How to Clone and Move System Reserved Partition to Another Drive or Another Disk Windows 11/10

Move System Reserved Partition Overview

Read the system reserved partition definition if you are not very clear what the system reserved partition is.

2 scenarios that you need to move system reserved partition to another drive to move system reserved partition to another disk:

Case 1. Can I move system reserved partition to SSD?

"Hi there, do you know how to move the system reserved partition to my new SSD? I added a new SSD to my computer yesterday and migrated the OS to the new disk.

But the problem is that the system reserved partition is still on the old hard drive. So I want to know if it's possible to move the system reserved partition to my new SSD? How?"

Case 2. System clone left the system reserved partition on the original disk, how to move system reserved partition to another disk?

"I cloned my system to a bigger hard drive the other day. Everything's working fine on my computer. But the system reserved partition was left on the original old disk, not moved to the new drive. Is it possible to move system reserved partition to the new disk?"

How to move system reserved partition to new disk.

Are you having similar issues as the above-described problems and don't know how to move system reserved partition to another drive or another disk? Don't fret. Read in-depth and learn to how to move system reserved partition in two ways without boot problem.

1. How to Move System Reserved Partition with the Free Partition Manager Software

To make the system reserved partition remove process simple and easy for you, we highly recommend applying free partition manager software - Qiling Partition Master Free, which can help move system reserved partition to another drive with the Clone feature in a few simple clicks.

Free Download
Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Except for disk/drive clone, Qiling Partition Master Free provides more one-stop disk partition features, such as resize/move partitions to solve low disk space issue, create/delete/format partition, merge partitions, wipe data, disk/partition conversion (e.g., convert MBT to GPT), and so on.

You can download and install this free software on your PC. Then, refer to the following steps to move system reserved partition to another drive or another disk without boot problem.

Step 1. Right-click the partition you want to copy, and choose Clone.

Step 2. Choose your the target partition and click Next to continue.

If you clone partition to the existing partition, you should transfer or back up data before cloning to prevent it being overwritten.

Step 3. Click Proceed and wait for the clone to complete.

After this, you can change the partition label to System Reserved and set the partition as Active on your new disk.

 Notice:: One more thing you need to notice is that the system reserved partition has to be a primary partition to ensure the system can boot on a new disk without any problems.; If the cloned and moved system reserved partition is not a primary partition yet, you can refer to convert logical partition to primary partition with the help of Qiling Partition Master.

Free Download
Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

2. How to Move System Reserved Partition to Another Drive with Disk Management Manually

If you don't like to use a third-party disk partition tool, you can use the Windows built-in Disk Management to move system reserved partition to another drive. The process is a bit complicated, and you need to follow the step-by-step instructions below to do it. Read the tips below first.

To avoid a system failure caused by the wrong operation, we recommend that you first backup your system and create a system image on a USB drive.
The following steps show how to move system reserved partition to another disk. If you want to copy system reserved partition to another drive, make it in the same way.
The System Reserved partition is 100 MB on Windows 7, 350 MB on Windows 8, and 500 MB on Windows 11/10.

Step 1. Right-click the "Start" button and select "Disk Management".

Step 2. Find your system disk; let's say Disk 0. Right-click the unallocated space on Disk 0 and choose "New Simple Volume". If there is no unallocated space, you can shrink a partition at first.

how to move system reserved partition

Step 3. Assign a drive letter for the newly created simple partition.

Step 4. Copy everything from the system reserved partition to the new drive, including the Boot folder, bootmgr, and BOOTSEC.BAK.

Step 5. Remove the drive letter from the system reserved partition on disk 1.

Step 6. Change the name of the new partition to "System Reserved".

Step 7. Remove the drive letter of your new System Reserved partition, then mark it as active.

Step 8. Restart your computer and delete the system reserved partition on the original Disk 1 if the Windows can start. If not, restore your system from the backup image created at the beginning.

Wrap Up

You can learn two ways to move system reserved partition to another disk or another drive on Windows 11/10. If you've looked at these two approaches, you know very well that the simplest and safest way to move system reserved partition is using a free partition management tool.

Qiling Partition Master Free enables you to clone and move system reserved partition to another drive or disk in a few clicks. You don't need to manually create a partition, copy files, or delete the partition. With its clone feature, you can clone larger HDD to smaller SSD, clone SD card, clone enter disk, and more. Try it now, and use it to manage your hard drive and empty disk space to enhance system performance.

Free Download
Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Move System Reserved Partition FAQs

If you have any of the following questions about how to move system reserved partition on Windows 11/10/8/7, get help here.

How do I move the system reserved partition to another drive?

You can move system reserved partition to another drive in two ways:

Apply Qiling Partition Master Free to clone system reserved partition to another drive or disk in a few clicks without boot issue.
Manually move system reserved partition to another drive in Disk Management in complex steps.

What happens if I format system reserved partition?

If you plan for a clean install, you should delete all partitions entirely instead of formatting system reserved partition. The system reserved partition will be created again when you set up your first partition to install windows.

Can System Reserved partition be deleted?

On the GPT disk, you can delete the system reserved partition without any boot problem. You can delete the system reserved partition, although they don't recommend it. It will be created automatically at the time of system partition.

How do I change my system reserved partition size?

You can use the resize/move partition function of Qiling Partition Master Free to change the size of the system reserved partition easily:

Step 1. Right-click on a system reserved partition and select "Resize/Move".

Step 2. Drag the partition handle to change the partition size.

Step 3. Click the Execute Operation button and click Apply to keep changes.

How do I mark a system reserved partition?

Set the system reserved partition as active with one click:

Step 1. Download and launch Qiling partition manager software.

Step 2. On the disk map, right-click the system reserved partition and choose Set Active. The software will automatically execute the operation and mark the system reserved partition an active partition for you.