#CLONE HARD DRIVE TO SSD AFTER INSTALL HOW TO#
#CLONE HARD DRIVE TO SSD AFTER INSTALL SOFTWARE#

In the boot menu, select your SSD to boot from it.Īfter making sure your computer can run fine on just your newly cloned SSD, you can then proceed to format your HDD by using either “diskpart” command or with the help of a free software called partition wizard. To open the BIOS boot menu, look for the relevant key during boot screen, which could be F10, F2, F12, F1, or DEL depending on the manufacturer of your motherboard. If you cant do that, try to boot your SSD from the BIOS boot selection interface. The best way to make sure your PC is booting from your SSD is to temporary unplug either the power or sata cable from the HDD so that it cannot be booted.

#CLONE HARD DRIVE TO SSD AFTER INSTALL HOW TO#

How to make sure you’re booting from the newly cloned SSD The other solution, after making sure you’re booting from your SSD and that it is working fine, is to use other formatting method such as the “ diskpart” command or with the help of a partition management software to format your old HDD.

There are two solutions to this issue: First, you have to make sure you are actually booting from the SSD instead of the old HDD. If you’re sure that you’re already booting from your SSD, it could be because the Windows drive manager have too many limitations and is too sensitive in preventing you from deleting the system drive. If you’re still booting from your HDD, Windows definitely wouldn’t allow you to format the drive because you’re still running it.

If you see the same error when you try to format your old HDD, it could be because you’re booting from the wrong drive. The common issue you would encounter is when you try to format the old HDD, the system would return error that says something like Windows or operating system exists on the drive, thus, cannot be formatted. This guide is also partly written for users who have issues formatting old HDD after cloning it to new SSD. Why can’t I format HDD after cloning Windows 11/10 to SSD?

Format HDD using a partition management software.

Formatting hard drive after successfully cloning Windows 10/11 to SSD.

How to make sure you’re booting from the newly cloned SSD.

Why can’t I format HDD after cloning Windows 11/10 to SSD?.

Clone hard drive to ssd after install