Restore windows 10 system image to new hard drive free download.How to Migrate Windows 10 to a New Hard Drive

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

There are a few ways you can do this. You could create a new system image to migrate from one drive of equal size to another. Alternatively, you could consider cloning your hard drive to copy your installation, especially if your drives are different sizes. Before you consider a transfer of Windows 10 to a new hard drive, you should consider backing up your essential files , independently of any new system image you create.

To be sure that your data is safe, you should always perform an independent backup of your files using portable media such as a USB drive or online cloud storage. This will allow you to copy your original drive exactly to your new drive. At this stage, connect your new hard drive to your PC and remove the existing hard drive. You could also leave your existing hard drive in place and format it , allowing you to repurpose it as a secondary storage drive. With a new system image of your existing drive ready, you can use the image to create a complete copy of your Windows installation on a new hard drive.

A system image clones your drive entirely, recreating all available partitions on the previous drive to the exact sizes as the original partitions. After a few moments, your system partition will be expanded to include the additional space on your drive, ensuring that all available drive space is usable. Using a new system image to clone your hard drive is still the best way to migrate Windows 10 to a new hard drive. Various tools exist for this method, but one good and free option is to use Macrium Reflect Free.

The free version of Macrium Reflect allows you to clone your Windows installation from a larger to a smaller drive, resizing the partition table in the process. Before you follow these steps, make sure that both your existing hard drive and new hard drive are connected to your PC and are detectable in Windows. Once completed, your existing hard drive containing your Windows installation and all other files will be cloned to your new drive. You can shut down your PC and remove your previous hard drive at this stage, or use Disk Management to format and repurpose it instead.

You may need to resize your system partition if the drive is bigger than the original, however. If you do run into problems, you may want to consider reinstalling Windows 10 and starting afresh without cloning your drive entirely. You can do this without losing your personal files, but you may need to install your software again and transfer your Windows 10 license in the process.

Ben Stockton is a freelance technology writer based in the United Kingdom. In a past life, Ben was a college lecturer in the UK, training teens and adults. Since leaving the classroom, Ben has taken his teaching experience and applied it to writing tech how-to guides and tutorials, specialising in Linux, Windows, and Android.

He has a degree in History and a postgraduate qualification in Computing. Read Ben’s Full Bio. Subscribe to Help Desk Geek and get great guides, tips and tricks on a daily basis!

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Restore windows 10 system image to new hard drive free download

 

How to back up or transfer your data on a Windows-based computer. Backup and Restore in Windows If you’ve never used Windows Backup before, or recently upgraded your version of Windows, select Set up backup , and then follow the steps in the wizard. If you’ve created a backup before, you can wait for your regularly scheduled backup to occur, or you can manually create a new backup by selecting Back up now. Note: Do not back up files to the same hard disk that Windows is installed on.

For example, do not back up files to a recovery partition. Always store media used for backups external hard disks, DVDs, or CDs in a secure place to prevent unauthorized people from having access to your files; a fireproof location separate from your computer is recommended.

You might also consider encrypting the data on your backup. In the left pane, choose Create a system image , and then follow the steps in the wizard. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. You can keep several versions of system images.

On internal and external hard drives, older system images will be deleted when the drive runs out of space. To help conserve disk space, delete older system images. If you’re saving your system images in a network location, you can only keep the most current system image for each computer. If you already have a system image for a computer and are creating a new one for the same computer, the new system image will overwrite the old one.

If you want to keep the old system image, you can copy it to a different location before creating the new system image by following these steps. You can use a restore point to restore your computer’s system files to an earlier point in time.

Restore points are automatically created each week by System Restore and when your PC detects change, like when you install an app or driver. Here’s how to create a restore point. Select the System Protection tab, and then select Create. In the System Protection dialog box, type a description, and then select Create. To look through the contents of the backup, select Browse for files or Browse for folders. When you’re browsing for folders, you won’t be able to see the individual files in a folder.

To view individual files, use the Browse for files option. To search the contents of the backup, select Search , type all or part of a file name, and then select Search. Tip: If you’re searching for files or folders associated with a specific user account, you can improve search results by typing the location of the file or folder in the Search for box. You can restore files from a backup that was created on another computer running Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Choose Select another backup to restore files from , and then follow the steps in the wizard. If you’re restoring files from a backup that was made on another computer, the files will be restored in a folder under the user name that was used to create the backup. If the user names are different, you’ll need to navigate to the folder where the files are restored.

For example, if your user name was Molly on the computer that the backup was made on but your user name is MollyC on the computer that the backup is being restored on, the restored files will be saved in a folder labelled Molly.

Select the Start button, then select Computer. Double-click the Users folder. You will see a folder for each user account. Double-click the folder for the user name that was used to create the backup. The restored files will be in the various folders based on where they were located originally. After you restore your computer from a system image backup, there may be newer versions of some of your files in a file backup that you want to restore. To restore files from a file backup that was created after the system image backup was created, follow these steps.

Choose Select another backup to restore files from. In Backup Period , select the date range of the backup that contains the files that you want to restore, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

Back up and restore your PC Windows 8. Need more help? Join the discussion. A subscription to make the most of your time. Try one month free. Was this information helpful?

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