Moving everything to a new PC. Easiest way?

[nuyorican]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 24 November 2024 at 16:23

[Paul Drawmer]

I use Deja for backups, not sure what the Windows equivalent is.

My backup saves the set up for all my applications. If I change to a new computer, I need to reinstall any extra programs (Open Office etc) and then restore from back up will put all the data and history back and restore the desktop.

I assume that most backup systems will do that. How do you backup your system?

[Griffith4ever]

What do you mean by everything (move), apps, data, emails, or all?

[Mont Blanc]

It sounds like you are making this more complicated than it needs to be, and doing it all the very old fashioned way.

I can only speak for myself, but I don't keep anything on my laptop these days apart from the applications/programmes, and even then, when I change laptops I don't need to move anything. I simply download new copies of my applications from their respective websites, onto the new latptop, and they are activated via cloud or whatever account I have with Microsoft, Adobe etc. Usually just signing into the new applications is enough these days.

All my documents and files are kept on Dropbox, which does not need transferred either. Just Dropbox activated on the new laptop and all my old folders and files are there and available.

With email, again, nothing needs transferred. Just download a fresh copy of Outlook on your new laptop and sign into your email account. Your old emails will then be populated.

Job done.

It is best practice not to keep anything on your laptop, such as files and documents, as these can easily be lost if your laptop is damaged, corrupted, tea spilled over it, etc.

Also, by not 'copying' your old laptop onto your new laptop, you eliminate the risk of moving any bloated old software etc to the new laptop.


I would advise you to:

1)Download new copies of your programmes/applications directly onto your new laptop from their websites. Then sign into these apps.
2)Download a new copy of Outlook to your laptop from Microsoft (or whichever email client you use), then just sign in and it will populate.
3)Transfer any files to your external drive or preferably, onto some sort of cloud storage, then add the cloud storage access to your new laptop.

Edited by Mont Blanc on Friday 29th September 08:45

[HRL]

Or use OneDrive which is free with the OS to backup your data.

[eeLee]

Migrate the data with OneDrive.
Stage your Apps with WingetUI and build out your base installer here: https://winstall.app/

[mikef]

If you’re going to do a fresh setup, then consider moving to a Mac instead and you’ll never have to go through this again -
Time Machine will do the migration for you in future

[Condi]

By far the easiest way, if you're happy with the old HD, is simply to physically remove it from the old machine and install into the new one.

[eeLee]

Condi said:

By far the easiest way, if you're happy with the old HD, is simply to physically remove it from the old machine and install into the new one.

by far the easiest way to a) get BSODs and b) get the least out of a new, better machine.

[Mont Blanc]

eeLee said:

Condi said:

By far the easiest way, if you're happy with the old HD, is simply to physically remove it from the old machine and install into the new one.

by far the easiest way to a) get BSODs and b) get the least out of a new, better machine.

I was going to say this, but waited for someone more knowledgeable than me to say it first. I'm not an IT person by any stretch.

Most problems I have had with aging PC's, and some older Macs for that matter, is the software bloat causing the system to be slower, rather than the hardware. I have made chronically slow old laptops to run like new by completely wiping them and starting again with a fresh OS install.

There is no way I would carry the risk of all the old issues and bloat over to a fresh new machine.

mikef said:

If you’re going to do a fresh setup, then consider moving to a Mac instead and you’ll never have to go through this again -
Time Machine will do the migration for you in future

The only computer I have in my house these days is a MacBook, which I change every 3 years (ish) for a new one. I have never had any 'computer' issues in probably 15 years, and for that, I will be forever grateful. Migration to new is also an absolutely piece of cake. I'm not a tech person, and I just want stuff to work fast and flawlessly without me having to do anything.

[selwonk]

A simpler mass installer that you might find useful:

https://ninite.com/

[Griffith4ever]

Mont Blanc said:

eeLee said:

Condi said:

By far the easiest way, if you're happy with the old HD, is simply to physically remove it from the old machine and install into the new one.

by far the easiest way to a) get BSODs and b) get the least out of a new, better machine.

I was going to say this, but waited for someone more knowledgeable than me to say it first. I'm not an IT person by any stretch.

Most problems I have had with aging PC's, and some older Macs for that matter, is the software bloat causing the system to be slower, rather than the hardware. I have made chronically slow old laptops to run like new by completely wiping them and starting again with a fresh OS install.

There is no way I would carry the risk of all the old issues and bloat over to a fresh new machine.

mikef said:

If you’re going to do a fresh setup, then consider moving to a Mac instead and you’ll never have to go through this again -
Time Machine will do the migration for you in future

Actually, xferring a win10/11 disk from, one PC to another is not the end of the world like it used to be. WIndows handles it pretty well, and after a lot of auto updating and driver updates and rebooting it can work well enough. I'd still avoid it though given the choice.

