Easy Method to Clone C Drive to SSD in Windows 11/10 [2023]

Amy Dennis

Apr 19, 2023 • Filed to: Take Data Backup • Proven solutions

SSDs are much more reliable and fast storage drives than traditional hard drives. Fortunately, with the passage of time and the increasing popularity of SSDs, it is becoming easier and safer to export the information that used to be stored on hard drives to SSDs using the disk cloning process, as this process greatly streamlines the migration of data and settings from one operating system from one disk to another. In this post, I will explain everything you need to know to make this process easy.

Part 1: Easy Way to Clone C Drive to SSD in Windows 10

A few days ago, my computer started to crash and I would like to move all the information from my C drive to an SSD to avoid losing my information. Does anyone know if there is any way to clone my C drive to SSD with Windows 10?

There are many reasons why it is feasible to clone your C drive to an SSD device, however, many people are afraid to go through this process due to the technical complexity of creating a full copy of the drive. Fortunately, the process is not as delicate as it may seem and some tools are of great help to facilitate it.

Part 2: Why Do You Clone C Drive to SSD in Windows 10?

As I mentioned before, the process of cloning a C drive to an SSD offers great advantages and unlike what some people think, there are very few disadvantages.

1. Why use cloning instead of reinstalling?

If your computer is failing due to a bad hard disk, it is highly recommended to back up your information, however, copying the files from your computer to an external device can cause compatibility problems, since many programs were automatically configured to be compatible with a certain environment. In this hypothetical case, the most appropriate decision would be to clone the disk, since in this way you would create a comprehensive copy, both of the files and programs you need, as well as the configuration and characteristics of the operating system, however, if the origin of crashes on your computer would be due to some malware or wrong configuration, cloning disk c would not fix the problem at all.

2. Why only clone C drive and not the entire disk in Windows 10?

A disk and a partition are different things. A disk is a physical storage unit, while a partition is just a virtual division of the total disk capacity.

A disk can have one or more partitions. C is the partition assigned by default for the installation of the operating system, so if you want to back up the configuration of the operating system and the programs you use, it would be enough to back up the C partition and the system reserved partition, since the information of any other partition that does not contain essential operating system data can be easily backed up or exported by any other conventional storage medium, such as USB.

3. Why clone to SSD rather than HDD?

An HDD (Hard Drive Disk) is a storage device consisting of a magnetic disk and a magnetic head whose read and write capacities are determined by the revolutions per minute (RPM) that it can reach, while an SSD (Solid State Drive) It is made with solid-state electronic components. The writing and reading capacities of an SSD depends on the quality and architecture of the specific device, since the writing and reading processes start from the binary interpretation of energy, far exceeding the physical limitations of a Hard Disk (HDD), also As they do not have moving parts inside, they are much safer to transport your information from one place to another.

Part 3: How to Clone C Drive to SSD in Windows 10?

Wondershare UBackit is a professional data backup software. This software was designed to perform all kinds of backup processes with great ease and includes a feature that will assist you step by step to clone a disk or partition with total security.

Below I will show you how to use it.

Step 1 Launch And Install Wondershare UBackit

Launch Wondershare Recoverit, and click Clone from the sidebar. And click Start to continue.

Step 2 Select C Drive to Clone

From the list of the available drives, just choose the C drive to clone and click on the Next button.

Step 3 Select Solid-State Drive as Storage Device

It is recommended that you choose a brand new external hard drive to store the backup data and settings. Or you can backup the data stored on the destination disk in advance since all the files will be erased once the cloning process get started. Also, please ensure that there enough space to load the whole disk.

Step 4 Complete the Cloning Process

After clicking on the Clone button, you can just sit back, and wait for a while. The application will display the progress of the C disk clone process on the screen.

UBackit will inform you once the cloning process is completed.

Part 4: How to Fix Cloned SSD Won't Boot in Windows?

If after cloning your C disk in an SSD you cannot start Windows, something likely went wrong during the process and to solve it you must first find out the origin of the problem. Below I will talk about the most common causes and I will also explain everything you need to know to fix it.

1. SSD is not the first boot option.

If you cloned your Disk C to an SSD you must configure the boot priority before using it, putting the SSD first, also, if the reason you decided to clone disk C was that your source disk presents symptoms of malfunction, you must disconnect it both from the power source and the motherboard.

To configure the boot priority you must access the software of your motherboard (Bios) or (UEFI) when turning it on, pressing DEL / F8 / F11 / F12 (the key to press will depend on the model of your motherboard)

Once you have accessed the BIOS, go to the "Boot" section and click on "Boot Device Priority), now you should only put your SSD in the first place.

2. The partition style is wrong.

There are two partition styles (GPT) and (MBR). Both partition styles were designed to work in different conditions and at different times. Under current standards, with 64-bit operating systems and increasing demand for high storage capacities in computers for home and office use, the GPT partition style has greatly increased its popularity, however, both the MBR and GPT style requires certain conditions to be compatible with Windows and motherboard software at the same time.

The compatibility of partition styles depend on the software of your motherboard, this can be BIOS or UEFI, if your computer uses BIOS you can use an SSD or a hard disk but you will need to use the MBR style, on the other hand, if your computer uses UEFI you will need to use GPT partition style whether you have a hard drive or SSD and 64 bit OS since GPT style is incompatible with 32 bit systems.

3. The source disk has bad sectors and it's cloned to the target drive.

If the source disk has bad sectors, the cloning process may be affected. If this is the case, you can try repeating the cloning process.

4. System reserved partition or EFI partition is missing.

If the error "Operating System not found" appears after cloning your disk to an SSD, it is probably because the cloning process has skipped the system reserved partition, in which case, you will have to rebuild it to start the operating system correctly. Below I'll show you how. This process will need the assistant of Windows Installation Disc or similar bootable devices to help you enter into WinPE Command Prompt.

1. Boot up your computer from the Windows Installer. At the step of "Where do you want to install Windows", press Shift + F10 to bring out Command Prompt.
2. At the prompt, to create the boot configuration file on a system drive instead of the System Reserved partition, input "bcdboot c:\windows /s c:" without quotes and hit Enter. You'll see a return message: Boot files successfully created.
3. At the prompt, input "bootrec /fixmbr" without quotes and hit Enter.
4. Chances are that you'll receive this error "Element not found" after the command. Then, you need to make the partition Active, using Diskpart. (If no error message received, skip to step 6.)
5. To make partition Active, please enter the following commands successively.
• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk x (where x is the disk number of the system drive)
• list partition
• select part 1
• active (the correct message should be: DiskPart marked the current partition as active)
• exit (leave diskpart)

1. Now, input these two commands to rebuild the BCD file.

• bootrec /fixboot
• bootrec /rebuildbcd

2. When it asks to add installation to boot, print Y and hit Enter. Then, you may leave Command Prompt and start your computer now.

Conclusion

Cloning drive C is perhaps the most effective way to migrate your data or any operating system along with its settings and programs to an SSD, however, this process can become a headache due to the technical features that directly influence the correct operation of the cloning process. Fortunately, with Wondershare UBackit you can greatly simplify this process thanks to its friendly user interface. A few clicks and the program will take care of the rest.