Replace C Drive with SSD for Windows 11/10/8/7 [Without Data Loss]

If your computer is running slowly, one of the best ways to give it a speed boost is to replace your old hard drive with a solid-state drive (SSD). A solid-state drive will significantly improve your computer's startup time, shutdown time, and overall speed. This article will show you how to replace a C drive with an SSD on a Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7 computer.

  Free Download

For Windows 11/10/8/7

Updated by Jerry on Jul 20, 2023
Written by Larissa
 | Home > Disk/Partition Clone

Traditionally, the C drive is on an HDD that comes with the computer. As time goes by, the HDD works worse and worse. So, replacing your old C drive with a new one is necessary to improve the whole performance. This post from EaseUS will describe how to replace C drive with SSD in an easy and simple way. Let's get started.

Before you dive into the detailed information on this topic, let's see what you need to prepare.

🧰Tools You Will Use  EaseUS Disk Copy
📃Preparations
  • An SSD/HDD
  • Format the SSD/HDD if it is new (optional)
  • A connection cable
  • Download disk cloning software - EaseUS Disk Copy

Download this awesome disk cloning software here

  Free Download

For Windows 11/10/8/7

Can I Replace My C Drive with a New SSD

HDD and SSD both can be used as storage devices on a computer, but SSD performs better than HDD in many aspects, such as faster data access speed, lower power consumption, etc. So, more and more users choose to replace HDD with SSD

Then, here comes the question, Can I replace my C drive with a new SSD?

The answer is "YES."

Replacing C drive with a new SSD can give your computer's speed and performance a nice boost. Here are some specific benefits that you'll enjoy:

  • Make a computer run faster: An SSD boasts faster data access speed than an HDD. You can make your computer run much faster by replacing the C drive with an SSD.
  • Save power: SSDs consume less power than HDDs, which can help you save some money on your energy bill.
  • Improve reliability: SSDs are more reliable than HDDs since they have no moving parts. This means that they're less likely to fail due to physical shock or vibration.

However, there are also some drawbacks that you should take into consideration before replacing the C drive with an SSD. For example, SSDs are generally more expensive than HDDs. In addition, SSDs have a shorter lifespan than HDDs due to the limited number of write cycles.

But overall, replacing the C drive with SSD or cloning only C drive to SSD is still a good idea if you want to give your computer's speed and performance a boost.

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What to Prepare Before Replacing C Drive with SSD

Replacing the C drive with SSD is not as simple as swapping out the drives. There are a few things that you need to do before getting started.

1. A New SSD

There are various types of SSD, like SATA and NVMe, and you need to ensure to choose one that is compatible with your computer. 

ssd

2. A Connect Cable

You need to use a connecting cable to connect the SSD to your computer, usually a SATA to USB cable. Or, if your computer has an SSD slot, you need to install SSD in it.

3. Choose A Data Transferring Method

Two ways to replace a C drive with SSD without losing data are available. The first is backing up all data on the C drive and then restoring to the new SSD. Another one is cloning the C drive to SSD directly. We recommend disk cloning because it is more direct and time-saving. EaseUS Disk Copy will help you do that without losing any data.

EaseUS Disk Copy is an easy-to-use and reliable disk cloning utility for Windows 11/10/8/7 that can create the exact copy of your C drive. It has the following reasons for you to choose it entirely:

With it, you can replace C drive with SSD without any data loss, and you don't need to reinstall the Windows operating system too.

  Free Download

For Windows 11/10/8/7

[Steps Tutorial] How to Replace C Drive with SSD

Here is the step-by-step guide to using EaseUS Disk Copy to replace your C drive on HDD with a new SSD. You need to download and install EaseUS Disk Copy and connect the SSD to your computer.

Follow the steps below:

Step 1: In "Disk Mode", select the HDD that you want to clone.

select the hard drive that you want to clone

Step 2: Select the SSD as your destination.

select the SSD

A warning message tells you that the data on the SSD will be erased. Click "OK" to continue if you do not have important data on the destination disk.

confirm the message

Step 3: Edit the disk layout and then click “Proceed” to continue.

As the destination is an SSD, you are suggested to tick "Check the option if the target is SSD".

check the diak layout

Step 4: Wait for the process to complete.

click proceed to start the cloning process

These are all the preparations and steps to replace C drive with SSD without losing data and reinstall the operating system.

If you like this post, you can share it on your social platforms to help more people.

 

FAQ on Changing C Drive with SSD

1. Can I replace my C drive with a larger one?

Of course, you can. Replacing C drive with a larger one will boost the computer's speed and make it run faster and smoother. And it will avoid lots of potential issues.

2. How do I move my OS from C to SSD?

You can use EaseUS Disk Copy to move the operating system from the C drive to SSD. Follow the steps we introduced in the post to do it. Don't worry about losing data. EaseUS Disk Copy will ensure a safe and quick OS moving speed.

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How to Clone HDD to SSD on Windows 10/8/7