Moving data to new laptop?

[RJ_Paton]

Unfortunately there is no simple secret to a succesful back up but some things to be borne in mind

1) Take your time
2) Always make sure you copy rather than move
3) If in doubt copy it - better to have too much information than too little

[stevieuk]

Good advice from Falkyrn.

On really important stuff such as photos & other things like music, I`ll always copy & paste.

Yes its long winded, yes its boring, but you can then click on a sample of the files afterwards & test them, very boring & not the most exciting thing to do on a Weekend off, but if its important to you its worth the effort.

Back-up software is good on the whole, but it can go wrong even when you`ve "Verified the back-up", you`ll only know theres a problem when you come to resurect the back-up & it doesn`t work.

One thing a lot of people forget to back up is emails, yes they are only emails, most folks use an email client & ALL emails are downloaded to your PC & then deleted from the e-mail server...its always worth while backing up emails or open a Googlemail account & forwarding all emails to that as a back up, without deleting the original.. You can use G-Mail as a virtual HDD as well, it can be handy for small transfers of data to trusted friends....A couple of 100s of Mb/a few Gbs of photos can be transfered by this method...

As you have a New PC arriving there isn`t such a major problem as upgrading you Original PC, you can keep the original PC running until you are happy that you haven`t forgotten something...believe me thats easily done.....

Remember don`t rush, have patience & Tea or a Beer sometimes works well.

[charlotteCH]

Thanks stevie... I'll not rush anything, which is why I'm trying to get organised with the backups before the new laptop arrives bring excitement with it

Re OE & emails.  Some years back I bought a backup program called "ExpressAssist" which has proved very satisfactory. Hope it s files can be transfered to Win7, and also that it will continue to work there- we shall see.

Thanks again,
charlotte

[percy porter]

If I use Win Easy Transfer and a USB Easy Transfer Cable or external HD to move the data, do I need to select the original.exe files [not knowing if they are Win7 compatible or not ]  or will Easy Transfer program  detect what is Win7 compatible and transfer that only?

I have just transferred data from a PC running XP to a Laptop running 7 with WIndows Easy Transfer. It checks your XP files and transfers ALL files which can be transferred.


Alan NZ

[Redroger]

Worth knowing thanks Alan.

[percy porter]

I should also mention it transfers files for programs that may not be istalled on the new computer as well. I run TMG and iTunes and it transferred all the files associated with those programs (amongst others) even though I had not yet installed the programs.

Alan NZ

[Jamjar]

Yes Alan. WET works. I don't understand why folk would use any other method, as this is a simply click and all is saved, then another click and all is transferred.

I think it is wise to follow the KISS principle when dealing with Microsoft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle

Jamjar

[charlotteCH]

Keep it simple for stupid people like me seems about right

I've done the backup of the XP HD to my external drive- 14 hrs for 20.8 GB.  That is the first backup recommended by Falkryn.

Next I'm going to hand copy the data files that are very NB, as he suggested.

The Easy Transfer Cable that Alan & Jamjar used successfully seems the best way to go for me- least complicated I hope.

Every post all of you have made on this thread has been of help in clarifying the transfer strategy for me-thanks.
charlotte
 

[Jamjar]

Hi Charlotte,

I used Windows Easy Transfer, but did not use a cable. I copied to an external hard drive and then copied back.

Jamjar