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How to clone Windows 10 HDD to SSD free without software?
I have a backup PC running Windows 10 and it becomes very slowly when editing videos. I doubt it is the issue with the internal hard drive. So I bought a new compatible SSD and want to move all staff...
I was in the same boat with my painfully slow PC, and while there's no truly "software-free" way, I used the DiskCopy and it cloned everything perfectly—this is the tutorial that saved me.
you can’t truly clone Windows 10 from HDD to SSD without using some kind of software.
Windows does not include a real disk-cloning tool. The only built-in option is creating a system image (Control Panel → Backup and Restore) and restoring it to the SSD, but this is slower, more complicated, and less reliable than cloning.
If you want:
- Windows, apps, and files moved exactly as-is
- No reinstall or reconfiguration
Using a free cloning tool (often provided by the SSD manufacturer) is the simplest and most reliable approach.
After cloning, just set the SSD as the boot drive in BIOS.