How to set up new laptop?

carly

Hello
I've just bought a new Asus vivobook laptop with Windows 11.  Is there a simple and cheap  ( preferably free)  way to transfer all the files from my old windows 10 laptop.  

Ayr_Rage

Enable network discovery and file sharing on both computers, a simple Mr G search will show you how

Connect both to the same router.

In NETWORK you should see both computers, open folders as normal and simply select and copy as you need.

Olinda99

or copy everything onto a usb stick

then plug stick.into new laptop and copy everything off

then put stick somewhere safe in case you need a backup

flaneurs_lobster

Hopefully all your important stuff on the old machine is backed up (cloud? external drive?). 

Just copy it onto the new machine from there.

Good way of checking that your backup method is working ("if its never been restored then you don't have a backup")

carly

Olinda99 said:

or copy everything onto a usb stick

then plug stick.into new laptop and copy everything off

then put stick somewhere safe in case you need a backup

That was my initial plan, it will take a long time though, I just wondered if there was a better way. Good idea to have an independent physical back up though. Thanks

carly

flaneurs_lobster said:

Hopefully all your important stuff on the old machine is backed up (cloud? external drive?). 

Just copy it onto the new machine from there.

Good way of checking that your backup method is working ("if its never been restored then you don't have a backup")

Most important stuff is backed up ,yes, although nothing newer than 2 months ( my bad ), along with some really ancient stuff which I really could delete and not transfer over. I agree that I should test my recovery options more regularly.

carly

Ayr_Rage said:

Enable network discovery and file sharing on both computers, a simple Mr G search will show you how

Connect both to the same router.

In NETWORK you should see both computers, open folders as normal and simply select and copy as you need.

Ah, an option which I hadnt considered. Thanks, I'll look into this.

Beeblebr0x

When you've finished, consider changing to Google apps. I find Microsoft apps over-engineered for the casual user.

SiliconChip

carly said:

Olinda99 said:

or copy everything onto a usb stick

then plug stick.into new laptop and copy everything off

then put stick somewhere safe in case you need a backup

That was my initial plan, it will take a long time though, I just wondered if there was a better way. Good idea to have an independent physical back up though. Thanks

I don't understand why you think it'll take a long time unless you have a huge volume of data to copy over (>1TB). I have spent the last couple of days setting up my latest laptop and copying the data over was one of the quickest steps (applying Windows 11 and other software updates was probably the slowest).

jshm2

Just use PCTrans and it will do the files and apps for you. Even over the network, though it can be slow if you don't have a fast connection. 

https://www.easeus.com/free-pc-transfer-software/?srsltid=AfmBOorYQGnlA7vP2T7Q7Jw5zdOO8U_p593EpYIDxl3lVM5s_BBYWmhH

GDB2222

jshm2 said:

Just use PCTrans and it will do the files and apps for you. Even over the network, though it can be slow if you don't have a fast connection. 

https://www.easeus.com/free-pc-transfer-software/?srsltid=AfmBOorYQGnlA7vP2T7Q7Jw5zdOO8U_p593EpYIDxl3lVM5s_BBYWmhH

That says: "Migrate 2 GB of data and 5 programs for free" ?