Need advice on file transfer & storage

[Gopher1]

I’m an old not-so-tech-savvy guy who purchased a Micro Center PowerSpec G235 Gaming PC for a teen who enjoys it with the following specs:

· Intel Core i5 12th Gen 12400F 2.5GHz Processor
· ASUS PRIME B660M-A AC D4 with a total of two M.2 slots
· NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GDDR6 PCIe® 4.0
· 16GB DDR4-2666 RAM
· 1TB WD Blue Solid State Drive (M.2 NVMe)
· Microsoft Windows 11 Home

We added/installed two additional drives to this PC just because they were available/unused:

1. A repurposed Samsung 870 Evo 500GB internal SSD DATA from his old PC
2. A gifted WD BLACK 2TB SN850X NVMe internal Gaming SSD - Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280 (Up to 7,300 MB/s - WDS200T2X0E)

About 15% of the 1T SSD is being used for OS and games, the other two drives are empty. By fall I will inherit this PC to replace an ageing WIN 10 home build, but will leave his games in place. I need to transfer stuff from my old PC to this one. My questions are:

1. Is there a preferred way to utilize these three drives for OS, programs, files, etc. when I transfer stuff from my old PC to this one? What programs/files should go where?
2. What’s the best way to transfer them?

This is what’s on the old PC which would be transferred to this one (not the OS of course):

OS (C & Programs: 205 GB
Documents: 7.42 GB
Music: 171 GB (mostly CD’s ripped to FLAC files)
Pictures: 278 GB
Videos: 111 GB

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tsumi]

Are the games available to redownload? If so, your best bet is to start from scratch with a new OS install. You will get the best performance this way. If you can, this would be my suggestion for utilizing all the drives:

Use the 2tb WD Black for the OS, games, and programs. That is the fastest drive you have and the one you want to be using to launch your OS, games, and programs.
Use the 1tb WD Blue for everything else.
Use the 500gb Samsung to back up any important files (have the files on both the Blue and the Samsung).

I assume you do not have a NAS, so an external hard drive is the best way to transfer. I would get at least a 500gb portable hard drive. Alternatively, you can use a USB SATA enclosure to temporarily use the Samsung as an external drive until everything is transferred over.

 

[Grebuloner]

For the actual file transfers, install TeraCopy. It is much faster at moving files than the stock Windows process.

 

[Gopher1]

Are the games available to redownload? If so, your best bet is to start from scratch with a new OS install. You will get the best performance this way. If you can, this would be my suggestion for utilizing all the drives:

Use the 2tb WD Black for the OS, games, and programs. That is the fastest drive you have and the one you want to be using to launch your OS, games, and programs.
Use the 1tb WD Blue for everything else.
Use the 500gb Samsung to back up any important files (have the files on both the Blue and the Samsung).

I assume you do not have a NAS, so an external hard drive is the best way to transfer. I would get at least a 500gb portable hard drive. Alternatively, you can use a USB SATA enclosure to temporarily use the Samsung as an external drive until everything is transferred over.

Hey Tsumi, thanks for the prompt reply and great advice.
Yes, the games are available to redownload. In fact we recently had it back to Micro Center Service as the system locked up after we installed a program from an attached ODD which required a restart & it didn't. They said it had something to do with the program trying to load into the 500gb Samsung, but IMicro Center reinstalled the OS back onto the 1tb WD Blue where it was when we bought it from them this past summer. Since then the teen has reinstalled his games - I think he stores his progress in the cloud, but quite honestly I'm in the dark on how he does his games.

No, I do not have a NAS. I have limited basic PC knowledge which was stretched thin when building this 5+ year old home WIN10 SFF PC. The Samsung is already mounted inside the new PC, but I do have a 2tb WD Easystore attached to my old PC for backup which I'm guessing I could use - I could try plugging it into the WIN11 PC & see what happens. Last, being that the OS is already installed, would you advise following your advice only leaving the 1tb WD Blue for the OS, games, and programs, then use the 2tb WD Black for everything else? Or should we see if Micro Center can move the OS to the 2tb WD Black so we could utilize it as you suggest before I start moving files to it?

Thanks again.

 

[Gopher1]

For the actual file transfers, install TeraCopy. It is much faster at moving files than the stock Windows process.

Thanks Grebuloner, I've never heard of it but will check it out. I'm thinking that the WD easystore drive I have attached to this computer for backup might be the best solution. To be honest I never even thought of plugging it into a WIN11 computer, but once I sort out the drive utilization I'll give it a try.
Thanks again for your prompt reply and advice.

 

[Tsumi]

Moving the OS to the 2tb drive will be the ideal option. It will make managing your programs easier. If they can't, it's not a huge deal as in real world usage, you're not too likely to notice if a program takes 1 second longer to start up and load.

The Easystore should plug and play just fine.

 

[Gopher1]

Moving the OS to the 2tb drive will be the ideal option. It will make managing your programs easier. If they can't, it's not a huge deal as in real world usage, you're not too likely to notice if a program takes 1 second longer to start up and load.

The Easystore should plug and play just fine.

Awesome! Thank you very much. Will check with Micro Center Monday & see what they say, otherwise you've answered my questions & now just a matter of getting it done. Teen is an Apple head but gaming on a PC is and has been great fun for him plus it kept a lot of kids engaged esp. during Covid. When they were isolated we could hear him screaming and laughing in his bedroom playing games with his pals online. My needs are somewhat more mundane.

Out of curiosity, do you happen to know if the old WIN10 Snipping Tool can be added to WIN11? Don't like the new one & have tried a few schemes published on the internet to no avail.

 

[Gopher1]

Moving the OS to the 2tb drive will be the ideal option. It will make managing your programs easier. If they can't, it's not a huge deal as in real world usage, you're not too likely to notice if a program takes 1 second longer to start up and load.

The Easystore should plug and play just fine.

I just logged onto the PowerSpec computer (teen is out) and noticed that two of the three drives have been partitioned, which Micro Center Service may have done as I don’t think any drive was partitioned when the PC was new. Anyway, here’s what it looks like now. Apparently some data was transferred from the old 500gb Samsung onto the new 2tb WD Black, which I was surprised to see. Anyway, my question is, should we remove the partitions or leave them alone? For one thing itt would be less confusing with only three drives and drive letters to deal with vs. 4:

Thank you.

 

[Tsumi]

My recommendation:

Backup any data that needs to be saved. Have the techs reformat all of the drives, resetting them back to empty. Less headache this way for you who is not tech savvy.

As for the snipping tool replacement, can't tell you. I'm fine with the new version.

 

[Gopher1]

My recommendation:

Backup any data that needs to be saved. Have the techs reformat all of the drives, resetting them back to empty. Less headache this way for you who is not tech savvy.

As for the snipping tool replacement, can't tell you. I'm fine with the new version.

Alright, will get it done. Thanks again.