Transferring Windows 10 to SSD: Step-by-step instruction, description and feedback

Quite often, many users have a question related to how to migrate Windows 10 from HDD to SSD, since solid-state drives are much faster. Now it will be considered why this is needed, and also some basic methods that allow this operation to be performed without much effort and time.

Why do I need to transfer Windows 10 to SSD, and what benefits does the user get?

To begin with, let's determine why we should try to do such operations at all. Here the whole point is that, as mentioned above, SSD-type hard drives have a faster data reading speed than conventional HDDs.

This begs the most simple conclusion: after the transfer of Windows 10 to the SSD-drive will be performed, the system will work much faster, as they say, "fly." The new hard drive is supposed to be copied exclusively by the operating system, without any third-party garbage. With all this, if you prefer some specific software products for cloning disks or systems intended for transfer from HDD to SSD, in some cases you can copy only the system itself, clone Windows with all the programs and user files installed in it, even create images with all User settings. Here, as is already clear, the main condition is the choice of the appropriate program depending on what you need to get in the end. But first things first.

General principles of transferring the system to an SSD drive

We will make a reservation at once: all those users who believe that the fast transfer of Windows 10 to SSD can be profoundly mistaken by the usual copying of all files and folders, even hidden ones. Nothing good will come of it, and the system itself will simply not boot. Here you need to use a different technique. At the same time, it is possible to use both Windows 10 own tools and third-party software specifically for this purpose. The transfer of Windows 10 to SSD in both the first and second cases is quite simple and does not require special efforts or special knowledge.

Let's consider several possible options, especially since none of them should cause difficulties even for the most unprepared or novice user, since in most cases all processes are maximally automated.

Own Windows 10 tools

First, we'll dwell on our own capabilities of Windows 10. It is quite feasible to transfer the system to the SSD drive if you enable the backup and restore partition, which can be accessed from the standard Control Panel. This is due only to the fact that in this case will be made the transfer of Windows 10 to SSD without third-party programs, which greatly simplifies the task.

Here you first need to create an image of the system to transfer it to the prepared drive, and then select the item to create the recovery disk from which the boot will be performed when replacing the HDD on the SSD. When the process starts, you will need to specify a link to the system image saved on the new drive. But the old hard drive should be turned off to avoid trouble. If, in the future, you want to use the old hard disk, you should completely remove the boot partitions, otherwise there is a risk of abnormal conflicts and failures. Actually, this can be the transfer of Windows 10 to SSD on a laptop or on a fixed terminal, provided that the HDD is replaced with an SSD. Another thing is that the laptop will have to be opened by itself, as they say at their own peril and risk. You can, of course, use the services of service centers, but after the replacement they will transfer the system to a new hard drive, and this is extra material costs. In addition, if the laptop is under warranty, the opening of the seals will only lead to the fact that in the future, with some breakdown for free warranty service, no one will ever accept it. So first think carefully about whether it is worth doing such things.

But the responses of users and experts about this method are ambiguous: some consider it to be the simplest, others - on the contrary, see it as unnecessary actions and tend more to the use of narrowly-focused utilities.

The most suitable utilities

It is much easier to use specialized programs that are designed specifically for such purposes. With all their diversity, some utilities of this kind are designed exclusively for hard drives of strictly defined manufacturers. For example, software products like Acronis True Image are great for Western Digital disks, Seagate drives use the Seagate Disk Wizard utility, Samsung's Samsung Data Migration utility for Samsung drives, etc. But here is the most universal, from the point of view of automation and security of all operations that will be required to implement the transfer, is Paragon Migrate OS.

Transferring Windows 10 to SSD: Paragon Migrate OS to SSD

Among the products of Paragon there are quite a few utilities of this direction. A special place is occupied by software packages Paragon Migrate OS to SSD, Paragon Drive Copy 15 Professional, Paragon Disk Manager 15 Professional and "Home Expert 15". Alas, unfortunately, these are paid utilities. Nevertheless, you can not bypass them.

