Need to transfer data from old computer to new

CSandL

Hello all, looking for some help/advice please :beer: .

Have just bought a new desktop running Vista and need to transfer over all my XP files. What is the best way to do this?

I was thinking:

1) Borrow an external hard drive (may be able to do this, not sure).

2) Buy a USB Vista to USB XP lead (anyone know if they are any good?)

3) Save the data to an online hosting site (can anyone recommend a decent one?)

4) Pay PC World £30 to do it (are they any good?)

Obviously I only need to do this short term, so would prefer not to pay out a lot, but also don't really want to spend hours copying it all over on my 512Mb memory stick!!

Thanks for your help.

espresso

It sounds like you don't actually value your files anyway, otherwise you would already have them backed up and transfer would not be a problem!

Think about it.

Shambler

I always take the hard disk out of the old computer and install it as a secondary drive in the new one giving you access to all of the files on there.

[Deleted User]

i believe you can buy a cheap cable to hook your old hard disk up to your new PC via USB.. another option would be buying a cheap 3.5" usb caddy for the one off job

Hungerdunger

espresso is quite right. So why not take the plunge; buy an external hard drive for around £60 (depending how much capacity you need); use it to transfer files over; and after that use it to back up all your files regularly.

Another way, if you are moderately proficient in messing-about-with-electrical-things is to remove the old drive and set it up in your new pc as a "slave". You will need to know about jumpers and how to change them. Once you have copied over the files you can put it back in your old PC. If you are planning to keep the old PC, you could use this as your "external drive" for backups.

ryandj

I just bought a new PC in the sales, and had all my files backed up on an external HDD so it was very easy to transfer the files over!

Oggyoi

Hungerdunger wrote: »

espresso is quite right. So why not take the plunge; buy an external hard drive for around £60 (depending how much capacity you need); use it to transfer files over; and after that use it to back up all your files regularly.

Another way, if you are moderately proficient in messing-about-with-electrical-things is to remove the old drive and set it up in your new pc as a "slave". You will need to know about jumpers and how to change them. Once you have copied over the files you can put it back in your old PC. If you are planning to keep the old PC, you could use this as your "external drive" for backups.

I have just ordered another external 750gb from Dixons ( using a cashback site naturally lol ) for under £100.
There are some good deals on 300 and 500gb drives too at the moment.

Mr_Mister

I just bought an 500bg external hard drive to free up space on my PC.
So in other words, I have moved large files to it from the pc rather than copy.
My quest is,is wise to back up the external hdd onto DVD as well in case the external gets infected with a virus or stops working?

Blacksheep1979

ethernet cable for a couple of quid and will be about the fastest way to do it too.