Another computer type thread..........

[FinanceDude]

My Dell is dying a slow death, (5 years old). I already have gotten the blue screen of death a couple times, and no amount of RAM or diagnostic tricks will make it run better, so I am getting a new one within a month.

Is there an easy way to transfer any of the stuff saved on the old hard drive to my external without a lot of BS?

Thanks,

FD

 

[misanman]

Some possibilities
- network machines together and copy over
- remove drive from old machine and install in new as a 2nd drive
- remove drive from old machine and borrow or buy a usb drive adapter
- copy data to a usb drive or thumb drive (depending on amount of data)

 

[Rustward]

Some possibilities
- network machines together and copy over
- remove drive from old machine and install in new as a 2nd drive
- remove drive from old machine and borrow or buy a usb drive adapter
- copy data to a usb drive or thumb drive (depending on amount of data)

Networking two computers together is as simple as connecting them with an ethernet crossover cable and sharing the old drive. Or if you have a switch (most of the little consumer routers have a four port switch) just plug the new computer into an unused switch port and share the old drive. On the new computer the old shared drive will just appear as another drive that you can copy from.

But you should already have an external backup (external usb drive, thumb drive if you can find one large enough, CDs or DVDs though those are kinda clunky, or a service like Mozy) of your old drive and you can selectively restore from there.

 

[ERD50]

FWIW, once you get set up with new, try wiping the drive and installing linux/Ubuntu on it. I'm amazed how smoothly this runs on limited HW. My little netbook runs fine on 1GB and its puny ATOM 1.6GHz CPU.

I'm in the process of trying out the Chromium browser (from what I understand, this is the true open-source version of Googles Chrome browser). I really like how streamlined it is, they get all the 'junk' off the display so I can actually use the limited vertical space on my laptop, yet easy to use with a little practice.

-ERD50

 

[Westernskies]

Make sure you copy all the viruses, spyware, malware, ad-trackers and keystroke loggers over to your new computer so you don't miss a beat....

 

[donheff]

If the old PC is still working (even poorly) just plug in a flash drive and copy what you need.

 

[GregLee]

- copy data to a usb drive or thumb drive (depending on amount of data)

That's what I decided to try, after noticing a usb 640Gb drive for $70 on sale from Amazon. My HP desktop from 2006 is still working okay, but I don't expect it to last more than another year or so. I do have my system backed up on DVDs, but I think a usb drive will lessen the trauma of moving all my stuff to a new computer, when the time comes.

 

[W2R]

My Dell is dying a slow death, (5 years old). I already have gotten the blue screen of death a couple times, and no amount of RAM or diagnostic tricks will make it run better, so I am getting a new one within a month.

Is there an easy way to transfer any of the stuff saved on the old hard drive to my external without a lot of BS?

Thanks,

FD

(emphasis mine) Do you mean, to your portable external USB hard drive? Drag and drop?

 

[RonBoyd]

Is there an easy way to transfer any of the stuff saved on the old hard drive to my external without a lot of BS?

How does this thread differ from this one and my response?

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/from-one-computer-to-another-53245.html#post1002908

 

[ERD50]

How does this thread differ from this one and my response?

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/from-one-computer-to-another-53245.html#post1002908

I didn't get around to suggesting Linux in that one? Do I win a prize?

-ERD50

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

My Dell is dying a slow death, (5 years old). I already have gotten the blue screen of death a couple times, and no amount of RAM or diagnostic tricks will make it run better, so I am getting a new one within a month.

Is there an easy way to transfer any of the stuff saved on the old hard drive to my external without a lot of BS?

How much "stuff" do you need to transfer? You might be able to copy it to DVDs/CDs more easily than you think without getting too fancy.

I am more familiar with Mac to Mac transfers. One or two clicks on the included utilitiy, and off it went, transferring everything down to application preferences, browser cookies etc.

 

[RonBoyd]

I didn't get around to suggesting Linux in that one? Do I win a prize?

