How to Create a Bootable Clone of Your Windows 11/10/8/7 Disk to a New HDD/SSD

Before diving into the details of the process, let's see what you need to create a bootable clone of your Windows disk.

Click here to download this excellent disk cloning software.

Can I create a bootable clone of a Windows disk with no boot issues?

Does anyone know how to clone a Windows disk to another new HDD or SSD without boot issues? I'm trying to clone my Windows system drive and upgrade to a larger disk. The problem is, when I search for information online, most people tell me that their cloned disks often won't boot properly.

I don't want to waste my time cloning a Windows disk, only to end up with an unbootable drive. So my question is: Can I create a bootable clone of a Windows disk without running into boot issues? How?

What is a Bootable Clone of Windows 11/10/8/7?

A Windows 10 bootable clone is an exact replica of a bootable hard drive, including the operating system and other files. To clone a bootable hard drive in Windows 10, you can choose to clone the entire disk or only the partition that contains the OS and related boot files. Ordinary users can easily clone the system disk with the OS and all data to a new disk without any booting issues.

But how to do it? How to clone a hard drive on Windows 11/10/8/7 without any boot issues? This tutorial will equip you with the right tool – a powerful disk cloning software and a detailed guide to clone your hard drive without any boot errors effectively.

If you found this guide helpful, please share it on social media to help others learn how to create a bootable clone of their Windows system drive.

Best Disk Clone Software for Windows 11/10/8/7 Download

To ensure a smooth disk cloning process on your Windows PC and save precious time and effort, we recommend downloading the best disk cloning software for assistance. This software will help you effortlessly clone bootable drives without complicated procedures. It can also be utilized to clone a bootable USB drive.

AOMEI Backupper Disk Clone is a user-friendly yet powerful disk cloning software that can easily clone your bootable drives and partitions to a new drive in their entirety. It can also help you clone NVMe SSD to NVMe SSD. One standout feature of this software is that it can ignore bad sectors and clone data from the hard drive to the new device when your disk has bad sectors.

With this tool, you can even clone a bootable drive to a smaller disk. It's fully compatible with all Windows operating systems, so you can download it and install it on your computer to start creating bootable clones of your Windows disks yourself.

Note: Make sure to launch the disk cloning tool before beginning the process. If you encounter any issues, please don't hesitate to contact our technical support team, who will provide you with free online assistance.

You may also like: Samsung SSD Clone Not Booting

How to Create a Bootable Windows Disk Clone in Simple Steps

Before you begin the cloning process, connect your new hard drive or SSD to your computer. Now let's look at how to clone your Windows PC without any boot issues.

Advance notice:

• Sector-by-sector copy requires the target disk to be the same size or larger than the source disk. Uncheck this option if you want to clone a larger hard drive to a smaller one. • All data on the target disk will be erased. Proceed with caution.

Step 1: To begin copying/ cloning an entire disk to another, select the disk in Disk Mode, then click Next.

Step 2: Select another disk as the target disk.

Step 3: Check the disk layout of both source and target disks. You can choose to “Auto Resize Partitions,” “Keep the same as source disk,” or “Edit Partition Size” to manage the disk layout on the target disk.

• "Fit to disk" makes some modifications to the target disk layout by default to optimize it. • "Copy from source disk" doesn't change anything on the target disk, and its layout will be the same as the source disk. • "Edit disk layout" lets you manually adjust/move the partition layout of the target disk.

Check the “Select this option if the target is an SSD” box to ensure optimal performance from your SSD.

A warning message appears, alerting you to the fact that your data will be lost. Confirm the information by clicking OK, and then click Next.

Step 4: Click “Proceed” to actually carry out the task.

Video Tutorial: How to Clone Windows to a New Hard Drive and Make It Bootable

In this video, you will learn step by step how to clone your Windows disk to another new HDD or SSD without any boot issues. Let's find out how:

If you found this article helpful, please share it on social media to help others learn how to create a bootable clone of their Windows system drive.

How to Boot from a Newly Cloned Bootable Disk in Windows 11/10/8/7

To make sure your cloned Windows disk boots on your computer, remember to set the computer to boot from the new disk and complete the entire bootable disk cloning process.

Step one: Shut down your computer and insert the clone drive into your Windows machine.

Step 2: Restart your computer and repeatedly press the F2 or F8 key to enter BIOS setup while it's booting up.

Step Three: In the “Boot” or “Boot Order” section, set your computer to start from the new hard drive.

Step 4. Save the changes and restart your computer. Your computer should no longer have any booting issues or other problems.

Save Changes

Additional tips for fixing issues with cloned drives not booting

If you're unable to boot from the cloned drive, try these troubleshooting steps:

1. Set the correct boot drive
2. Connect the SSD or HDD correctly to your computer
3. Add necessary drivers to the cloned SSD/HDD
4. Restart the cloning process and fix errors
5. Resolve GPT/MBR conflict issues

If the cloned drive still fails to boot, please contact us with more details, and we will get back to you with advice as soon as possible.

Final Words

With a disk cloning tool, you can easily create a bootable clone of your Windows system drive without any booting issues. Plus, the software supports cloning Linux HDD to SSD. If you're unsure how to boot from a cloned drive, you can get detailed information above. As for the method of creating a bootable clone, feel free to share your suggestions with us if you have any.

Frequently Asked Questions About Cloning Boot Drive in Windows 11/10/8/7

If you have any further questions, you can refer to the related questions and answers below.

How do I make a bootable clone?

Step 1: Download, install, and run a disk cloning tool on your computer.

Step 2: Select the target disk to which you want to clone/copy your old disk, then click “Next” to proceed.

Step 3: Review and edit the disk layout, selecting either "Auto-adjust based on disk," "Match source," or "Edit disk layout." "Auto-adjust based on disk" is recommended.

Click “Continue” to begin cloning or copying the disk.

2. Can Windows 10 be cloned?

Yes, you can. With the right disk-cloning tool, you can easily clone Windows 10 to a larger drive without any boot issues.

3. What is the best cloning software for Windows 10?

Best Windows PC hard drive cloning and disk imaging software:

• Hard drive cloning software
• Todo Backup utility
• Paragon Drive Copy
• Macrium Reflect
• Clonezilla

4. Can a cloned hard drive boot?

Normally, the target disk can be booted after cloning an active system disk with professional hard drive cloning software.