Transfer Data from Old Computer to New One

[ofield]

Hi,
I'm getting a new computer and was wondering if there was a easy way to
transfer all the programs and files from my old computer to my new one.

Thanks for any help. Happy Holidays,

 

[Velocity_Micro]

I always prefer to burn the data files only to DVD and then copy to a folder on the new PC and immediately run virus and malware scans. If you can't burn, buy a crossover cable for your ethernet network plugs on the two systems, allow them to share files, and copy from old to new.

 

[Rob Black]

I bought a SATA to USB adapter, Just take out the old HDD and plug it in to the SATA to USB adapter. If your old HDD is IDE, get an IDE to USB converter. I find this method to be much easier than burning DVD's, using a crossover cable etc....

 

[burnin8r]

I bought a SATA to USB adapter, Just take out the old HDD and plug it in to the SATA to USB adapter. If your old HDD is IDE, get an IDE to USB converter. I find this method to be much easier than burning DVD's, using a crossover cable etc....

ditto, the cable is only like $30

 

[Brantoc]

There are a lot of programs to transfer applications between PCs, but they all suck. Most just don't work at all, or only work with the programs they list as compatible. No games, no WINRAR, no VLC, no WINAMP, no well everything else I use, just Office, and only Office if you have not updated it or put on any addons (Avery, WINFAX, etc).

I'll repeat what others have said.

Backup files, saved games, screen shots, settings, pictures, music, etc to external disk, or DVD. Reinstall programs/games.

 

[AndonSage]

I'm getting a new computer and was wondering if there was a easy way to transfer all the programs and files from my old computer to my new one.

I'd suggest an external hard drive like a Western Digital My Book. You can buy these from an online retailer like Amazon, or a store like Best Buy. The best part is that once you've used it for transferring files, you can then use it for back-ups. Prices for a My Book depend on the size, and the connections available (USB 2.0 or USB 2.0/Firewire). Note that you can use them with USB 1.1, the transfer rate will just be slower.

I recently picked up a 500GB My Book with a Firewire connection, since I only have USB 1.1 on my computer, and the data transfer is faster with Firewire 400.

If you do get an external hard drive, be sure to reformat it for NTFS, as most of them come formatted as FAT32 and you'll be limited in file sizes if you don't re-format to NTFS.

Best Buy currently has a sale on the 500GB My Book USB edition, but I don't know how long the sale lasts.