Guide to Transferring Data From an Old Computer to a New One.

This guide has been put together following real life experience on a number of customer systems.  In this guide, we will look at the following:

• Manually transferring files using Windows Explorer.
• Transfer devices i.e. LAN, USB Attached Storage, CDRs and even floppy discs.
• Automated tools that will help ‘Files and Settings Transfer Wizard’ in Windows XP and replaced with ‘Windows Easy Transfer’ in Windows Vista.
• Older machines running Windows 95 or Windows 98.
• Programmes and Applications.

First and Foremost – Understanding where your files are

This might sound daft but unless you have a good understanding of what is on your current machine then, you are likely to struggle. Much of the data on your old hard drive is there to support the operating system and applications such as MS Office, MS Works and all other programmes etc.  In addition, if you have multiple users accounts on the machine then there will be more than one place to look.

Most users are familiar with the ‘My Documents’ this typically is where you save your documents, other places where data might be saved include other directories on the hard disc, or indeed a separate hard drive or partition on the same physical drive.  If you want more details and few screenshots of a typical places where your data is likely to be then have look here Mydocs

Let us assume you know where most things are, the first thing we would suggest is that you tidy everything up, get rid of stuff you don’t need, copy onto CDs or USB memory sticks important stuff. Assume the worst, that you might loose everything – better to be safe than sorry – there is separate guide to backing up data which will give more details on this topic.  As a general rule keep things under ‘My documents’ rather than dotted around all over the place – as it will make life simpler both now and in the future.

Just a quick note if you use Outlook Express or Outlook (part of Microsoft Office) then your e-mails are stored in separate folders hidden from normal access, we will discuss later how best to move stored e-mails from one machine to another later.

You will also need to get an idea how much data we are talking about – if you click on ‘My Computer’ and right click on the folder with your documents, the properties tab will tell you how much data you are looking at.  A hard drive with a 40 GB capacity might be showing 15GB used in total, but with perhaps ‘My documents’ only using 2Gb.  We need to know this figure because it will determine how easy or difficult it will be to transfer the files. 

Just to put this into something tangible – 2 GB will fit nicely onto a DVD – but you will need DVD authoring software on the older machine.  2 GB is approximately three CDs or CDRs, however splitting the 2Gbs of data across multiple discs is a problem, and if you are thinking of the old floppy discs then 2 GB of data is over 1300 discs – so forget that idea!  USB memory sticks are now available at 2Gb or more capacity – so a viable option – however if the older machine runs Windows 98 or Millennium Edition then you be struggling to get it to work as it will ask for a driver disk. 

Manually Transferring Files Using Windows Explorer

This works fine for most things like Word Documents, Photos, Music Files etc.  It is less good at other things, like getting your emails files moved or if have regularly have settings saved in your browser or on your desktop then again you will struggle.  You can copy files by ‘clicking and dragging them’ to a USB memory device or if the older machine is running Windows XP to a CDR – in the case of the CDR, XP will launch a wizard to help you burn the CD.  If you a running Windows 95, 98 or Millennium Edition on the older machine you will need a 3^rd party CD burning software such Roxio CD Creator or Nero.  Just a quick gotcha, trying to click and drag all user account files (including the ‘hidden ones’) to a CDR will cause an error message as Windows creates a temporary file for the CD Image in your own user account.  The workaround is to copy all but your own files and build one CD, then log into a different user account to (or create one just for the purpose) to add the additional files either for the user account that you missed to the original CD (if using CDRW) or build a 2^nd CD.

Transfer Devices

Talking about transferring the files nicely brings us on to the subject of transfer devices, we have already touched on USB memory sticks, CDRs and DVDRs, the key considerations is

1.        How much data

2.        What is the old machine equipped with i.e. USB, CD Burner etc.

3.        What Operating System is it running

USB memory sticks – these are supported directly i.e. no driver needed in Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista.  You just plug them in and assuming your USB ports works, then depending on the speed of the USB port it may take a good while to transfer the files. You will struggle if you have more than 2 or 4Gb of data to get USB memory stick large enough.  Also recommended are external USB hard drives, these typically are as large as the discs on the latest computers 160 GB or 250 GB and more.  They work on the same principle as USB memory sticks other than they have a full sized hard disc inside, so the same limitations as regards Windows 98 or Millennium edition, you will need a driver that supports the operating system on your older machine.  For Windows 95 users, then unfortunately USB support was not included with Operating System, the same also applies to Windows NT, it is more than likely that this will not work due to lack of driver support.

