Copy an SSD without losing the part that makes Windows boot NYCdatalink SSD Cloner copies a whole disk, sector by sector, from the first sector to the last. The files come with it. So do the boot sectors. Product article · version 0.1.0 · Windows 10 and Windows 11, 64-bit A cloned drive can look perfect in File Explorer and still fail when you try to start the computer from it. The documents and programs are in the large Windows partition. The instructions that start Windows sit in a small EFI partition at the front of the disk, and in a backup copy of the partition table at the end. Copy only the big partition, and the data is there. The computer has nothing to boot. NYCdatalink SSD Cloner is a Windows desktop program for that job. You pick the source disk and the destination disk yourself. The program reads the physical source drive and writes those same bytes to the destination. It does not copy the Windows system that is running on the computer you are using, and it does not copy only the files that look like they are in use. What you see The disk map lists every drive Windows can see: internal SATA and NVMe disks, and drives in USB and USB-C enclosures. Each disk is drawn as a bar. Each partition is a block on that bar, with its name and size, including EFI, Microsoft Reserved, NTFS, recovery, and free space. A table under the map shows capacity, file system, and type. USB enclosures are reported as USB. On some adapters the serial number belongs to the enclosure, not the drive inside it. The model and the capacity still come from the device Windows reports. The program does not fill in a name when the disk cannot be read. Cloning a Windows SSD from another computer Use Copy disk and leave the method on Sector-by-sector. That path copies every addressable byte: the partition table, the EFI boot partition, hidden partitions, the Windows partition, recovery, and the empty space between them. The destination must be the same size as the source, or larger. When the destination is larger, the program copies the source first, then moves the backup partition table to the real end of the new disk. The disk ID and the partition IDs stay the same, so the copied boot files still point at the copied partitions. Extra space beyond the source is not wiped. Before the copy starts, the program locks the volumes on the source so the read comes from the physical disk. You confirm the destination by typing ERASE, then you confirm that disk a second time. The disk Windows is running from cannot be the source or the destination. A live copy of the running system would be inconsistent, so the program refuses it. After the clone finishes, shut the computer down and unplug the source before you boot the copy. The copy carries the same disk identity as the original. Windows can become confused if both drives are connected at startup. Boot the clone the same way the source boots. Copy partition is a different operation. It copies one existing partition onto another existing partition of the same size or larger. That is the right tool for a data partition. It does not copy the EFI boot partition or the boot table, so it is the wrong tool when the goal is a disk that starts Windows. Resize a partition with the mouse On a GPT disk, an NTFS partition can be resized from the disk map. Drag the right edge of the partition. The block and the size follow the pointer. EFI and Microsoft Reserved partitions have no drag handle, and the running Windows disk cannot be resized. Drag right to grow into free space. If one smaller partition sits in the way, such as Windows recovery, the preview moves that partition to the end of the disk. Drag left to shrink. The edge stops at the space the volume already uses. Nothing is written until you release the edge and type RESIZE. Checks before anything is written The source and destination must be different physical disks. A sector-by-sector clone refuses a destination smaller than the source. Used space is not treated as enough room. Run simulation checks the plan and writes nothing. You can verify the copy afterward by reading both disks. The verify pass does not write. SHA-256 is optional. If a read or a write fails, the job stops. Unreadable sectors are not skipped. A cancelled clone can leave the destination partly overwritten. That disk should not be treated as finished. A log is kept in %LOCALAPPDATA%\NYCdatalink\SSDCloner\logs. It records the disks you confirmed and the result. It does not record the contents of the sectors. Install it on another computer The program is a 64-bit Windows application. It asks for administrator rights because raw disk access requires them. The setup file installs NYCdatalink SSD Cloner, including the libraries it needs, and adds a Start menu shortcut and a desktop shortcut. The other computer does not need a development environment. Install from NYCdatalinkSSDCloner-Setup-0.1.0.exe. Remove it later from Windows Settings, under Apps. What this version does not do Intelligent, file-by-file cloning is not available. A sector copy is never described as an intelligent clone. The running Windows disk cannot be cloned or resized from inside that same Windows session. A copied Windows installation can still fail to boot on a machine whose storage hardware is different from the computer where that Windows was installed. The clone matches the source disk. It does not add drivers for new hardware. NYCdatalink SSD Cloner is for the straightforward case: an attached SSD that already contains a system, a destination disk you are willing to overwrite, and a copy that includes the boot sectors as well as the files.