How to Migrate Dual Boot OS to SSD? [Step-by-Step Guide]

Dual boot is an environment that allows users to install two different operating systems on one computer. A lot of users choose to set up a dual boot on their PCs, such as “dual boot Windows 11 and Linux on separate hard drives”, “dual boot Windows 10 and Windows 11”, “dual boot Windows 11 and Windows 7”, etc. However, many of them are unclear about how to clone dual boot hard drive to SSD, like the user from the Reddit forum:

How do we move dual boot to larger SSD? Hi, I recently dropped off my laptop at an IT shop in town to upgrade the 256GB SSD of my 4th gen Thinkpad Carbon X1 to a 1TB SSD. The SSD has a dual boot of Windows 10 and Windows 11. Can I migrate dual boot OS to SSD without reinstalling? Please help me.https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxmint/comments/vrt9xr/moving_dual_boot_to_larger_ssd/

Can You Migrate Dual Boot OS to SSD

Can you clone dual boot hard drive to SSD? Of course, yes. You can clone hard drive with dual boot OS to a new SSD or HDD using a professional disk clone tool like MiniTool Partition Wizard or MiniTool ShadowMaker. According to a survey, we find that users may choose to move dual boot OS to SSD under the following 3 situations:

• Move dual boot to larger SSD for more storage space: A hard drive will run out of space with time going by if you haven’t freed up disk space regularly. In this case, you may need to upgrade the hard drive to a larger SSD/HDD.
• Clone dual boot OS to SSD for better performance: Generally speaking, a computer installed with SSDs usually has a faster boot or load speed while performing multiple tasks than most traditional HDDs.
• Transfer dual boot OS to SSD for backing up systems: Many people want to back up their systems in case of unexpected disasters, hardware failures, system crashes, virus infections, etc.

So, how to migrate dual boot system from HDD to SSD on Windows PCs. Let’s keep reading to know more details.

Preparations Before You Clone Dual Boot Hard Drive to SSD

Before you migrate dual boot OS to SSD, you need to prepare the new SSD well on the Windows computer. Here’s a quick guide for you.

Step 1. Install the new SSD on your commuter properly. If you don’t know how to do that, refer to this guide “How to Install an M.2 SSD on Windows PC [Complete Guide]”.

Step 2. Right-click the Start menu and select Disk Management from the context menu.

Step 3. In the pop-up window, right-click the SSD you just installed and select Initialize Disk.

Step 4. Select a partition style (MBR or GPT) according to your preference and click on OK to initialize the SSD.

Once done, you can migrate dual boot system from HDD to SSD using the guide below.

How to Clone Migrate Dual Boot OS to SSD on Windows 10/11

How to clone dual boot OS to SSD on Windows 10/11? This process can be divided into the following 2 simple parts. The first part is to move dual boot OS to SSD, and the second part is to set the new SSD as boot drive.

Part 1. Clone Dual Boot Hard Drive to SSD

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a powerful and multifunctional disk clone tool that can easily clone an entire hard disk to SSD, migrate only Windows OS to SSD, and copy a single partition. With this tool, you can enjoy many benefits while cloning a hard drive:

• Clone a hard drive to larger SSD without unallocated space left: Many users encounter the unallocated space left on cloned SSD when using some clone tools, while the MiniTool software avoids the situation by fitting partitions to the entire disk.
• Clone large HDD to smaller SSD without reinstalling OS: This software can adjust the unallocated space on the HDD and help clone it to a smaller SSD.
• Clone MBR to GPT disk/SSD without changing the partition style: With this tool, you can clone a hard drive with different partition styles.
• Improve SSD performance with the alignment:It can align partitions to 1MB while cloning HDD to SSD, which can improve the disk performance.

Moreover, it’s a free partition manager that can extend/resize/shrink/merge/format/wipe partitions, change cluster size, check disk performance, convert FAT32 to NTFS, convert MBR to GPT, and more.

MiniTool Partition Wizard DemoClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1. Open the MiniTool program to enter its main interface, select the dual boot hard drive that you want to clone, and click on Copy Disk from the left action panel.

Step 2. In the pop-up window, select the target SSD and click on Next to go on. Then click on Yes to further confirm it.

Step 3. Select copy options based on your preference and click on Next. If you are cloning an MBR to GPT disk, you can select Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk, which won’t convert the GPT disk to MBR after cloning.

Step 4. Read the Note information and click on Finish > Apply to execute the cloning operation.

How to transfer dual boot OS to SSD on Windows PCs? If you are trying to figure it out, MiniTool Partition Wizard provides a perfect solution for you.Click to Tweet

Part 2. Set the SSD as Boot Drive

Now, you can boot from the cloned dual boot SSD. How to set the new SSD as a boot drive on Windows? Here, you can refer to the guide below:

Step 1. Power up your computer, press and hold the F2 or Delete hotkey before the computer is booted. Then your PC will enter BIOS.

Step 2. Navigate to the Boot tab, select the new SSD, and move it to the first boot order using the arrow keys and the “+” key.

Step 3. Press the F10 and Enter keys to save and exit the BIOS setup utility. After that, reboot your computer, and you can select the Windows OS you want to boot up.

What’s Your Opinion

Now, here comes the end of this post. It focuses on how to clone dual boot OS to SSD on Windows PCs. Do you have any other opinions about the topic? We’re glad to see your feedback in the following comment area. Besides, don’t hesitate to contact us via [email protected] if you have any questions about MiniTool Partition Wizard. We will help you as soon as possible.