SSD Clone or Clean Install? Detailed Comparison & Step Guide

User Case: Clone Drive vs Fresh Install

SSDs are up to 100 times faster than HDDs, offering quicker boot times, faster data transfer, and higher bandwidth. As a result, many users replace their HDDs with SSDs to upgrade the hard disk and boost overall computer performance.

When upgrading to an SSD, you’ll face two main options: cloning Windows 10 to the SSD or performing a clean install. Not sure which to choose? In this guide, we’ll break down the key differences to help you make an informed decision.

SSD Clone VS Fresh Install: Features and Differences

Both SSD clone and clean install will help you configure the Windows operating system and other data. Read on to understand the features and differences between the two.

From the above brief introduction, both methods have their advantages and disadvantages.

How to Perform SSD Clone or Clean Install

1. Clone Windows 10 to SSD

To clone Windows 10 to SSD, you need reliable disk cloning software to help you do this. Finding reliable software is more important than the cloning process itself. Because many users report that they have encountered many problems when cloning HDD to SSD. For example, the cloned SSD won’t boot, and the hard drive/SSD is cloned forever.

In this case, I recommend you to use AOMEI Backupper Standard to help you perform an SSD clone. It is all-in-one SSD cloning software for all Windows PC. With its help, you can get rid of the tedious work of transferring data, configuration settings, installed applications, and programs to a new drive. As a popular disk cloning software, it has some brilliant advantages below:

AOMEI Backupper

Best Free HDD/SSD Clone Software

• Wide Compatibility: Supports a wide range of hard drives, including HDDs, SATA SSDs, NVMe M.2 SSDs, USB flash drives, SD cards, etc.

• SSD Alignment: Improve SSD’s performance and prolong its lifespan if you clone to an SSD.

• Secure Boot: You can boot the computer directly from the cloned hard drive.

• Intelligent Clone: By default, it clones only used space on the original disk, so you can clone a large HDD to a smaller SSD.

• Sector by Sector Clone: It allows you to clone every sector from the source to the destination.

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Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

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Learn how to clone Windows 10 to SSD through AOMEI Backupper from the tutorial below.

Notes✍:
◔ Cloning will overwrite all the content on the target drive, so if your target is a used SSD with some important files on it, please back up the files first.
◔ If your computer has only one SSD slot, you may also need to prepare a SATA-to-USB cable or M.2 SATA SSD to USB adapter according to your SSD type.

Step 1. Open AOMEI Backupper and install the SSD on your computer.

Step 2. Launch this free software and find the Clone tab on the left side of the program. Choose Disk Clone to clone your system disk containing Windows 10 to SSD.

✍Tip: The Standard version only supports cloning data disks. If you want to clone system disks, you need to upgrade to the professional edition. You can also use the System Clone feature in higher editions to clone only OS.

Step 3. Then select the original HDD you want to clone as the source disk and click Next.

Step 4. Select the SSD as the destination path to clone the source disk and click on Next.

Step 5. Then click SSD Alignment in the lower left corner of this program to increase the reading and writing speed of the SSD disk. Confirm all other settings and click Start Clone.

Tip✍:
Edit Partitions: If the target disk is larger than the source disk, you can use the feature to resize your disk automatically or manually. Please upgrade to the professional version to enjoy it.

2. Clean Install Windows 10 on SSD

In this part, I will show you how to clean install Windows on SSD. Before you start, you need to do some preparatory work.

Preparatory Work:
◉ Backup important files. A clean install will wipe out the hard drive and start from scratch. If there are some important files on SSD, please create a file backup according to your needs.
◉ Prepare a USB drive. The drive’s capacity should be large enough (at least 8GB).
◉ Unplug other disks. If your computer has more than one drive, the BIOS may recognize it incorrectly and not boot from the bootable USB drive.

1. Insert the USB flash drive into the PC. Download the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool and launch it.
2. Run the Windows tool, and choose Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC. Then click Next and follow the guide to complete the installation.

3. Turn off the computer, open the case, and take out the original HDD. Insert the SSD into the drive bay. After the computer restarts, enter the BIOS, modify the boot sequence, and let the computer boot from the installation media just created.
4. When your computer boots from the installation media, select the language to install, the time and currency format you want, and the keyboard or input method. Then click Next to continue.

5. Then click Install Now, accept the license terms, and choose Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).

6. Since you only have one new drive connected, you will see a screen below. Select Drive 0 Unallocated Space and click Next to install Windows 10 on SSD.

FAQs about SSD Clone or Clean Install

Final Words

After reading this article, do you know whether to choose SSD clone or clean install? In summary, if your Windows operating system performs well, you can choose an SSD clone to save your time and effort. Otherwise, if your old disk has problems that affect normal operation, you should choose a clean install.

AOMEI Backupper not only provides you with cloning functions, but also embeds other powerful functions such as backup, synchronization, and recovery. You can use it to easily protect your computer system and data. If you upgrade to the professional edition, you can use it to clone OS to M.2 SSD with just a few clicks. Download and try it now!