Easiest Way to Clone Hard Drive in Windows 8, 8.1 to New HDD, SSD

When considering how to clone a hard drive in Windows 8, it is crucial to understand why this process matters. Cloning allows users to create an exact replica of their hard drive, ensuring all data, applications, and settings are preserved. In order to get better performance, now you are planning to upgrade to a new hard drive. That is why you need to find the best cloning software to clone a hard drive to an SSD in Windows 8. To help you clone a Windows 8 hard drive to a larger HDD or smaller SSD. If you prefer the easiest solution, AOMEI Backupper Professional can be your best choice. It will meet all your needs related to Windows 8 hard drive clones.

How to clone HDD to SSD in Windows 8/8.1

Here we will show you how to clone Windows 8 hard drive to a new SSD with the best disk cloning software - AOMEI Backupper Professional. The following steps are also applicable to clone Windows 10 hard drive. You should know that the data on the destination disk will be erased. So you’d better backup the new hard drive in advance if you have important data stored on it.

✍ Simple Disk Cloning: With the "Disk Clone" feature, you can quickly clone SSD to a larger SSD and make it bootable. If you just want to move the operating system, simply select the "System Clone" option.
✍ Efficient Disk Space: AOMEI Backupper helps maximize SSD space and allows you to change disk types from MBR to GPT, ensuring efficient storage use.
✍ Improved Performance: By utilizing advanced technology, AOMEI Backupper boosts SSD performance, leading to faster system operations and a better user experience.
✍ Broad Compatibility: It can clone various brands of M.2 SSDs, such as Samsung, Toshiba, WD, and others, making it compatible with many different hardware setups.

Step 1. Download, install, and launch AOMEI Backupper Professional.

Step 2. Click Clone and then choose Disk Clone.

Notes:
● You can also choose Partition Clone to only move the partition you need.
● To only clone Windows to SSD, the System Clone feature can help you make it. If it is a system disk, the cloned SSD will remain bootable.

Step 3. Select the source hard drive you plan to clone (here is Disk0) and then click Next to continue.

Step 4. Select the target hard drive (here is Disk1) and click Next to go on.

Step 5. Tick “SSD Alignment” to accelerate the reading and writing speed of the destination SSD. Finally, click Start Clone to clone hard drive to SSD in Windows 8.

Notes: 
● "Sector by sector clone" will clone all the sectors on a hard drive no matter whether it is used or not and it will take a longer time. Select it if you clone an encrypted disk or your data on the source disk is damaged but you want to restore it.  
● "Edit Partitions(advanced version)" allows you to adjust the partition size of the target disk to avoid unallocated space after cloning the disk to a larger disk. It also has the ability to convert MBR to GPT and vice versa.

Step 6. Click Finish when the cloning process reaches 100%.

Tip on how to transfer Windows 8 to another computer:

You can first create a disk image backup and then perform a restore. If your computer is not bootable, you need to create a bootable USB first. Please remember to tick the Universal Restore feature, which helps you restore image backup to another computer that has dissimilar hardware and ensures a secure boot.

The need and benefits to clone Windows 8 hard drive

Cloning your Windows 8 hard drive can be a smart move for several reasons. Here’s a look at why you might need to do it and the advantages it offers.

• If you have a Windows 8 installation disk, you can simply install Windows 8 on the new hard drive. But you still have to copy and paste the other files from the old drive to the new one. No matter the Windows reinstalling or file transfer will take a lot of time.
• Or maybe you can create a recovery drive and perform a restore on the new hard drive. But you may not boot your computer from the new hard drive smoothly.
• For anyone who tends to upgrade to a smaller SSD, you just cannot restore the backup to it. Because the destination drive must be equal to or larger than the old drive.

In a word, you want a way that can help you directly clone a Windows 8 hard drive to a new drive, with the Windows system and all the other files. Besides, it should be possible to clone the hard drive to a smaller SSD.

FAQs on How to Clone a Hard Drive in Windows 8

Q1: Does Windows have a built-in tool for cloning drives?

A1: No, Windows 10 does not come with a built-in disk cloning tool. It offers backup options like System Image Backup and File History, but these don’t provide full disk cloning features.

Q2: Will cloning a hard drive remove my current data?

A2: Cloning a hard drive will not erase your current data on the target drive. However, it will replace any existing data if the target drive has partitions.

Q3: Does cloning a hard drive transfer the operating system?

A3: Yes, unlike backups that only save files, cloning captures everything – your operating system, settings, and all your files and folders.

Conclusion

As you can see, you can easily clone HDD to SSD in Windows 8/8.1 with the help of AOMEI Backupper Professional. With just a few clicks, you can move everything you need to the new hard drive or SSD. And this also applies to clone HDD to SSD in Windows 10 and another previous system, such as, Windows 7/XP/Vista. Besides, you can still move a single data partition to another partition or disk.

This software still is professional backup software to help you protect data continuously. It offers system backup, file backup, disk backup, and partition backup, and you can make a backup for your old hard drive in case you may need any files in the future, and also sets scheduled backup for your new hard drive to keep data safe. Please download it to have a try right now!