How I Transfer Files From An Old To A New Computer

As long as the "old" computer is basically still working transferring all your user files (documents, pictures, music and videos) is no issue at all as long as they are stored in Windows' standard locations.

After the new computer is up and running I take the disk drive physically out of the old machine, attach it externally to the new machine and copy the files directly across to the new computer.

This way there is only one copy process which saves time compared to copying via an external drive which requires copying the same data twice.

After copying the files to the new machine I will urge you to safely keep the disk drive from the old computer for at least a year as an insurance against data loss.

Imagine you need a certain file after several months, you know the name of the file but it just is not where you thought it should be. It is on the old disk drive because that is the only place files could have gotten stored on the old machine; so that is where we have to search for it.

I hope that clears eventual confusion.

Stay safe.

Backup - Windows 7 and 8

Please click this link if you are looking for information on Windows 10.

Here are links to articles that should answer most of the questions I get asked about back up.

Windows 7
Build a complete Windows 7 safety net

Windows 8  Understanding Terms
Understanding Windows 8's File History
TechNet: Windows 8 File History explained

Windows 8 Prepare like Microsoft wants it

Microsoft: Set up a drive for File History

Mastering Windows 8's backup/restore system

If you are adverse to Microsoft's built-in tools there are proven free third party backup programs available:
Free Backup programs - Not from Microsoft 
Sadly this otherwise excellent article does not mention Macrium Reflect, an  often recommended free third party backup program.

And here is an interesting discussion about the question where to store the back up:
Internal or External Hard Drive for Backup

And since two customers recently asked about here some words about 
How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Stern Warning - Be Careful!

I don't want to repeat almost the whole article that I stumbled upon today.You can read it here but please read all of it, that is please click through to page 2.

Every word of this article is true and please, take these quoted words to heart (emphasis added):

In the vast majority of cases, victims do not regain access to their computer unless they hire a computer technician to remove the virus manually. And even then, they risk losing all files and data . . .

That begs a few questions:

1. Do any of your files, documents, poetry, articles you wrote, tax files, pictures of the grand kids or a deceased loved one or of important events in your life, whatever you have stored in your computer, does any of that have a value to you?
    
2. Are these files and what they represent emotionally important?
    
3. Are these files and what they represent financially or even legally important for your business (accounting, contracts a.s.o.)?
    
4. Are these files professionally important? Think of your résumé, your CV, contracts and bids.

 I am sure you can think of other things on your computer that may be important to you. If you answered Yes to any of the questions above then I have to ask you:

Do you have a stable backup solution in place?

A backup solution that does not depend on you remembering to actually start the backup but rather does it's job automatically in the background as long as your external disk drive is plugged in and turned on?

Please remember that any data stored in a computer can vanish in an instant. Computers break, hackers get in and do damage, lightning strikes or the little sweet grand kid stumbles over the power cord of the notebook computer left on the couch table and the computer crashes to pieces . . .

If you do not have a stable automatic backup solution in place then it may be time to call me or to send me an email. "Call him" you ask? My customers have my phone number, listeners of WTKM hear it all the time and you have two different ways here in the blog to contact me via email.

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.
 

Backup Devices

Update June 20th 2016: Software recommendation changed.

Again I got a good question from a customer (Thanks Brian). The answer became this article.

So far I did not write about backup devices because the offers out there are in constant change; what I give as an example might not be available any more tomorrow. But here are quite a few generally applicable bit and pieces of info to that issue.

General: I favor 2.5" external hard disk drives over 3.5" drives. 3.5" drives need an external power supply; who likes more cables?

Brand: Over many years I have personally had too many failures with drives from Hitachi, Toshiba and Fujitsu. For years Seagate was a dependable drive but at the time of writing up to 20% of Seagate drives reportedly fail almost "out of the box". That leaves us currently only with Western Digital. This may change at any time. Stay away from drives with other names, you never know what brand of drive really is in there.

Capacity: 500GB to 1TB (1TB = two times 500GB) is currently the "sweet spot" where you get the most GB per $ spent.

Speed: If you can get a drive with 7200rpm that is still quiet go for it.

Interface: The vast majority of computers still have only USB version 2 interfaces. But version 3 is available and MUCH faster. If you have a choice buy the drive with USB version 3, your computer can likely be  upgraded with a USB 3 add-on card; that is not cost prohibitive at all.

Software: Most external drives come with some sort of (often manufacturer specific) back up software that sometimes even installs automatically when you connect the drive for the first time to the computer. GRRRR! Who guarantees that this backup program will be be running on your next computer when you want to restore the backed up files to that new computer? Additionally some of these programs encrypt and/or compress your files; you can restore them only with exactly this program. Windows Vista and 7 come with a decent backup program, but it's only decent.

Backup is the only instance where I recommend to pay for software!

Update June 20th 2016:

All too often a backup does not get done because, honestly, to run "that darned backup program" is an additional chore. And such chores get "forgotten" too often. BUt this something I can not change; if you want to be secured against data loss you will have to run backups - and you will have to do backups regularly!

And to be totally honest, you will have to learn about the different basic backup functions and their names. There are literally many hundreds of tutorials about that on the Internet.


I recommend the $70 (one time payment!) program Macrium Reflect. The free version is sufficient for most home users but the paid version can do it automatically.

Update May 2020:

For backups I strongly urge you to completely ignore conventional Hard Disk Drives. This is by now an outdated technology!

Prices of SSDs (Solid State Drive) have in the meantime come down into a price range where there is IMHO no reason at all any longer to shun them. The speed advantage alone can no longer be ignored.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Stay safe.