How to clone Windows 11 drive to new SSD, NVMe, HDD with Clonezilla (free)

UPDATED 3/26/2025: You can clone a Windows 11 installation to another Solid-State Drive (SSD), NVM Express (NVMe), or Hard Disk Drive (HDD) for free using Clonezilla, eliminating the need to reinstall the operating system. Clonezilla is a free, open-source Linux tool designed to clone virtually any drive containing any data. It achieves this by copying all the bits from one drive to another of equal or larger size.

If your device runs Windows 11, you can use Clonezilla to transfer the entire installation (including settings, applications, and files) to a new (faster) SSD, NVMe, or HDD that matches or exceeds the original drive’s capacity, all without reinstallation. Additionally, Clonezilla proves useful for cloning a drive as a backup before implementing system changes.

In this guide, I’ll explain how to use Clonezilla to clone a Windows 11 installation to another drive.

Warning: This is a non-destructive process, but changing the system drive can still be risky. Use these instructions carefully and at your own risk. If you plan to replace a hard drive, creating a backup of your data is a good idea before proceeding. You have been warned.

Clone Windows 11 to a new drive for free with Clonezilla

The cloning process is straightforward, but you still need some preparation. For example, you must connect the new drive to the computer, create a Clonezilla bootable USB media, complete the cloning process, and reconfigure the hard drive to ensure you use the entire available space.

Connect the clone drive

Connecting a traditional HDD, SSD, and NVMe M.2 drives will vary by manufacturer and computer model. For more specific details on completing this task, check your computer manufacturer’s support website.

You shouldn’t use an external USB drive as a boot device because it can’t be set as one. However, you can use it to create a backup.

Create a Clonezilla bootable media

The most straightforward approach to creating a USB bootable media is to use the Clonezilla ISO file with Rufus, a third-party tool designed to create bootable USB flash drives for Windows 11 and other platforms.

You could download the Clonezilla zip file, but if you make a mistake following the instructions, your current installation may break.

Download the Clonezilla ISO file

To download the Clonezilla ISO file, use these steps:

Open the Clonezilla download page.
In step 2, select the ISO option as the file type.
Click the Download button.

After you complete the steps, you can use Rufus to create a USB bootable media.

Create a Clonezilla bootable USB with Rufus

To create a bootable media for cloning, connect a USB flash drive with at least 4GB of storage and use these steps:

Open the Rufus website.
Click the download option for the latest version under the “Download” section.
Double-click the file to launch the tool.
Select the USB flash drive with the “Device” drop-down menu.
Click the Select button.
Select the Clonezilla ISO file.
Click the Open button.
Click the Start button.

Create a Clonezilla bootable USB with Tuxboot

You can also create a Clonezilla USB with the Tuxboot app with these steps:

Download tuxboot from SourceForge. (Select the latest stable version available.)
Double-click the tuxboot-x.x.x.exe file.
Click the Yes button to bypass the warning.
Select the On-Line Distribution option.
Select the clonezilla_live_stable option with the “On-Line Distribution” drop-down menu.
Select the USB Drive option with the “Type” drop-down menu.
Select the flash drive with the “Drive” drop-down menu.
Click the OK button.

Once you complete the steps, you need to make sure that the device can boot from USB before you start your device with the tool.

Usually, you will need to access the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) by hitting one of the function keys (F1, F2, F3, F10, or F12), the ESC, or the Delete key during boot.

Once inside the firmware, find the “Boot” section, ensure the boot order is set to the Windows 11 drive, and save the configuration.

The firmware can differ depending on the manufacturer and computer model. Check your manufacturer’s support website for more specific instructions.

Clone Windows 11 to a new drive using Clonezilla

To use Clonezilla to clone Windows 11 to a new SSD or HDD, use these steps:

Start the computer with the bootable media.
Select the Clonezilla live option and press Enter.
Choose your language and press Enter.
Select the “Keep option to stay with default keyboard layout” option and press Enter.
Choose the “Start_Clonezilla” option and press Enter.
Select the device_device option and press Enter.
Choose the Beginner mode option and press Enter.
Select the “disk_to_local_disk local_disk_to_local_disk_clone” option and press Enter.
Choose the (source) drive containing the data you want to clone to another drive and press Enter.

Important: If you don’t specify this option correctly, you can wipe out the wrong drive.
Select the (destination) drive (the empty drive to replace or backup storage), and press Enter.
Choose the sfsck option to skip checking and repairing and press Enter.
Select the action to perform after the cloning is complete, including “choose,” “reboot,” or “poweroff.” You can select any option.
Press Enter to continue.
Type Y and press Enter to confirm the cloning process.
Type Y and press Enter again to reconfirm that the process will delete everything on the destination drive.
Type Y and press Enter to close the boot loader, the code that makes the Windows 11 drive bootable.

Once you complete the steps, Clonezilla will clone the data from the source (Windows 11 drive) to the destination drive.

After the process, either replace the old drive with the new one on the computer or remove it to store it as a backup.

Reconfiguring the cloned drive

If the drive you have cloned has more storage capacity than the original hard drive, you can extend the volume to make the additional space usable. However, the Recovery Partition won’t let you reconfigure the volume. If this is the case, you would have to delete the Recovery Partition, extend the “C:” drive, and then recreate the Recovery Partition at the end of the drive.

You can reconfigure the drive layout after cloning Windows 11 to a new drive using these steps:

Open Start.
Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and choose the Run as administrator option.
Type the following command to disable the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and press Enter:
```
reagentc /disable
```
Quick note: This command disables the recovery environment and moves the “Winre.wim” image from the “Recovery Partition” to the “Recovery” folder in the “C” drive.
Type the following command to launch DiskPart and press Enter:
```
diskpart
```
Type the following command to list the system drives and press Enter:
```
list disk
```
Type the following command to select the “C” drive and press Enter:
```
select disk 0
```
Type the following command to list the partitions and press Enter:
```
list partition
```
Type the following command to select the Recovery Partition and press Enter:
```
select partition X
```
In the command, replace “X” with the number that corresponds to the Recovery Partition on your setup.
Type the following command to delete the recovery partition and press Enter:
```
delete partition override
```
Open Settings.
Click on Storage.
Click on Advanced storage settings under the “Storage management” section.
Click on Disks & volumes.
Select the Windows 11 volume and click the Properties option.
Click the Change size button.
Specify the “Max” value in the New (MB) field, but leave at least 1024MB (1GB) to recreate the Recovery Partition.
Click the OK button.
In Command Prompt, type the following command to create a new partition and press Enter:
```
create partition primary
```
Type the following command to format the partition and press Enter:
```
format fs=ntfs quick
```
Type the following command to register the new partition as the Recovery Partition in the system and press Enter:
```
set id=de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac override
```
Type the following command to lock and prevent users from modifying this partition and press Enter:
```
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001
```
Type the following command to close the DiskPart tool and press Enter:
```
exit
```
Type the following command to enable WinRE and press Enter:
```
reagentc /enable
```
Quick note: This action will also copy the “Winre.wim” from the “Recovery” folder to the “Recovery Partition.”
Type the following command to confirm the Windows Recovery Environment is working correctly, and press Enter:
```
reagentc /info
```

After you complete the steps, the “C:” drive will extend to the remaining space, and the new Recovery Partition will be created next to the partition with the Windows 11 setup.

Update March 26, 2025: This guide has been updated to ensure accuracy and reflect changes to the process.