Transfer C drive to new SSD in Windows without reinstalling

Quick and easy step to transfer C drive to new SSD

Key takeaways

• Transferring your C drive to new SSD is a convenient way to move OS to another drive when you upgrade the hard drive or swap to a new device.
• Cloning is the best and only way to move a C drive to SSD without reinstalling anything, which will make an exact copy of your OS and boot PC on the new SSD successfully.
• EaseUS Disk Copy is a professional disk cloning software with simple operation to clone a C drive to new SSD.

Is it possible to copy only C drive to SSD?

“I’m working to upgrade the primary HDD to a 2TB SSD for my HP desktop. I have a decent amount of software (Windows, Office, Photoshop, Steam / Xbox games, etc.) on my C drive.  Can I do a system restore without reinstalling software or losing my licenses? Will Windows be replicated from HDD to SSD work as a primary drive?” – post from Reddit

The C drive, also the system drive, is the main hard disk partition that contains the Windows Operating System, system-related files, settings, installed applications, logs, and other related data.

However, as it is used longer, the system disk (C drive) will store more data and gradually wear out. As your system drive is full and its storage reaches its limit, you must replace it with a new system disk to expand the capacity.

How to copy and transfer only C drive to a new SSD if you don’t want to reinstall the operating system? Keep reading and catch the details of this easy task.

Pro tips to effectively move C drive to the other SSD

Before Upgrading to a new SSD, you are supposed to prepare enough to transfer data from old hard drive to new SSD smoothly and successfully. Here are some practical tips. Execute them and get ready now.

1. Clean up C drive – optional but effective

The time it takes to transfer largely depends on how much data is saved on your C drive. Moreover, while swapping a larger disk for a smaller SSD, you must ensure that the used space is less than the available storage on the SSD. To facilitate the process and make use of more storage space, remove these unnecessary, junk, and temporary files as well as applications.

2. Shrink C Drive Partition Volume

Since the HDD is usually larger than the SSD, you should shrink the C drive in disk management in advance if you clone a larger to smaller SSD. By shrinking it, you can decrease the partition space to create unallocated space on the disk.

The steps to shrink C drive.

• Type Computer Management in the Windows search bar, and click Run as administrator.
• Select Disk Management under the Computer Management window.
• Right-click the C drive and select the Shrink Volume option.
• It will automatically calculate the maximum space that you can shrink, and you can also enter the specific size you want to shrink and click shrink to start.

EaseUS

EaseUS

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Download SSD data migration software on a Windows computer

To simplify the process of moving C drive to a new SSD, cloning is the best option, which will create an exact copy of your entire system on the target SSD, and you don’t need to reinstall the operating system and other applications.

EaseUS Disk Copy is one of the best cloning tools that allows you to copy C drive to SSD or HDD with simple clicks. It will clone Windows 10 to new SSD and migrate all system data to the SSD with the boot sector, ensuring you can boot your device from it effectively.

It has the following features to make it the perfect choice for a C drive cloning:

• System clone and partition clone: It supports selecting only the system or a certain partition as the clone source.
• Disk clone: This feature allows you to clone a whole disk, from HDD to SSD, a smaller SSD to a larger one, or vice versa.
• Sector-by-sector cloning: Choosing to copy only used space can effectively utilize the space on the target disk.
• Smart monitor disk size: It will automatically detect both source and target disk sizes, which is very useful when you clone a larger disk to a smaller one.

Download it and use it to start the C drive cloning to SSD with the following stepwise guide.

4 steps to clone C drive only to a new SSD of M.2/SATA/NVMe

Now, let’s dive into the steps to clone C drive, which involves four simple clicks. We tested and recorded the process, and below are the statistics.

Time Duration:	About 5-8 minutes
C drive	Format: NTFS Total space: 232.58 GB Used space: 94.43 GB
SSD	Format: NTFS Total space: 931.51 GB Available space: 923.32 GB

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Disk Copy. Select Partition Mode from the left panel, and choose C drive as the source partition.

EaseUS

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Note: C drive is, by default, the system partition on most Windows computers, but there are cases when your system drive and boot drive are saved on separate partitions. e.g., the operating system is stored on the C drive while other system-related files are saved on the D drive. In this case, you must select both partitions to ensure the SSD is bootable.

Step 2️. Select the target partition you want to clone. Check and edit the partition layout, then click Proceed to continue.

EaseUS

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