The only computer I have in my house these days is a MacBook, which I change every 3 years (ish) for a new one. I have never had any 'computer' issues in probably 15 years, and for that, I will be forever grateful. Migration to new is also an absolutely piece of cake. I'm not a tech person, and I just want stuff to work fast and flawlessly without me having to do anything.

[u6dw4]

HRL said:

Or use OneDrive which is free with the OS to backup your data.

I did this, but I when I ran out of space I deleted a load of video I wanted to keep, it deleted it all from the HD(s)...so be careful.

It's the way they designed the system to work, but it wasn't obvious (to me anyway). So keep your files initially out of the synced folders.

I had backups on folders that weren't synced fortunately.

I was probably doing something wrong but I don't like the way it controls stuff like that without warning.

[Lucas Ayde]

This site will allow you to pick from a large range of popular free Windows applications and install them with a single installer that it generates - I've found it useful when I get a new PC and want to load a 'standard roster' of stuff onto it:

https://ninite.com/

[bigpriest]

u6dw4 said:

I did this, but I when I ran out of space I deleted a load of video I wanted to keep, it deleted it all from the HD(s)...so be careful.

It's the way they designed the system to work, but it wasn't obvious (to me anyway). So keep your files initially out of the synced folders.

I had backups on folders that weren't synced fortunately.

I was probably doing something wrong but I don't like the way it controls stuff like that without warning.

Not you, it was behaving as it should - it's a sync utility (delete a file and the file is deleted on all linked devices and cloud as well). Sync is not the same as backup.

[HRL]

bigpriest said:

Not you, it was behaving as it should - it's a sync utility (delete a file and the file is deleted on all linked devices and cloud as well). Sync is not the same as backup.

Yep, that. ^^^

It’s simple to use to migrate from one PC to another as a home user though.

Pop everything into your OneDrive folder, wait until it has successfully synced, log onto the new PC, sign into OneDrive and it syncs everything back for you. Or least that’s how it’s always worked for me. MS at least provide you with the tools to do it yourself TBF.

[u6dw4]

bigpriest said:

Not you, it was behaving as it should - it's a sync utility (delete a file and the file is deleted on all linked devices and cloud as well). Sync is not the same as backup.

which is a key difference to me.... online backup vs sync.

I get why they do it, just two different systems to be aware of.

It be to online storage, it has changed to sync, but there is no option to change between the two I can find (although you can changed the synced folders).

[Cloudy147]

Mont Blanc said:

It sounds like you are making this more complicated than it needs to be, and doing it all the very old fashioned way.

I can only speak for myself, but I don't keep anything on my laptop these days apart from the applications/programmes, and even then, when I change laptops I don't need to move anything. I simply download new copies of my applications from their respective websites, onto the new latptop, and they are activated via cloud or whatever account I have with Microsoft, Adobe etc. Usually just signing into the new applications is enough these days.

All my documents and files are kept on Dropbox, which does not need transferred either. Just Dropbox activated on the new laptop and all my old folders and files are there and available.

With email, again, nothing needs transferred. Just download a fresh copy of Outlook on your new laptop and sign into your email account. Your old emails will then be populated.

Job done.

It is best practice not to keep anything on your laptop, such as files and documents, as these can easily be lost if your laptop is damaged, corrupted, tea spilled over it, etc.

Also, by not 'copying' your old laptop onto your new laptop, you eliminate the risk of moving any bloated old software etc to the new laptop.


I would advise you to:

1)Download new copies of your programmes/applications directly onto your new laptop from their websites. Then sign into these apps.
2)Download a new copy of Outlook to your laptop from Microsoft (or whichever email client you use), then just sign in and it will populate.
3)Transfer any files to your external drive or preferably, onto some sort of cloud storage, then add the cloud storage access to your new laptop.

Edited by Mont Blanc on Friday 29th September 08:45

I also do the exact same, but I use OneDrive rather than dropbox. Depends how much stuff you keep on your laptop I guess as to whether Cloud will be of use. If not, copy all of your data onto an external hard drive maybe? The reinstalling apps is a bit of a ballache but it doesn't take too long and I've never found a really robust solution that can do this effectively in an automated way. I see it as an opportunity to have a 'spring clean' as it were.

[Jasandjules]

nuyorican said:

Yeah, literally everything. A carbon copy of my old laptop on my new laptop so I can bin the old piece of st.

I paid an IT bloke about £50 and he removed the old hard drive, plugged it into a gadget which also plugged into my new PC and installed it all.

[tixoc]

Samsung magician has the facility to perform data migration. I recently installed a 2tb Samsung nvme to take over from my main drive which was a Samsung 250gb ssd. I used magician to mirror everything in a matter of minutes. I simply pulled the SSD out when it was complete. It was seamless and you couldn't even tell anything had happened.
I don't know if it will work with non-samsung drives, but there must be similar tools out there if not.