Actually, the program Paragon Migrate OS to SSD is a real step-by-step wizard, which is aimed at maximum automation of the process of system transfer. Without going into the technical details of the process, we note that you can save space and time if you do not move your own documents or files to the new drive, having previously unmarked them in the corresponding window. Well, the Master practically independently will perform all the necessary actions. After copying is complete, remember to change the BIOS settings, where the new SSD-drive should be specified as the primary (first) device.

Migrating with Acronis True Image

Transferring Windows 10 to SSD Acronis True Image performs just as easily. But here for Western Digital hard drives it is better to use a special release of the WD Edition modification program. If the computer has a hard drive of this particular manufacturer, the application will become an indispensable assistant.

The whole process is to select the recommended (automatic) system migration mode in the disk cloning section after installing and running the application. Of course, this can take a lot. Here everything will depend on the amount of data transferred and the speed of the old hard drive. However, the process for a user who is not even familiar with this specifics is simple.

Using the Seagate DiscWizard for Seagate Drives

Before us, another program for transferring Windows 10 to SSD-drives. As you already know, it should be used only when there is at least one hard drive from the manufacturer on the computer or laptop.

If we talk about the transfer of Windows 10 to SSD, we can say that this application almost completely repeats the previous program and excludes the participation of the user in the migration process by almost one hundred percent. Needless to say, there is a Master who will execute the entire process from start to finish.

Samsung Data Migration Transfer Program

For Samsung hard drives there is its own utility that works no worse than the above.

There is also a special step-by-step Wizard of Transfer, but the main advantage of this utility can be called the use of the mode of selective data transfer. This is very relevant, because, you see, the size of SSD is still much smaller than that of conventional hard drives. Well, as for the practical side, here, again, the user's participation in the process is reduced only to the confirmation of automated actions. In most cases, you do not even need to choose any specific parameters - the program will do everything yourself.

Free Macrium Reflect

Finally, the transfer of Windows 10 to the SSD-drive can be done with the free Macrium Reflect package. What most captivates is the fact that the program does not care at all, which manufacturers' hard drives are used as the initial and target disk.

In addition, the universality of this software product (this is evidenced by the feedback of people who used it) is also that the program can not only clone hard drives or their partitions, but quite simply creates bootable disks and images, and also supports the transfer of data to Based on Windows PE. Actually, this application can be classified as "all-in-one".

What else should you pay attention to?

Finally, it remains to add that such programs as AOMEI Backupper Standard were not specifically considered here. Although this utility is distributed free of charge, nevertheless, when performing a transfer operation, it first requires creating a boot disk or a flash drive, and only then when starting from such a media with the priority set in the BIOS, the Cloning Wizard starts. However, not to mention the technical side, it can be used equally for both Windows and Linux systems.

As for the choice of the means by which a solid-state hard drive will be produced, then, as they say, the matter is personal. By the way, we did not go deep into some moments related to the call of certain functions from the command line, because the average user does not need this, in general. Extra headache. It's much easier to run a specialized utility and wait until the end of the cloning process.

What to prefer?

If there is no suitable utility at hand, you can use your own tools of Windows operating systems . And this applies not only to the "dozens", which in our case was taken as a basis. In exactly the same way, all these procedures are carried out in the G-7 and G-8. Here the question is, rather, in another. The fact is that third-party utilities and applications work much more efficiently, at least, the simplicity of the automated actions produced in most cases does not cause doubts. But as for the speed of cloning, you should not flatter yourself-above the speed of reading or writing that the desired and target hard drives have, you simply will not jump. So with all the desire to finish quickly the processes will have to suffer.

In the rest, even with the use of the system's own resources, no one should arise difficulties. But the presence of the Wizard in almost any specialized utility allows not only to track every step with the executed action, but also simply not to participate in an already automated process. Well, unless you have to press a few buttons or select the desired partitions or user folders and programs for cloning.