Are you inquiring about what to do after cloning the hard drive to SSD? Suppose you successfully cloned the HDD to SSD, but now you’ve no idea what to do next. You notice on the disk management HDD shows many options such as boot, page file, crash dump, primary partition, and while on the SSD, it only shows primary partition.

You may now confusedly think, do I go to properties and clean the HDD. Meanwhile, if you want to use the HDD as storage, then it’s better to power up and verify the BIOS boot order. But if not, the steps are going to be different.

Here, we suggested some procedures about booting from a cloned SSD, moving windows-10 to SSD, and many more.

Keep on reading to know the to-do list after you are done with cloning HDD to SSD.

What to Do after Cloning Hard Drive to SSD

After cloning HDD to SSD, it has to replace the original HDD as it needs to be driven by C. The SSD is now the master drive.

You can now,

• Move Windows to SSD
• Boot from SSD
• Wipe the old HDD and clone HDD to SDD
• Reset the PC or reset BIOS, if your PC does not response

For first, follow these steps on how to move windows to SSD,

• Boot the machine without the old drive connection.

It is usually not a problem on the laptop, but it can create difficulty on the desktop. If the desktop has an old HDD connection, the machine will get very confused.

• Again, after finishing the first boot, the machine is running with the new drive then in the laptop case.

For this, the old drive can be mounted in an enclosure and reformation. It will remove any OS and any recovery partitions then.

For the desktop, you need to plug it into a SATA slot.

How to Boot from SSD after Cloning

Nowadays, a cloned hard drive to SSD is widely used in computer hard drive replacement or upgrading. It’s just because clone HDD to SSD can help you avoid the hassle of data loss or installing the Windows system again. However, here we discuss the process of booting your computer from SSD after cloning.

Before starting, we divided the parts into three modes.

Mode-01. Initialize The SSD before cloning the Windows-10.

Before moving windows-10 to SSD, make sure that your computer can accept the boot successfully from the SSD. For this, you need to initialize the SSD with the correct partition style first.

Important Notes-

• If your BIOS mode is a legacy BIOS, then you’ve to initialize the SSD using MBR.
• If the BIOS mode is UEFI, use a GPT to initialize the SSD.
• Select the same partition style to keep your computer’s existing hard drive in a safe bet.

Steps-01. Install the SSD inside the Computer Slot & Connect it

Install the SSD inside the computer slot and connect through the USB port, depending on your own choice.

Steps-02) Right-click on the Windows Icon & Select Disk Management option

In this section,

First, right-click on the windows icon> Select Disk management > Next, open up the Disk management in Windows-10.

Steps-03. Initialize The Disc Dialog Popups Along With The Disk Management Window

To initialize the disc dialog popups along with the disc management windows,

select the connected SSD drive> choose the correct partition style (MBR/GPT) > Then, click OK.

Steps-04. Right-Click On The Space

Finally, right-click on the space beside the new SSD> next, select the new simple volume.

You’ll see an on-screen wizard for creating a volume, then assigning a drive letter for the SSD. 

How to Make SSD Boot drive

People usually prefer to use an SSD as a boot drive after finishing out HDD to SSD cloning. Meanwhile, HDD SSD clone won’t give you the facilities like a strong SSD boot drive. Additionally, you can use the HDD as a larger capacitor to store personal data, files, and applications. So, How to make cloned drive bootable.

To make your SSD a boot drive, you’ve to migrate the Windows 10 from HDD to SSD. Then make the cloned SSD a bootable drive. We discuss the 3 processes here.

• Prepare the SSD
• Migrate the windows 10-OS to SSD
• Configure & convert the SSD as a Boot drive

Part-1. Prepare the SSD

At first, make the SSD ready for being the master here.

To prepare the SSD,

• Install it to your PC first.
• Use a screwdriver to remove the computer case.
• Next, Connect SSD to PC via Data cable/ USB cable.
•  Then enable SSD in the BIOS

Restart the PC> then click F2/F8/F11/DEL, enter BIOS> Enter Setup mode> turning on SSD or press the enable mode> Save the changes, then exit.

Part-02. Replace the Windows-10/11 OS with SSD

Now, time for making the SSD a bootable drive to boot from it.

•  Run EaseUS partition Master on the PC> select migrate OS from the top menu bar> Select SSD/ HDD> click on Next.

• Afterward, check the warning notice (ensure that you’ve backed up important data in forward. If not, do it first.)
• Next, click on the Continue button > click on the proceed> Now, you’re PC will start migrating from OS to a new disc.

Part-03. How to change the boot drive to SSD Windows 10

• Restart the PC> press the same button to enter BIOS.
• Click on the boot option> change the boot order> Setting OS to boot from your new SSD
• Save all the changes> exit the BIOS> restart your PC.

