Want to copy a partition to another drive in Windows 11/10? You can use partition cloning software to copy an entire partition, including its files and file system, to another drive. This can be useful for transferring data, duplicating a recovery or EFI partition, or moving a partition to a new SSD or HDD.
What Does It Mean to Copy a Partition to Another Drive?
Copying a partition to another drive means creating a duplicate of an existing partition on a different HDD, SSD, or other storage device. The process will copy the following data to the destination drive.
- Files and folders stored on the partition.
- The partition’s file system, such as NTFS or FAT32.
- Partition structure and related metadata.
- System, boot, EFI, or recovery data when those partitions are copied.
Copy Partition vs Copy Files vs Clone Disk
Copying files, copying a partition, and cloning a disk are three different ways to transfer data. The right method depends on whether you want to transfer individual files, duplicate an entire partition, or replicate all partitions on a drive.
| Method | What It Copies | Partition Structure | Bootable | Best For |
| Copy Files | Selected files and folders | No | No | Moving personal files and documents |
| Copy Partition | An entire selected partition | Yes | Depends on the partition and configuration | Duplicating a data, recovery, EFI, or other partition |
| Clone Disk | The entire source disk and its partitions | Yes | Yes, when the required boot partitions and configuration are copied correctly | Migrating an entire drive or Windows installation |
Why Copy a Partition to Another Drive?
If you want to move a complete Windows installation and boot from the new drive, you may need to clone the system disk or migrate the operating system instead of copying only one partition.
You might want to copy a single partition for the following reasons.
- Copy a data partition to another drive for data transferring or backup.
- Copy the boot (EFI or System Reserved) partition to another disk when the boot partition and the C partition are not on the same disk. This issue typically occurs after system migration or in dual-boot setups.
2. You cannot move a Windows recovery partition to an entirely separate disk by itself because Windows ties it directly to the active OS boot drive. Instead, you must either clone the entire OS and recovery environment to the new disk using a tool like MiniTool Partition Wizard or recreate the recovery partition on the new drive using DISM and Reagentc commands.
Can Windows Copy a Partition to Another Drive?
No, Windows does not provide a built-in tool that directly clones or copies an entire partition to another drive.
If you only need to transfer files from one partition to another, you can use File Explorer to copy and paste the files. If you need to copy an entire partition, you need to use third-party partition cloning software.
How to Copy Partition from One Drive to Another
To move partition to another disk, you can try using MiniTool Partition Wizard. This software can partition hard drives, format partitions, clone hard drives and partitions, convert MBR to GPT, recover data and partitions, etc.
If you just want to copy non-system partitions, MiniTool Partition Wizard Free is enough.
How to use MiniTool Partition Wizard to copy partition to another drive? Here is the guide.
MiniTool Partition Wizard DemoClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Stage 1. Create Unallocated Space on Another Disk for Copying the Partition
MiniTool Partition Wizard only allows you to copy a partition to unallocated space. Therefore, you should first shrink some partitions on the target disk to get enough unallocated space for the copied partition. Of course, you can also delete some unnecessary partitions to get enough unallocated space.
Step 1: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard. Right-click on a partition that you want to shrink and then select Move/Resize.
Step 2: On the pop-up window, drag the arrow icon to shrink the partition. If you want to move the partition to change the location of the unallocated space, you can drag the partition block to do that.
Stage 2. Copy the Partition to the Unallocated Space on Another Disk
You can now start copying the partition.
Step 1: Now, right-click the partition that you want to copy and then select Copy from the menu.
Step 2: On the pop-up window, select the unallocated space on another drive and click Next.
Step 3: MiniTool Partition Wizard will copy partition to another drive with resize by default. The copied partition will fit the entire unallocated space by default. If you want to resize the copied partition and move its location, you can do that manually under the Size & Location section.
Step 4: If all is OK, click Apply to execute the pending operations. Note that the copied partition will become a logical partition by default if the disk is an MBR disk.
Copy Partition to Another Drive FAQ
Bottom Line
This post tells you why you need to clone partition to another drive and how to do that using MiniTool Partition Wizard. If you encounter problems when doing this, you can contact us via [email protected]. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Linda has been an editor at MiniTool for seven years. She continuously learns about computers and puts her knowledge into practice. Moreover, she is particularly knowledgeable in disk management, data recovery, system installation, and PDF editing. Her articles typically reference multiple examples or are based on her own experience, providing users with the most suitable solutions.
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