Clone OS from HDD to Smaller SSD Without Reinstallation

"Can I clone Windows 10 HDD to a smaller SSD? My computer becomes slower and slower after upgrading to Windows 10. I've heard that SSD works more efficiently than HDD, then I bought a new 128 GB SSD (smaller than the old HDD), trying to resolve the issue by cloning OS from HDD to the smaller SSD. But the problem is I don't know how to do it. Can anyone show me how to make it?"

Why Need to Clone OS from HDD to Smaller SSD

With the fast spread of SSD, more and more computer and laptop manufacturers are using SSD as system disk to optimize system performance and speed up the device for worldwide users.

Here are SSD'S advantages compared with HDD:

Better stability.
Fast reading and writing speed.
Less power consumption.

Thus, more and more users, especially the game players, are trying to clone OS from HDD for SSD on their computers to improve performance.

But how to migrate Windows 10 from HDD to smaller SSD? Can you clone a larger hard drive to a smaller SSD without reinstalling Windows? If you are having the same problem, relax! Here, you'll find an effective and simple method to clone OS to SSD.

The Best Software to Clone Windows 10 to Smaller SSD

Free Download

Qiling Disk Copy is a perfect and professional tool that allows for disk clone and partition clone. Its disk clone feature will automatically select the current HDD and target SSD to be cloned, ensuring that the disk can be properly started after migration. This cloning software also supports resizing partition when copying disk. You can use it to copy HDD to smaller SSD and clone corrupted hard drive.

Actually, how to clone HDD to smaller SSD is a simple task. One important thing is that the smaller SSD hard disk has enough capacity to fit the contents of the HDD disk.

Another primary feature of Qiling Disk Copy is partition clone. If your important files are all stored in one partition, you can use it to accomplish the partition clone.

In addition to these main functions, Qiling Disk Copy can create a bootable disk, which can solve the problem that OS can not be used. When you finish creating a bootable disk, you can go ahead and do the disk/partition clone.

How to Clone Windows 10 to smaller SSD with Qiling Disk Copy

You can follow the detailed steps provided below to migrate OS (Windows 10/8/7) to smaller SSD without reinstalling Windows. If you need to clone a laptop HDD to SSD, you can click it to get further reading.

Step 1: Download, install and run Qiling Disk Copy on your PC.

Choose "Disk/Partition clone" to start.

Step 2. Select the HDD that you want to clone. Click "Next" to continue.

Step 3: Select the SSD as your destination and click "Next".

Step 4: Check and edit the disk layout.

If your destination disk is an SSD drive, do remember to tick "Optimize for SSD" option if the target is SSD.

Step 5: Click "Proceed" to start the hard drive cloning process.

A warning message tells you that the data on the destination disk will be overwritten. Click "OK" to continue if you do not have important data on the destination disk.

After this, insert your new SSD into your computer and reboot PC, change the boot order to set computer boot from new SSD with cloned Windows 10 system:

1. Restart PC and press F2 or F8 to enter BIOS settings.

2. In the Boot option, select new SSD as the new boot drive and save all the changes.

3. Exit BIOS and restart the computer, you should be able to see Windows 10 running on your new disk without any problems.

Helpful tips about cloned SSD won't boot after copying HDD to Smaller SSD:

Method 1: Change HDD or fix the source disk error.

The HDD hard drive itself may have disk errors. You shall change a new HDD disk or fixing HDD errors before cloning to a smaller SSD.

Method 2: Do not take out HDD to another computer.

If you insert HDD to another computer, the HDD's operating environment will change, so your cloned SSD won't boot after cloning hard drive to smaller SSD.

Method 3: Use a common sata cable for connecting SSD.

If you use a USB cable to connect the target hard drive, it will be recognized by the computer as an external disk. So the cloned disk won't boot after accomplishing the cloning process.