Plus what to do when things get out of hand

Learning how to move Windows to another drive may seem pointless until it’s finally time to upgrade your hard drive. Technology outgrows current devices, and to keep your system up to date, you’ll occasionally need to upgrade hardware components. For example, you may want to upgrade to a solid-state drive (SSD) for more storage or better performance.

However, when you upgrade your HDD, you also need to migrate your operating system. You have two options to choose from for migrating Windows.

First, reinstall Windows from scratch. You’ll need to install a clean copy of Windows on the new SSD, reinstall apps, and then use your backup to set everything up. The second, easier option is to transfer Windows 10/11 to your new hard drive, which will allow you to skip the tedious Windows installation process. We’ll walk you through the second method in this guide.