Yes ... Of course. Its in the mail.

 

[RonBoyd]

Make sure you copy all the viruses, spyware, malware, ad-trackers and keystroke loggers over to your new computer so you don't miss a beat....

This Post is worth higlighting. So pay attention.

 

[FinanceDude]

(emphasis mine) Do you mean, to your portable external USB hard drive? Drag and drop?

Yes.........

 

[zinger1457]

If your new computer runs on Windows 7 there is an "Easy Transfer" utility that comes with Windows 7 that you should look into. You can transfer files, email setting and messages, user accounts, etc., but not programs, from your old computer to the new. It can be done over a network if both are connected to it or by using an 'easy transfer cable'.

 

[W2R]

(emphasis mine) Do you mean, to your portable external USB hard drive? Drag and drop?

Yes.........

OK! Piece o' cake. I just did that very recently, since I received my new Dell laptop on Tuesday.

The way I handled it, was to make a folder on my portable external USB hard drive for files to be transferred. Then I copied my folders of photos, documents, and other files into it by drag and drop. You can do this now, before you even buy your new computer, at your leisure. Leave things in their original folders, using enough folder structure that you will know where they belong. DON'T FORGET TO COPY YOUR INTERNET EXPLORER FAVORITES FILE to this folder too. Also don't forget anything you might need from your desktop.

When you are ready to transfer files to your new computer, drag the folder from the portable hard drive to your new computer's desktop. Transferring so much will take time, so do it right before cooking dinner, or at bedtime, or when you have something else to do.

Piece o' cake! Now just put the photos, documents, and other data where you want it.

As for programs, I didn't copy them over. I downloaded freeware (like malwarebytes, open office, ccleaner, etc). Then I installed some more software from disks.

Doing all this was really fast. By the end of just one evening I had finished and had restored the original system configuration on my old computer so that it was ready to gift.

Now dealing with Dell's B*** was a lot more time consuming, so, setting up the computer so that it was ready for files to be transferred was more annoying than it had to be IMO.

 

[kumquat]

My Dell is dying a slow death, (5 years old). I already have gotten the blue screen of death a couple times, and no amount of RAM or diagnostic tricks will make it run better, so I am getting a new one within a month.

Is there an easy way to transfer any of the stuff saved on the old hard drive to my external without a lot of BS?

Thanks,

FD

(emphasis mine) Do you mean, to your portable external USB hard drive? Drag and drop?

Yes.........

AS suggested here, that part is easy.

Some possibilities
- network machines together and copy over
- remove drive from old machine and install in new as a 2nd drive
- remove drive from old machine and borrow or buy a usb drive adapter
- copy data to a usb drive or thumb drive (depending on amount of data)

Note that any software you have (ie. MS Office) will have to be re-installed using (maybe) the original disks and codes. Do you know what you want to move and where it is stored?

Is there an easy way to say "make my new one like my old one"? Sorry, the answer is no.

If you need help moving profile info for the SW you re-install, tell us what it is and someone probably knows how to do it.

 

[ERD50]

If your new computer runs on Windows 7 there is an "Easy Transfer" utility that comes with Windows 7 that you should look into. You can transfer files, email setting and messages, user accounts, etc., but not programs, from your old computer to the new. It can be done over a network if both are connected to it or by using an 'easy transfer cable'.

Why not programs? That would make 'upgrading' a pain if you've downloaded and/or bought a bunch of stuff. Who wants to go through reloading and re-installing and reconfiguring all that?

edit/add; sorry - cross posted with others, but:

Is there an easy way to say "make my new one like my old one"? Sorry, the answer is no.

Well, the answer is YES. But you need to start out on another OS.

-ERD50

 

[kumquat]

Why not programs? That would make 'upgrading' a pain if you've downloaded and/or bought a bunch of stuff. Who wants to go through reloading and re-installing and reconfiguring all that?

-ERD50

Are you asking "what is" or "what should be"? If the 2nd, I'd suggest you talk to a Mr. Gates.

