{"id":177377,"date":"2026-04-21T11:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T10:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.islabit.com\/en\/?p=177377"},"modified":"2026-04-21T11:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T10:35:13","slug":"migrate-from-a-hard-mechanical-drive-to-an-ssd-or-nvme-step-by-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.islabit.com\/en\/177377\/migrate-from-a-hard-mechanical-drive-to-an-ssd-or-nvme-step-by-step.html","title":{"rendered":"Migrate from a hard mechanical drive to an SSD or NVMe step by step"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A hard drive stores data to be read by a head that moves randomly<\/strong> to access information. As a mechanical device, it\u2019s slower than other storage technology nowadays such as SSD disks. In this article you will learn how to migrate from a hard drive to an SSD easily.<\/p>\n

Hard drive disks now are almost extinct<\/strong>. Users look for speed and you can obtain a better performance thanks to SSD and NVMe technology. If you want to migrate from a hard drive to a SSD<\/a> or NVMe device this article shows the different steps you got to follow. The main reason for this change is speed, because HDD devices are slower and generate a bottleneck when performing certain actions or running apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Migrate<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The main benefits to migrate from hard drive to SSD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a SSD device all the data is stored into memory cells<\/strong>. The main difference is that HDD store information along a physical disk. Because of this, the access time for a SSD is lesser than HDD. That\u2019s the main benefit when choosing a SSD for your storage requirements in a computer. You can access data immediately from a SSD whereas the HDD will take time while the head moves to the part of the disk where the data is stored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another advantage to migrate from a hard drive to a SSD is the number of operations per second<\/strong>. A traditional HDD can perform 80 to 100 operations per second, but a SSD SATA can reach 10.000 operations. In SSD NVMe devices the operations can be up to 500.000 and this influences the speed of your device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In portable devices, choosing a SSD is great because they consume less energy than HDD. The main reason for this is the absence of physical parts to move. With less energy consumption, the portable devices can enjoy more energy time depending on the model and capacity of each battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving data from a hard drive disk to a SSD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When transferring data from a HDD to a SSD<\/strong> you need to take into account which kind of data to move. Depending on size and format, the process will take different times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to copy all data from your HDD to your SSD<\/strong>, you only need to connect the SSD onto the computer and use Windows\u2019 file explorer to copy all the important data. However, this won\u2019t work if you want to copy the operating system. For this you need to clone the HDD content into the SSD and this guide provides a step by step follow to the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Migrate your operating system and data from a hard drive to a SSD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All operating systems are formed by the visible data as well as a partition table. GPT and MBR are the most common partition tables and they include different limitations when interacting with the disk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowadays, the most popular partition table is GPT<\/strong>. It allows to work with storage units of 2 TB and more and you have no limitations for partition creation. MBR allows only 4 partitions and you can\u2019t use it for storage units higher than 2 TB. When copying the operating system data from an HDD to a SSD, you are not copying the partition table, you are only copying files. If you want to clone the unit you have to extract the functioning base for that storage unit. An identical image of your HDD is what allows you to run the same storage data and operating system in a new SSD device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clone your HDD<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cloning a HDD is a very simple process. You don\u2019t require specific knowledge<\/strong>. It\u2019s possible with different apps and the steps are very easy to follow. First of all you need to check the storage capacity for both devices. They need to be at least, the same. If the main unit has more storage capacity than the destiny one, the process won\u2019t finish. But if destiny device is higher, the process can be done very quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you finish the cloning process, you won\u2019t see all the unit space available<\/strong>. In the Disk manager you will see a part of the unit under the label \u201cUnallocated space\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First step<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect your SSD to the devices where the HDD is mounted. In a desktop PC you need to connect the SSD directly to the motherboard.  In portable devices you can use a USB box to connect the SSD externally. In NVMe PCIe or SATA devices, you can also use external boxes to connect the new SSD and start the cloning process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second step<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turn on your device with a bootable USB with the Rescuezilla app installed. It\u2019s a free app<\/a> with a very intuitive and clear interface. You should also run the Rufus app<\/a> to create a bootable USB with the IOS image you have downloaded. Once you have created the bootable USB with Rufus, turn off your PC and restart it accessing BIOS \/ UEFI to change the order of bootable units. Select the USB port with Rescuezilla as the first option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third step<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When yout PC detects the USB, you have to select the language for the user interface. If you don\u2019t select any language, it will run the default English option. In the following screen you will see a brief explanation of the cloning process. Press the Next button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n