#Clone hard drive to ssd internally how to#
#Clone hard drive to ssd internally install#
#Clone hard drive to ssd internally upgrade#
#Clone hard drive to ssd internally full#
#Clone hard drive to ssd internally software#

#Clone hard drive to ssd internally software#

Your disk cloning software - Disk Utility on macOS, or a third-party option on Windows - will handle all the technical aspects. The process is basically the same, regardless of the type of drive you’re using. If you’re switching from an HDD to an SSD, cloning can help you move all your data over to the new drive.Ĭloning an HDD to an SSD is just as easy as migrating from one HDD to another. Upgrading your drive: There are plenty of reasons why moving from a hard disk drive (HDD) to an SSD is a good idea - especially considering how much it’ll speed up your computer. Be sure to properly dispose of your old device! After you’re done, you can remove your original drive and mount it in an external enclosure to keep as a backup. Migrating to a new drive: Getting a new computer? If you clone your old drive, you don’t have to reinstall everything on the new machine. But if you haven’t cloned your drive before you get malware on your system, it’s already too late - so clone your drive now to be prepared. If you already have a cloned hard drive before you get infected, you can simply wipe your system clean and start from scratch with the clone.

Ransomware encrypts your files and renders them useless, while demanding a ransom to decrypt them. Many types of malware can damage your files, data, or even the entire OS.

#Clone hard drive to ssd internally full#

In general, most people clone their drives for one of the following reasons:Ĭreating a full backup: A backup is invaluable in the event of a malware infection. It’s never a bad idea to protect yourself with an extra copy of your hard drive. Why you should consider cloning your hard drive If you put a cloned drive into a computer, you’ll be able to start it up and use it normally. A cloned drive is exactly the same as its original. Mac users can perform backups with Time Machine, and Windows also offers its own built-in backup utilities.Ĭloning copies everything. When you back up to an external hard drive or to the cloud, you’re creating duplicates of your files, but that backup cannot function as an independent drive on its own. Just remember that cloning a drive and backing up your files are different:īackups copy only your files. You’re done! Now you have a brand spanking new hard drive that contains everything that was on the old one!īonus tip: If you don’t mind spending a few bucks, here’s the easiest method of cloning a drive of all (and it works with both 2.5″ laptop hard drives and 3.A cloned hard drive is an exact copy of the original, including the operating system and all the files it needs to boot up and run. Just be sure to keep the old drive on hand until you have successfully tested the new drive. If you cloned the old drive because it was getting ready to fail you might as well simply dispose of it (recycling is always good!).

#Clone hard drive to ssd internally upgrade#

If this is an upgrade you can leave the old drive installed and use it as a secondary drive if you want to.

#Clone hard drive to ssd internally install#

Note: You might need to change the boot order in the BIOS to force the system to boot from the optical drive or the USB drive instead of the hard drive.Ĥ – Load Clonezilla and choose device – device on the 2-item menu that pops up.ĥ – Select the old hard drive as the source drive and the new hard drive as the destination drive.Ħ – After the cloning process is finished you can remove the old hard drive and install the new drive in its place. If there’s no open drive bay available you can purchase an external USB hard drive adapter (#ad) and temporarily connect the new drive to the computer as an external USB hard drive.Ģ – Download Clonezilla and burn the ISO file onto a blank CD, DVD or USB flash drive.ģ – Reboot the PC from the Clonezilla media that you just created in step 2.

If there is an open drive bay and a set of free data and power cables you can temporarily install it as a second internal drive.

#Clone hard drive to ssd internally how to#

Here’s how to use Clonezilla to clone the contents of one hard drive onto another:ġ – With the power off and the PC unplugged, connect the new drive to the computer. All you need is both drives connected to the computer at the same time and a copy of a good hard drive cloning utility (I use and recommend Clonezilla because it works well and is available as a free download). This process is called “cloning”, and it is most often done when upgrading to a larger drive or replacing a drive that is about to fail.Ĭloning a hard drive isn’t all that difficult. There are times when we need to copy the entire contents of one hard drive onto another hard drive.