How to Set SSD as Boot Drive

Q: How to set installed SSD as the main boot device in Windows 10?

"I want to install a solid-state drive for my desktop computer, but all my data and Windows 10 is already installed on my 1TB hard drive. Is there any way could help me transfer my Windows 10 to the SSD for booting up and then use the other TB hard drive for extra storage? I don't know how to set SSD as the boot drive. Thanks in advance."

Nowadays, more and more people choose to upgrade their hard drive to SSD (short for solid-state drive) for faster read and write speed and lighter weight. However, SSD usually has smaller volumes compared with traditional HDD. In order to achieve a high-performance combination between faster SSD and larger HDD, people would prefer to use SSD as boot drive while having the HDD with a larger capacity to store personal data, files, and applications.

To do that, you need to deal with two problems: how to migrate Windows system from HDD to SSD, and how to set SSD as the boot drive. We will discuss these two questions in detail. Read carefully.

How to Migrate Windows 10 from HDD to SSD Without Booting Issue

To migrate OS to new SSD, you can do it with manual clone or by using a magic partition manager for help. If you clone Windows to SSD by yourself, you may fail if the boot drive and system drive are separated. Let alone set SSD as the boot drive after that. So to avoid this problem and move OS to SSD successfully, we highly recommend you try EaseUS Partition Master.

This competent hard drive management software comes with a highlighted feature called "Migrate OS to SSD/HDD", by which users can migrate Windows system and boot partitions to the SSD at once. In this way, your cloned SSD will not fail to start up due to a lack of boot partition. 

Make sure the SSD is empty with no partitions and data on it, or else you need to clear them all. Now follow the next steps and learn how to migrate OS to SSD. 

Note: The operation of migrating OS to SSD or HDD will delete and remove all existing partitions and data on your target disk. If you saved important data there, back up them to an external hard drive in advance.

 

Step 1: Run EaseUS Partition Master, select "Migrate OS" from the top menu.

Step 2: Select the SSD or HDD as the destination disk and click "Next".

Warning: the data and partitions on the target disk will be deleted. Make sure that you've backed up important data in advance. If not, do it now.

Then click "Migrate" and "OK" to continue.

Step 3: Preview the layout of your target disk. You can also click the disk layout options to customize the layout of your target disk as you want. Then Click "OK" to continue.

Step 4: A pending operation of migrating OS to SSD or HDD will be added. Click the "Execute Operation" button and click "Apply" to start migrating your OS to a new disk.

How to Set SSD as Boot Drive in Windows 10 

After the system migration, the work is not yet complete. Whether you've manually cloned Windows 10 system to SSD or automatically migrated system to SSD with third-party software, as long as you want to set installed SSD as the boot drive, you need to do the following manual operations. 

• Restart your computer
• Press F2/F12/DEL to enter BIOS
• Set to boot from the SSD. You may need to disable secure boot control to be able to see the SSD as a bootable drive. 

Useful Tips About Setting SSD as Boot Drive

If you are not a computer expert, we highly recommend you use professional system clone or migration software to copy the Windows 10/8/7 to SSD rather than do it manually, which can avoid boot failure due to boot partition loss.

Suppose you have successfully migrated the system to SSD (whether it is our product or not), and correctly set the boot order in BIOS, you still encounter can't set SSD as a boot drive or cloned SSD won't boot problem. Then you can contact our technical support team through support@easeus.com to help you solve the problem.