Something is wrong with my PC and I may need to buy a new one. If I do, I want to transfer everything to the new one..program files, settings, everything. This old PC won't start up, so I won't be able to use a cable or anything like that to transfer. Is there any other way? The only thing I can thing of is putting everything on an external hard drive I have after connecting the old hard drive to the new computer, and then putting it on the new PC. The only thing is that I have tons and tons of stuff and it would take ages, and also I don't know how to copy settings and things like that...only files and media. Is there a way to do it? And a way to move an installed program over to a new PC, or would I need to install every program all over again?
2007-01-24 11:45:04 · 10 answers · asked by ghostly*visage 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
It depends on what is wrong with your PC. It could be the hard drive is bad, and then you will probably have problems getting the data off of it.
If you have a desktop pc, you can just temporarily install the old hard drive onto the IDE chain and mount it as a separate drive (such as drive E:. Then you can copy it pretty quickly.
However, if your problem is spyware, you might have problems with it being copied over to your new computer.
If you have a laptop, then the other suggestions of having an external drive using usb 2.0 or firewire, which isn't as fast as IDE, but should do ok overnight.
You might look into using a microsoft program called robocopy, which allows for copies to be done in multiple steps if necessary.
2007-01-31 14:47:36 · answer #1 · answered by scott 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The smartest thing would be to purchase an external harddrive (with firewire connector) for your new computer and transfer the files after you have installed the old hard drive to your new computer. Firewire transfer is rated as being 400Mbps, which is extremely fast and even with 100 gigabytes worth of information, it shouldn't take too long to transfer everything. As for your settings, you will have to use the settings transfer wizard on windows xp to get settings from your old computer to your new one, but I don't know how to do that from one hard drive to another. programs installed on your harddrive, if copied correctly to the external, will be copied installed so you won't have to worry about re-installing them.
Some people think that because USB 2.0 is rated as being 480Mbps it is faster than firewire, but because firewire's built ground-up for speed, that's not true. Firewire has smart technology that can determine cpu conflicts having to do with transfers, so it's actually much faster (up to 70%). Hope that helps you out a bit.
2007-01-24 12:10:45 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you can not start your old computer then install the hard drive into the new computer. That is, if your hard drive is not dead and causing the problem. If the hard drive does not fit in your new computer you can buy a conversion kit to turn any internal hard drive into an external hard drive. It is simple and does not require you opening your new computer and possibly voiding the warranty
2007-02-01 01:33:36 · answer #3 · answered by jason m 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Have you considered putting the old hard drive into the new computer as a slave then copying files from there?
Progam files will (more than likely) need to be reinstalled rather than transferred.
2007-01-24 12:16:11 · answer #4 · answered by Den B7 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get an external hard drive or us a firewire cable. You can also got to a computer store, like Best Buy and they with back it up for you for a price, but that's expensive
2007-01-24 12:24:34 · answer #5 · answered by Minnesota Gurl 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What you can do is, the simplest way, is to burn all the data to a DVD and copy it your new computer. Or you can use the “File Transfer Wizard.” You will need, I believe a USB cable to connect both computers.
2007-01-24 12:04:24 · answer #6 · answered by MuRcIElaGo 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You can "ghost" an image of your old computer and transfer it to the new one. Ghost is a software program that goes for about 50 dollars.
2007-01-24 11:53:46 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
if you get a new computer it should have a program on it to transfer all your old files to your new one,but ask the service person about it.
2007-01-24 13:00:20 · answer #8 · answered by stev12007 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Use norton ghost, that will copy ur entire hard drive (just make sure that if u have any kind of viruses, spyware etc. it is going to go to ur new pc. so watch out for that u dont want to messup ur new pc.
2007-01-24 13:04:26 · answer #9 · answered by Mario diaz 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
pass to a working laptop or computing device save and purchase a Crossover cable, confirm you assert Crossover, this is going to look like a common ethernet cable, although this is utilized to straight away link 2 desktops. connect the cable to the two desktops, and top click on a folder and pass to homes > sharing with a view to proportion that folder, then on your new computing device pass to my community places (you shuold be waiting to discover it someplace) and the previous desktops folder must be there, repeat this technique for the different folder you opt to repeat.
2016-11-01 05:07:22 · answer #10 · answered by mosesjr 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