Best Free Cloning Software for Windows 11 (No Boot Issues)

User case: Best free clone software for Windows 11

Is there free cloning software for Windows 11?

“Hi, I want to clone my hard drive, a Toshiba SATA, 1 gig, to a new WD 1 gig (blue) SATA. I tried using the Macrium Reflect program, free, but right near the beginning at the 7 or 8% point, it said clone failed. It wasn't allowed to 'read' the source drive. What's the easiest, simplest free cloning software for SATA? Thanks!”

- Question from Tom’s Hardware

Why need free Windows 11 cloning software?

Since the release of Windows11, many users have been looking for a free cloning software. Some of them try to move the hard drive to a new computer and back up their disks on the computer. Others want to transfer data from one hard drive to another for different reasons, including replacing the old HDD with an SSD, upgrading the hard drive to obtain more storage space, and so on.

What's more, with cloning, all files and data on your hard drive can be effectively stored as copies. For example, information related to your operating system, system files, and other data such as passwords, etc. Thus, you can easily keep all your custom settings and not worry about boot problems.

Best free software to clone hard drive in Windows 11

There are many cloning software on the market. I am here to recommend you the best free disk cloning software for Windows 11/10/8/7 —Qiling Disk Master Standard. Why does Qiling Disk Master stand out from much software?

✿ Clone your data disk (HDD or SSD) with just a few clicks. You can also upgrade to the Pro version to clone the system disk. It eliminates the trouble of reinstalling the operating system, saves time and effort, and you don't need to manually reconfigure the system to its original settings.
✿ Clone all brands and modes of SSDs. You can use it to transfer data to Western Digital SSD, Kingston SSD, Samsung SSD, SATA SSD, NVMe M.2 SSD, etc.
✿ Clone hard drive of different size (large to small and vice versa). The "Intelligent Clone" function provided by this software will only clone the used part to another drive.
✿ Clone to SSD by checking its SSD Alignment option to improve SSD performance and prolong its lifespan.

Qiling Disk Master Standard is free for Windows PC users with no bundled adware, and it offers a quicker speed of cloning. Download and try its powerful features. You can learn how to clone hard drive on Windows 11 from the next part of the graphics tutorial.

Free Download
Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

How to clone Windows 11 to SSD for free via Qiling Disk Master

In this part, you can learn how to clone Windows 11 data drive to an SSD using Qiling Disk Master. Before starting the cloning process, we need to do some preparatory work.

Install/connect the SSD in Windows 11

If you are using a desktop:

Shut down your computer and cut off the power. Open the side of the computer tower case to expose the internal hardware and wiring.

Connect a power cable to the SSD and attach a SATA connector. Then close your computer case and restart it.

If you are using a laptop:

In the laptop computer, you’ll need to buy something like a SATA-to-USB cable, which will let you connect a hard drive to your laptop via USB.

Note✍: If the SSD is used and there are important things on it, please back up files in advance. Because all the data in the destination will be overwritten in the cloning process. If this SSD is new, you should go to Disk Management to initialize it.

Clone Windows 11 to SSD without boot issues

You can refer to the following video or illustrated steps to clone Windows 11 hard drive to SSD.

Step 1. Install and start Qiling Disk Master Standard. Then you will see a dark blue interface. Click Tools and utilities page and select Disk Clone.

Step 2. Select the original hard disk on Windows 11 as the source disk and click Next.

Step 3. Select the SSD as the destination path to clone the source disk and click on Next.

Step 4. In the Operation Summary page, check SSD Alignment option to improve the writing & reading speed of SSD disk. Confirm all other settings and click Proceed.

Tip:
◉ Sector By Sector Clone: By default, Qiling Disk Master just clones the existing data (used sectors) on the disk. If you want to clone all sectors on the source disk, regardless of whether it is used or not, please try this option.
◉ Edit Partitions: When you click it, you'll see these options: Copy without resizing partitions, Add unused space to all partitions, and Manually adjust partition size. The last two options allow you to resize and expand hard drive varying. You can also use this software to Convert the destination disk from MBR to GPT here, which is available in Pro edition.

Secure boot from the cloned hard drive

If you cloned the system disk, you can follow the steps below to safely boot from the cloned drive.

Install your cloned hard drive to the computer.
Press the specific key (usually F2, F8, F12, Del) to enter BIOS, and change the boot order to boot from the cloned SSD.

Note✍: If you clone system between MBR disk and GPT disk, you also need to change the boot mode. MBR disk works with Legacy BIOS while GPT disk works with UEFI. To change the boot mode, you need to enter BIOS during startup as well, then select the boot mode (usually under Boot tab) as Legacy or UEFI.

Summary

This is the free Windows 11 clone software I introduced to you. You can see that its interface is simple and easy to operate through the above illustrated tutorial, even a novice can quickly get started.

This software can provide you with much more than cloning. You can use it to create a WinPE bootable USB to help you deploy Windows 11 image. When your computer has some startup problems, this bootable media can also help you start the computer.

With its Backup function, you can backup your User Profile to restore it to a new computer or system, thus avoiding spending a long time to re-customize your new Windows 11. Why hesitate? Try this free Windows 11 cloning software now!