Easiest/fastest way to transfer data from one computer to another?

jenniewb

I've now gotten a new computer (earmarked it- will be ordering very soon) and I'll be giving my current PC away to a family member who doesn't have such high demands on speed and graphics! But I need to transfer most of the data on my current PC to the new PC before I wipe it. Is there an easy way of doing this?

I've been told by one person that I'd need a separate back-up device to save everything and then transfer it on, but these devices are not cheap (seen for £50+) as I've got loads of music and documents I want to transfer.

Also, what sort of things do I not need to bother transfering? For example, I've got a Google toolbar, I'm assuming I just set this up on a new computer via signing up and siging in. I also have itunes but loads of it is from other non itunes sites or CDs, would I need to transfer my own music separatly as well or would it just be on my itunes account already? (Not everything I have in itunes is on my ipod).

chris-j

Take the hard drive out of current PC, connect it to new PC on second connection and it will show up partitions as new drives, copy the data you want then put disk back in old PC. I assume you are leaving OS on old machine for family member, if not wipe drive while it is connected to new PC.
For Google, I would sign up for google account, set it up as you want and it will know settings on any PC.

closed

if the data is important, then an external drive is a good idea, for backup. A hard disk can fail at any time.

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?sort=price+ascending&cat=393&store=33&cat=393&page=1

esuhl

The easiest way would be to copy the files from the old PC to the new one over your network.

I think this shows you how to do it:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/Share-files-with-someone

LucianH

esuhl wrote: »

The easiest way would be to copy the files from the old PC to the new one over your network.

The ease of doing this depends on the operating system of you old PC. It was not that straight forward when I tried to network an XP machine to windows 7. Unless I'm doing something wrong, I have also found that transferring over Ethernet is a lot slower that using a USB HDD (even though you have to copy to then from the HDD).

gjchester

jenniewb wrote: »

it. Is there an easy way of doing this?

I assume you have a router in the house that you use to do internet stuff one. Assuming the two PC's can both connect to them use Windows Easy Transfer and use your internet network connection (ie via the router).

This link is for Vista but the steps are similar for all PC's and it's a starting point. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928634

It's not quick, can take a few hours depending on what and how much you transfer but it works well. If you take the custom option you can tell it what to move, or let it do it itself. It doesn't move programs but at the end you get a report of what needs to be installed on the new PC.

Once you think you have everything wipe the old PC with DBAN (use Google) to securely wipe the OLD PC before doing a factory restore of the PC to get it back to a clean state.

Your iPod will wipe itself as soon as you connect and sync it to the new PC (Apples way of stopping you moving tunes via an Ipod)

railbuff

I have an external HDD attached to our PC which we backup most things too, so if we need to change PC etc, then everything mission critical is on an external/portable HDD and just gets connected to new PC and off we go.

jenniewb

gjchester wrote: »

I assume you have a router in the house that you use to do internet stuff one. Assuming the two PC's can both connect to them use Windows Easy Transfer and use your internet network connection (ie via the router).

This link is for Vista but the steps are similar for all PC's and it's a starting point. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928634

It's not quick, can take a few hours depending on what and how much you transfer but it works well. If you take the custom option you can tell it what to move, or let it do it itself. It doesn't move programs but at the end you get a report of what needs to be installed on the new PC.

Once you think you have everything wipe the old PC with DBAN (use Google) to securely wipe the OLD PC before doing a factory restore of the PC to get it back to a clean state.

Your iPod will wipe itself as soon as you connect and sync it to the new PC (Apples way of stopping you moving tunes via an Ipod)

The family member doesn't live with me and is a suitable distance away that means transmitting the data like this (if I'm understanding right) may not be so easy.

I'm thinking a hard drive is sounding like the safest option but I will be reading up on how to do this without the hard drive- I've got a week to do this before I get the new computer and give the old one away and the link is perfect as I do in fact have Vista and will be swapping for Windows 7.

Thanks for the links

closed

dban will wipe the factory restore partition if it exists, if you don't have the windows discs to do a reinstall, you'll then be stuck with a useless pc.

backup data elsewhere, then factory restore, then wipe free space with ccleaner

jenniewb

I still have the original Windows Vista CDs, so am assuming they'd still work? I'd been assuming a factory restore would be enough to clear everything that needs to be gone.

Having said that, I'm not so worried about any of the data being passed on to the family member, I have no financial details retained on the computer, not even paypal details are saved, not that I worry about my details being used like that. The type of stuff I have on my computer is pretty useless to them (loads of music they would hate, loads of old photos they already have copies of and a few CVs and old documents for college). Wiping the computer would be more about giving them a decent working computer that doesn't have 75% of it's space used up more then anything else.

The family member is also quite a novice although has been using computers for longer then I have! Doesn't do learning or listening-so I can't teach them, just does trial and error- and I mean that in every sense of the word!

gjchester

jenniewb wrote: »

The family member doesn't live with me and is a suitable distance away that means transmitting the data like this (if I'm understanding right) may not be so easy.

Not quite.

You do this on the old and new PC before you give it away, so it's all done in your home, nothing goes by the internet.

Closed makes a good point about factory restore partitions, you mentioned you have Vista disks, but if you have any software on the PC that lets you make restore media it should be done ASAP.