Taking my documents from old computer to new?

[ynot slow]

Am going to buy a new laptop,want an easy way to take my documents from old laptop and put on new one thus my pics etc aren't lost,what's the easiest way(bloody shop wants $100 to do)for a total tech loser I am,also same way to transfer my favorites,then I want to eradicate all my cookies etc as will sell laptop cheers folks.

[scott411]

how much data are you talking, i normally just use a USB stick, and make sure everything is on the new one before you start deleting,

[Mom]

Tony, get yourself a big capacity USB stick and copy what you want to keep from your old PC onto the stick. Then simply put the stick into the laptop and pull the files back off the stick onto the Lap Top. If I can do it anyone can.

Last time we replaced our computer I invested in a USB remote hard drive and simply copied everything onto it. I use it to back up this computer now so if the worst happens I have not lost a thing.

[nzspokes]

Borrow a teenager, they will sort it while fixing your Sky TV, group texting their mates, playing playstation and cleaning out your fridge.

Or get a USB stick. If I can do it anybody can.

[JimO]

external hard drive?

[ynot slow]

Was going to use back up system so will do so,also usb stick for sure.

[Virago]

Yeah, I recommend investing in an external hard-drive. You can transfer all your stuff in one go, and then use the external as a back-up drive.

[Maha]

Borrow a teenager, they will sort it while fixing your Sky TV, group texting their mates, playing playstation and cleaning out your fridge.

Or get a USB stick. If I can do it anybody can.

Yeah thats what I do when ever I get a new phone...give to one of the kids and say ''here turn this off, make that stop, make that brighter, I dont what that shit on there, cant use that get rid of it..and what the hell does that do''?

Or Get Gremlin to sort it....;)

[Scuba_Steve]

Am going to buy a new laptop,want an easy way to take my documents from old laptop and put on new one thus my pics etc aren't lost,what's the easiest way(bloody shop wants $100 to do)for a total tech loser I am,also same way to transfer my favorites,then I want to eradicate all my cookies etc as will sell laptop cheers folks.

pfft I only charge 60$ :innocent:

I'm guessing the old is XP??? well MS has this & reckons it's easy (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=4503) a program (app) with step-by-step instructions on how to transfer.

After transferring my recommendation would be to reinstall windows on the old laptop, as trying to remove things manually will most likely leave data you don't want left regardless of how careful you are

[iYRe]

never use a USB stick as a "backup", they fail too often.

A usb hard drive, or if you want to continue using it as a backup, use something like microsoft SkyDrive (http://skydrive.live.com). You install an app, tell it what you want backed up, and it backs it up online for you. You get 25GB freee I think, which should be ample. When go to the new machine, install the same appl, tell it to restore, and it pulls it down to the new one, and then you can just continue using it to backup your documents.

For the laptop, if you are going to sell it, best idea is to pop in the original disks and restore it to factory - no chance the new person will find any odd stuff left that you dont want them to find.

What ever you do, DO NOT borrow a teenager. I spend my life fixing cockups that so called "tech savvy" teenage relatives have done. Even ones at university getting degrees in computer stuff. You wouldnt get a restoration done on your prize motorbike by the next door neighbour because he knows how to fix his lawnmower.

[MSTRS]

And make sure that the new laptop has the program/s that open the data files you have saved/transferred.

[Ronin]

If the new one is Win 7 use windows easy transfer. Just plug a network cable between the 2 and follow the directions. Does everything, email. faves, pron, music. And $100 is cheap. I charge $150.

[Scuba_Steve]

And $100 is cheap. I charge $150.

:shit: I really am undercharging then, might be time to up the prices I think

[Ronin]

:shit: I really am undercharging then, might be time to up the prices I think

TBH that is everything though. If they have applications that need loading we do that, move their cash program data, reload etc.

[paturoa]

However your connecting the old PC the to internet (excluding rare possibility of internal DSL modem) connect the new the same way and then google something like sharing PC drives over network.

Piece of piss from there, you just share the whole computer, go to the other one and via explorer (assuming windows) open it and drag and drop to the new. Can take a few hours over wireless.