 

[NW-Bound]

Are you asking "what is" or "what should be"? If the 2nd, I'd suggest you talk to a Mr. Gates.

Bill Gates personally already gave up on perfecting Windows. He quit his last active job as Chief Software Architect in 2006, and has already ER'ed.

From Wikipedia: "Gates' last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He remains at Microsoft as non-executive chairman."

 

[ERD50]

Are you asking "what is" or "what should be"? If the 2nd, I'd suggest you talk to a Mr. Gates.

It's both. It is "what should be" and it is "what is".

You wont find it talking to Mr. Gates (or his successors) though. Competition is good.

-ERD50

 

[Surfdaddy]

Everybody has pretty much covered it.

It is a much bigger pain on Windows than on the Mac.
The primary reason is not your data, but your programs. Programs bury files all over the place, and even alter the registry. You can't really copy all that correctly, so you need to reinstall. If you have a lot of software it can be a big pain. You might also lose some preferences and have to reset them.

Way back in the OLD Mac days, you just copied the applications folder between drives and even your software was copied. It took about 5 minutes. Windows is nowhere near that easy. Not sure if OS X is still that easy.

It is a good opportunity to restructure your data if it's not all in one folder tree, such as "My Documents" or "Documents".

 

[zinger1457]

Another useful tool built into Windows 7 is their 'backup and restore' utility. You can now create an image of your hard drive which includes everything (OS, programs, files) and store it on an external hard drive. Very useful if you ever have a hard drive failure.

 

[ERD50]

Everybody has pretty much covered it.

It is a much bigger pain on Windows than on the Mac.
The primary reason is not your data, but your programs. Programs bury files all over the place, and even alter the registry. You can't really copy all that correctly, so you need to reinstall. If you have a lot of software it can be a big pain. You might also lose some preferences and have to reset them.

Way back in the OLD Mac days, you just copied the applications folder between drives and even your software was copied. It took about 5 minutes. Windows is nowhere near that easy. Not sure if OS X is still that easy.

Ahhh yes, the registry. So that is why this is not so routine in Windows.

OSX is sometimes a little trickier than Mac 'Classic' in that regard, and sometimes much simpler. OS X apps often have files in the 'library' or 'application support' areas, but Classic did stuff like that too (remember extension conflicts?), and often it was messier. Classic didn't have Unix style 'permissions' or multi-users to worry about.

But a program like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! optionally copies everything in OSX and makes a bootable copy that can be fired up and tested directly on any machine with HW supported by that install. Many people don't seem to realize the beauty and power of this. You make your backup and just boot into it to fully validate that it works. You don't have to copy it back to another drive to test it. And if your internal drive crashes, just boot into your backup and you are up and running in minutes - fix/replace your internal drive when it is convenient. Same with other hardware, just move your backup to a different computer, and again you are up and running w/o missing a beat. It can be a life saver (well, stress saver).

I still have not found this exact capability in Linux. The boot sequence is different than OSX, so I understand it is trickier. The programs I've found that make bootable backups seem to be limited to creating a DVD, only good for smaller installs.

Another useful tool built into Windows 7 is their 'backup and restore' utility. You can now create an image of your hard drive which includes everything (OS, programs, files) and store it on an external hard drive. Very useful if you ever have a hard drive failure.

What do you do with this image though? As I understand it, you need to jump through some hoops to get your computer to recognize this as a valid system. Can you test it to know it works before you put it on the shelf?

I go by the adage that any backup that you have not tested is not a back up. I've seen too many people burned by their "write only" back up systems that they made every week or every day. They always thought they had a backup.... until they actually needed it. Surprise!

-ERD50

 

[pedorrero]

For those with an old PC (anything over two years is "old"); another trick to try back up anything you value and then do a full reinstall (preferably after reformatting the drive.) This is potentially "free" except for the time required to reinstall your programs and data. Reward: a fresh install without the "barnacles" any system gets over the years.