CDRs and DVDRs

It is really a question of what is on your old machine, if it has a burner then fine, otherwise move on and look at other options.  If the amount of data you have is modest by current standards then it might not fit onto 1 CD or one DVD – again it depends on what burning software you have on your old machine.  If you have limited spare disc capacity on your old machine it may also fail as temporary files are built to create a CD or DVD image.

Using a Network ( Ethernet Port)

A lot machines produced in the last 4 to 5 years have pre-installed network interface (LAN) port.  This provides both a high speed and very efficient way of transferring data. From Windows 95 onwards support for networking via Ethernet has been included with the system, so all you need is a working network card in the machine.  To get two machines talking you will need to set-up a small network, you may already have one – in that most ASDL Routers or Cable Routers used to share an internet connection have more than one Ethernet port that computers will plug into. There is a separate guide to setting up ‘Home or small Networks’ so have a look here at HomeNetwork. You will also need to know about setting up again there is a separate guide to that HomeNetwork.  We have recommended to several clients that a network card be installed in the older machine running Windows 95 or 98 simply to make the process of moving up to 1 GB of data from the old machine to new one – viable.

Once a small network is up and running and file sharing enabled you can ‘click and drag’ files from the old computer to the new one – there are also some automated tools – see later.

Using Windows Easy Transfer USB cable

Introduced with Windows Vista, this works only between a Windows XP and Windows Vista machine. In all likelihood, your existing XP machine will have a LAN port, therefore the purchase of this special cable specifically for transferring files is likely to be wasted money.

Physically Installing Your Old Hard Disc in Your New Machine.

Not as daft as it sounds, this approach at least allows you to click and drag the files from your old disc onto your new machine’s hard drive. It also gets round any end of life disposal issues with your old drive, the data is never actually gone, even if you think you have deleted it. Special measures are needed (see separate guide Disposal) to safely remove any data.  You probably need to check there is space to install the disc in your new machine and also that the motherboard has a spare IDE port to support the drive, other devices using IDE include CDs and DVDs, you can only have two devices on the same IDE channel. Finally, when the files are moved, you can format your old hard drive and you now have a back-up device for your important data.

Automated Tools

Windows Easy Transfer is now available with Windows Vista – see detailed sub-guide on using this to transfer files between two machines.  The bad news is that if your older machine is running Windows 95, 98 or Millennium Edition then it is not supported. 

Windows XP supports ‘File and Settings Transfer Wizard’ this works as automated tool to transfer between earlier versions of windows back to Windows 95 into XP, the easiest way is to do it over network.  If the total data is less than 700 Mb the a CDR can be used (see above re burners) if a USB attached drive of one kind or another is available then that might be another route.  See sub-guide on using ‘Windows Files and Setup Transfer Wizard’  XPTransfer.

Programmes and Applications

These all need to be reinstalled on your new machine – make sure the version of software you have is compatible with your new machine – also be cognoscente of any licensing issues.  If you are using the XP or Vista automated tool then install any Microsoft’s applications first, as the settings for the common Microsoft applications will be transferred as well during the process.

E-mail

If using the automated tool route is not viable for whatever reason, and you intend to us MS Outlook or Outlook Express, or in Windows Vista (Windows Mail) then you will need to ‘manually transfer’ the data. If more one user account exists on the old machine or more one profile in Outlook Express or Outlook then there will be separate data files for each user / profile that will need transferring.  A detailed step by step ‘sub guide’ to transferring e-mail files from one machine to another is included here

Finally, the authors of this guide would any feedback that you have about this article; you are welcome to e-mail us here with useful comments or suggestions.

Appleton Computers April 2007.