Best Free System Clone Software for Windows 11: Move OS Safely

Why should we clone Windows 11?

The official version of Windows 11 has been available for a while, and numerous eligible users have opted to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 in order to experience the fresh user interface, new functionalities, and enhancements it offers.

If you have upgraded to Windows 11 or installed Windows 11 from scratch on your PC, you may find the necessity to clone Windows 11 in the following situations:

◉ System Backup

Creating a clone of Windows 11 allows you to have a backup of your entire operating system. Thus, you can quickly restore your system to a known good state in case of unexpected system failures.

◉ Hardware Upgrades

When you are replacing the hard drive with an SSD or upgrading a smaller drive to a larger drive, cloning Windows 11 can make the transition smoother.

◉ Instant Recovery

Cloning Windows 11 provides a rapid and efficient means of recovering your system after various types of data loss or system issues. You can directly swap the failed hard drive for a cloned hard drive.

Is there free system clone software for Windows 11?

If you are looking for the best Windows OS clone software for free, AOMEI Backupper Standard deserves a try.

✭ It allows you to create a system image and then restore it to another drive without boot errors.
✭ You can also create a disk image and restore it to a new hard drive. Thus, everything on the old hard drive will be transferred to the new drive, including Windows OS, installed applications and user profiles.
✭ For daily data backup, you can make use of the File Backup and Cloud Backup features.
✭ It runs well on Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11 (both 32 bit and 64 bit).

With its clean interface, all the operations are quite simple. Download it now to have a try!

How to clone Windows 11 to SSD for free

There are two main steps involved to do system clone to SSD for free: create a system image and restore system image to new SSD. Follow the stepwise guide below.

Part 1. Create a system image

1. Install and run AOMEI Backupper. Then click Backup > System Backup.

2. Your system partition(s) will be selected as backup source automatically. Just select a destination path to save the system image. Here I choose a USB flash drive.

Note: The USB drive should be large enough to hold the system image. Depending on how much data on your system partition, I suggest 64GB of free space at least.

3. Click Start Backup to begin system image creation.

Part 2. Restore system image to new SSD

1. Connect the target SSD and the USB drive with the created system image to your computer. Run AOMEI Backupper again and click Restore > Select Task.

2. Select the system backup task and click Next.

3. Select Restore this system backup and check Restore system to other location. Then click Next.

4. Select the SSD as the destination path and click Next.

Note: All data on the destination SSD will be overwritten. Therefore, it is important to create a backup of critical data before proceeding.

5. On the Operation Summary window, check the box before SSD Alignment and click Start Restore to clone Windows 11 to new SSD immediately.

Bonus tip: Boot from new SSD

After cloning Windows 11 successfully, shut down the computer, remove the old drive from the computer, and install the new SSD there. Restart your computer to boot from the new SSD. You may need to enter the BIOS/UEFI settings to set the newly installed disk as the first boot device.

Easier way to migrate Windows 11 to SSD

As you see, the steps are cumbersome if you transfer Windows 11 to SSD using the backup & restore method. Is there a simpler way to clone Windows 11? The answer is Yes if you upgrade to higher editions like AOMEI Backupper Professional. It offers the System Clone feature to help you move OS safely and effortlessly. Follow the guidance below:

1. Launch AOMEI Backupper. Click Clone > System Clone.

2. The program is designed to automatically select system partition and boot related partitions for you. Just select the SSD as the destination partition to store the cloned data. Then click Next.

Note: If your SSD is not empty and you want to keep the data, backup data to another place before proceeding.

3. Tick SSD Alignment to improve the read/write speed of the target SSD and click Start Clone.

To sum up

If you are looking for free system clone software for Windows 11, AOMEI Backupper is the best choice. To do system clone to SSD for free, you need to create a system image first, and then restore system image to the new SSD. If you prefer a simpler way to clone Windows 11, you may upgrade to advanced versions of AOMEI Backupper.

What’s more, AOMEI Backupper is easy-to-use file sync software. You can use it to sync files to external hard drive. Don’t hesitate to try it out!