If you’re looking to speed up your computer’s performance, one of the best ways to do so is by upgrading to an SSD drive. However, migrating your operating system to a new drive can be a daunting task. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to clone your Windows 8.1 operating system to an SSD drive using Paragon Hard Disk Manager.
Before we get started, make sure your SSD drive is properly installed. You can do this by going to Disk Management, which you can access by right-clicking on “This PC” and selecting “Manage” and then “Disk Management.” Here, you’ll see both your hard drives: the main drive (disk 0) and the SSD drive (disk 1).
Once you’ve confirmed that your SSD drive is properly installed, you can proceed with downloading and installing Paragon Hard Disk Manager 14 Suite. This is a paid program, but you can also download the free trial version which works just as well.
Once you’ve installed Paragon Hard Disk Manager, run the program and click on “Migrate OS.” You’ll see a welcome screen and a warning that the destination drive will be deleted and replaced with the operating system. Click “Next” and the program will automatically detect your source hard drive (Windows 8 NTFS 160GB) and your target drive (SSD drive 64GB). The program will migrate your operating system to the SSD drive, using 24% of its total space.
Since the source drive is larger than the target drive, you don’t need to checkmark “Use all available space for the partition with OS.” Once you’ve made sure everything is correct, click “Copy” and the program will start copying your operating system to the SSD drive. This process may take a while depending on the size of your used space on the source drive.
Once the copy process is finished, you’ll need to read the instructions carefully. If you’re planning on using both drives, you’ll need to go into your BIOS and select the target location or destination disk to be the first boot device. If you’re only keeping the SSD drive, you can simply remove the source disk and replace it with the SSD drive.
Finally, go back to Disk Management to make sure the SSD drive is recognized as the primary drive. Right-click “This PC,” select “Manage,” and then “Disk Management.” You’ll see that your operating system is now on the SSD drive and that it’s optimized for your new drive, resulting in less used space.
Upgrading to an SSD drive can greatly improve your computer’s speed and performance. With Paragon Hard Disk Manager, migrating your operating system to your new drive is a simple and straightforward process.