Transferring data files to a new computer

[Fungo Squiggly]

I'm not particularly computer savvy. We just purchased a new computer and would like to get music, photos, various documents transferred over

What's the best way to do this?

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

I'm not particularly computer savvy. We just purchased a new computer and would like to get music, photos, various documents transferred over

What's the best way to do this?

Your old Hard Drive can be added to a slot on your new machine as a "slave" drive. I did this the last time I changed computers and it was very easy. Not so easy that I recall how to do it to instruct you, but I'm sure you can get it done... you just gotta crack open the box, flip a couple switches on your old HD (You'll have to remove it from your old computer, obviously) and clip on the several pinned connector.. and Viola! you've got two HDs. Then, when you click on My Computer you'll have a C drive (your new computer's HD) and a D drive (your old one).

Seriously, it's very easy and saves a lot of time transferring things (via CD or otherwise).

 

[NJ-Buckeye]

Most likely your new machine is vista... and old machine windows XP.. correct?

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Your old Hard Drive can be added to a slot on your new machine as a "slave" drive. I did this the last time I changed computers and it was very easy. Not so easy that I recall how to do it to instruct you, but I'm sure you can get it done... you just gotta crack open the box, flip a couple switches on your old HD (You'll have to remove it from your old computer, obviously) and clip on the several pinned connector.. and Viola! you've got two HDs. Then, when you click on My Computer you'll have a C drive (your new computer's HD) and a D drive (your old one).

Seriously, it's very easy and saves a lot of time transferring things (via CD or otherwise).

Does that work for tower to laptop?

Most likely your new machine is vista... and old machine windows XP.. correct?

Roger, roger.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Does that work for tower to laptop?

Oh..... I'd say not....

You might think about a several gig USB flash drive. That's a quick way to transfer a shitload of data too. I don't have a flash drive myself, but they are quite affordable and available at radio shack... or... really... lots of places.

 

[jwinslow]

how many gbs does each folder take up?

I would assume all of this is in your my documents folder, right? (under which you'd find my pictures, my videos, etc)

Also, keep in mind you might want to save your bookmarks as wel, which have to be saved elsewhere.

 

[Taosman]

Cloning your hard drive is pretty easy with one of those cloning wires. Even I did it multiple times.

Brando's one-to-one hard-drive duplicator looks like the kind of thing that, while you only need it every now and again, when you need it, you're incredibly grateful to have it. Plug a full hard-drive into one end, an empty one into the other, and copy away at blazing speeds (they claim an average of 95MBs for SATA-to-SATA copies). It can copy over the partition table as well -- also, it'll diff two drives, do secure erasure, and do integrity checking.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

I'm not particularly computer savvy. We just purchased a new computer and would like to get music, photos, various documents transferred over

What's the best way to do this?

Since you have a laptop, a USB thumbdrive is the best and easiest way. You can get 16GB thumbdrives for around $30 or so, or a 32GB one for around $60:

16GB USB Flash Drive, 16GB Flash Drive, 16GB Thumb Drives, 16GB Pen Drive, 16GB Jumpdrive, 16GB USB Flash Memory

32GB USB Flash Drive, 32GB Flash Drive, 32GB Thumb Drives, 32GB Pen Drive, 32GB Jumpdrive, 32GB USB Flash Memory

Unless you have a true shit-load of files, the 16GB should be good enough to do the job.

 

[jwinslow]

Cloning your hard drive is pretty easy with one of those cloning wires. Even I did it multiple times.

Brando's one-to-one hard-drive duplicator looks like the kind of thing that, while you only need it every now and again, when you need it, you're incredibly grateful to have it. Plug a full hard-drive into one end, an empty one into the other, and copy away at blazing speeds (they claim an average of 95MBs for SATA-to-SATA copies). It can copy over the partition table as well -- also, it'll diff two drives, do secure erasure, and do integrity checking.

why would he want to clone his desktop HD to his laptop HD? That doesn't make any sense.

Some laptops don't even come with the ability to re-install from scratch. (they don't provide the discs)

 

[Deety]

Off topic, but you might want to run Belarc Advisor on the old system now, and print the results. While it's mainly a security evaluation, the information about the old computer (including a list of installed programs and some of their license numbers) saves time when trying to set up a new system. I always keep a printout somewhere as it has a bunch of system specs and serials that would be handy if the computer ever crashes or is stolen.

 

[powerlifter]

Figure out how much space you need...If it's only a few gigs or under enough to warrent buying a new flash drive,you can always use your digi cam card(usb plug in),and transfer from lp to desk...

 

[CookyPuss]

If you can spare the $100 or so, I highly recommend buying an external HD and then using it as a backup drive when you are done. It may seem like a pricey solution, but could save you hundreds in repair costs or even better (completely save your ass) in the case of a catastrophic failure of your drive. This is especially important in a laptop as they will often wipe your drive if you send it in for repair, even if it has nothing to do with your drive. I had to send in my wife's laptop because the power chord pin wasn't working properly and they wiped the drive (no worries, had it backed up).

 

[buck1973]

Pick up a cat5 crossover cable. Connect it to the network adapter on each computer and transfer the files. You can usually get one for less than $5.

An example of what your looking for:

Belkin Cat5e Crossover Cable

 

[Muck]

If you can spare the $100 or so, I highly recommend buying an external HD and then using it as a backup drive when you are done.

I second this suggestion.

I also strongly recommend creating a clone of your new drive after you get all the software you regularly use installed & update everything.

That way you can just drop the backup image on the drive if you ever need to reformat without reinstalling everything (and your data will be safe on the second drive).

You can do the same thing by creating two partitions on a single drive...but that doesn't protect against hardware failure.

Pick up a cat5 crossover cable. Connect it to the network adapter on each computer and transfer the files. You can usually get one for less than $5.

FWIW

If you have a home network you don't need a crossover cable.

You can just plug both machines into your router/hub/switch with a standard cat5 cable.

You only need a x-over if going machine to machine.

 

[buck1973]

FWIW

If you have a home network you don't need a crossover cable.

You can just plug both machines into your router/hub/switch with a standard cat5 cable.

You only need a x-over if going machine to machine.

You are correct. However, if he had a home network, he probably would not be asking how to transfer the files.