What do I do with My Old Hard Drive after Cloning?

It depends on your choice. If you don’t want to use it as a backup, then ensure to wipe it clean. Again, you can use the drive as an external hard drive for photos, hard drives, backups, etc.

Second, if you want to use it as a backup with your current clone HDD SSD, then place it in a secure location for further use.

For that, you are worth keeping and would get time to wipe it clean. Keep in mind; you should use good disk wipe software to ensure it’s unrecoverable.

Problems You May Face After Cloning Hard Drive

Since you’ve installed new software on your PC or laptop, it usually won’t cause any problem if you’ve adequately installed and follow all the instructions righteously.

 But most often, you can face trouble with the size of an SSD or something like below,

• The cloned drive won’t boot
• Can’t boot from cloned SSD,
• Windows 10 changes boot drive after clone
•  No bootable device found, etc.

These issues can occur mainly when your SSD is smaller than the mechanical drive.

 Again, if the partition size will not match, to avoid these sorts of causes, delete all unnecessary apps and data.

Next, shrink the partition to a comparable size before cloning your device to it.

Fix When Cloned Hard Drive Shows Wrong Size

If you clone the hard drive that shows the wrong size in Windows, 7/8/10/11, you may not fix it correctly. This often happens to upgrade a larger HDD or SSD by cloning the old drive.

You may find out the cloned hard drive has the same disc as the original one. In brief, the cloning drive failed to drive total capacity.

To fix it, you can use total capacity on the cloned SSD and avoid the cloning shows the wrong size

The full capacity of HDD can be covered with the following steps,

• Press Windows +R key for opening run window
• Then type “diskmgmt.msc”
• After that, press the key ‘Enter’ to open disc management in the p.c.
• Next, right-click on the option of partition
• Press the Extent volume. Follow the option (extend volume wizard) for adding unallocated space to this partition.

• Again, to avoid the problem after HDD to SSD cloning shows the wrong size, follow these steps,

• There’s a unique software to clone HDD to SSDnamed AOMEI Backupper Professional. It helps to clone larger size hard drives without creating any disc capacity loss.

• For cloning any larger HDD or SSD, the software gives you three options. These options allow you to manage the partition size. You can easily edit the size and let it adjust the size to fit automatically.

But remember, if you’re cloning an MBR disc to a GPT disc larger than 2 TB, you won’t face any disc loss space beyond 2 TB Because the program will take care of this.

What to Do When Boot Device Not Found After Clone

If your boot device is not found after cloning, fix it first by installing an operating system on your primary disk. It often shows errors if the hard disk doesn’t support the system boot process.

 During the booting process, your computer’s or laptop’s operating system gets loaded into RAM (Random Access Memory). To recognize these issues, follow the possible actions for a while.

• Do a hard reset- turn off the computer> remove the extra docking stations & AC adaptor> press the power button, grasp it for 15 seconds> press it again to restart > select start windows & Press Enter.

• Restore BIOS default setting – Press the power button> press F9 to set up menu> Once it is completed to load, press F10 for Save & Exit> Select yes when it shows to finish the saving changes.
• Reset the hard drive by pressing & holding the power button for a few seconds / unplug & plug in the cables/ disconnect or reconnect the hard drive.
• Reassemble or restart the computer if these above actions work successfully.

Fix When Your PC/Device Needs to Be Repaired After Clone

Sometimes your pc/device shows you continuously that it needs to be repaired after cloning. The reason behind this can be the lack of space or the low capacity of your SSD. There are some steps you need to check it,      

• How much space exists on the drive, and how large is your SSD? Check it out.
• Is this your original drive that is still intact? Check them all out.
• If you’re using AOMEI, use Macrium reflect instead.
• The issues may happen for some possibly leftover junk from the failed AOMEI. Check if there remains any taking up spaces.
• Boot from your device’s existing working drive.
• Re-boot from a new drive.

If these all procedures go in vain, consult any IT experts or computer management service holder as soon as possible.

Conclusion

To conclude, we can now say that you know better about what to do after cloning hard drive to SSD.

However, our experience says most Samsung software or Paragons equivalent leaves you with a bootable drive. After cloning, it successfully saves the file with a new drive. You can wipe both data and disk if you think about the old drives.

In this article, we try to give you approximate solutions after cloning HDD to SSD. Sometimes your device won’t be able to boot from a cloned SSD. The problem may arise for an unidentified booting disk, setting the wrong drive to boot, error USB cable connection, etc.

Primarily fix it by re-installing and restarting the cloning process. Ensure that you’re using any reliable software for help.

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