Transferring data to a new computer

pineapple

My old desktop is approaching PC heaven and am considering replacing it with a laptop. What is the best way to transfer data? I've already saved documents and pics but was thinking more in terms of things like Firefox bookmarks and passwords. Is it complicated by the fact that the old system is XP and the new one would be Windows 7 or 8? Also would I be better keeping everything squeaky clean and just starting from fresh?
Sorry for the numpty questions!

albionrovers

I'm a bit old school so I would buy a USB external hard drive (Dabs/Ebuyer), drag/drop files from PC => drive and then do the reverse on to your new machine.
The clever people will come along soon and tell you how to 'cloud' it all, hopefully.

Norman_Castle

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles

Thanks. You've just reminded me to back up my profile. Now done. Very quick and easy. I'm lost without my bookmarks.

closed

old one slow?

Weird_Nev

Bookmarks are very easy to transfer between computers, regardless of operating system and even browser.

Go to your browser, find the option in bookmarks to export as HTML.
Email them to yourself. It's not generally a large file.
Go to the new compter/browser and download your HTML bookmarks file, then import it.

Just copy everything to a caddy drive or external HDD (Which you have for backing up, no?) and then copy it across to where you want it on the new computer.

googler

Buy an external hard drive caddy to suit the HDD in the current machine, put the HDD in the caddy, connect to USB port on new machine, and copy/paste.

pineapple

closed wrote: »

old one slow?

Actually no. But it's around 10 years old now and it's on it's second hard drive - and I think the latter may be on it's way out. I thought now would be a good time to replace it with a laptop - relative prices have come down, plus space is limited and I always regretted not choosing a laptop in the first place.

closed

if hard disks are on their way out, the symptoms are usually quick, obvious and severe.

pineapple

closed wrote: »

if hard disks are on their way out, the symptoms are usually quick, obvious and severe.

Not always. The last time it happened to me, it was preceded by a few problems plus a bit of ominous clicking and a couple of boot up failures.
http://www.storagecraft.com/blog/hard-drives-2-failure-warning-signs/