[BMWST?]

timely post.
I assume you a windows user.I just got a usb external hard drive courtesy mr Fly Buys.I just t plugged it in and of course the laptop knew it was there almost straight away,then you find the "back up and restore centre" in the control panel and click on that an d follow the prompts.When the backup and s restore program opens there is a link to "windows transfer" which is prolly what you are after.
It prolly took about an hour or two so to backup about 9 gb.An external hard drive is cheap and good to have in case of hard drive failure,loss of computer ,virus etc.Mine is only a 500 gb one but unless you got a stack of movies i think that would do most people

[Ronin]

timely post.
I assume you a windows user.I just got a usb external hard drive courtesy mr Fly Buys.I just t plugged it in and of course the laptop knew it was there almost straight away,then you find the "back up and restore centre" in the control panel and click on that an d follow the prompts.When the backup and s restore program opens there is a link to "windows transfer" which is prolly what you are after.
It prolly took about an hour or two so to backup about 9 gb.An external hard drive is cheap and good to have in case of hard drive failure,loss of computer ,virus etc.Mine is only a 500 gb one but unless you got a stack of movies i think that would do most people+

From an old Xp machine?

Actually, best trick we did for a client who has legacy software was to virtualise their old drive and run it on their windows 7 machine.

[Gremlin]

how much data are you talking, i normally just use a USB stick, and make sure everything is on the new one before you start deleting,
What he said, it's the easiest way.

Remember, even with external USB drives, keep two copies of data if it's valuable. Don't use the small USB sticks for backup, they're quite volatile (lose information reasonably easy). External USB drives contain the same equipment as the computer hard drive, so are just as likely to fail, hence the keeping of two copies.

For the transfer, any stick or hard drive would work, unless you have mountains of info, then the external drive would be better as they hold much more (up to 2000gb, as opposed a stick holding 16gb ish).

[Usarka]

Ynot, did this make sense or did it fly over your head. Techy types assume a certain level of understanding when discussing these things..... I have a few friends who would have read this thread and gone "WTF?" then drunk a bottle of tequila and passed out hoping they'd magically fixed it overnight (but in all reality would have stood on the new laptop while playing sir-drinksalot with a broom and a rubbish bin).

[p.dath]

Am going to buy a new laptop,want an easy way to take my documents from old laptop and put on new one thus my pics etc aren't lost,what's the easiest way(bloody shop wants $100 to do)for a total tech loser I am,also same way to transfer my favorites,then I want to eradicate all my cookies etc as will sell laptop cheers folks.

If it is a Windows machine, then it will be coming with Windows 7. Windows 7 ships with a tool called "Windows Easy Transfer". It will transfer your documents, emails, Internet Explorer shortcut, some application settings, etc. The old machine can be running anything from Windows XP onwards.

It can do a transfer via the network or USB memory key/drive.


It works well. It's free with Windows 7. I'd use it.

[Hitcher]

Duck Smuth will sell you a 1TB external drive with a USB3 connector for about $135. Once you've transferred your data, you can use that as a backup drive.

[ynot slow]

Cheers people,going from xp to windows 7,so all sussed.

[mashman]

A guy at work has one of these things (http://www.elike.co.nz/dual-hddssd-docking-station-drive-copy-p-1899.html)... although his has bluetooth and takes SD cards amongst other things. I might invest in one.

[Tigadee]

Borrow a teenager, they will sort it while fixing your Sky TV, group texting their mates, playing playstation and cleaning out your fridge.

Careful, they may give you the "ID-ten-Tee" look...


Or get a USB stick. If I can do it anybody can.

Ah, anybody can get a USB stick but can they use it? That's the $10 million dollar question...

[p.dath]

A guy at work has one of these things (http://www.elike.co.nz/dual-hddssd-docking-station-drive-copy-p-1899.html)... although his has bluetooth and takes SD cards amongst other things. I might invest in one.

I just bought a pair of these for work. Funnily enough, although the items are only $25, the cheapest shipping option was $30 ...