFI settings, and try to boot from it. Additionally, you may want to optimize your SSD by enabling features such as TRIM, which helps maintain the SSD's performance over time. Finally, consider keeping your HDD as a secondary storage drive for additional space or backups.
5. Is it possible to move OS from HDD to SSD?
Yes, you can easily move OS from HDD to SSD by cloning system with powerful cloning software, or start a fresh install of Windows 10 or 11. We recommend you use AOMEI Backupper Professional to make it.
100% Clean & Secure 