copying stuff from old pc to new one?

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rudebhoy

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I have just taken delivery of a new pc today. I've had the old one for about 4 years, and there's all sorts of stuff on there (both running xp).

What's the best/easiest way to copy stuff across? - I'm mainly bothered about all the programs / codecs etc I've installed as it would take ages to find them all again and install them.

I also want to copy over internet bookmarks and various music / video files.

All advice gratefully received!
 
XP's Files and Settings Transfer Wizard will take care of most of that. You are going to have to install all your programs again because you can't transfer those. Its good practice (if you have space) to always save a copy of the install of anything you downloaded.
 
Description too long to discuss adequately here... try a google search.
There is software that will do it. You can use a usb drive, flash drives, etc. of course... backup my pc, and so on.
The tricky ones are email addressess sometimes.
First, burn all your files to a CD as a backup. Then read up on saving email, favorites, cookies, etc. There are good software systems to do this, but none I know of are free. See www.cnet.com, www.majorgeeks.com, www.tucows.com, etc.
I like to fully setup the new computer and hard drive, then when all is well, change the new drive jumper to Master, and the old drive to slave, then drag across most stuff.
Keep this setup for a few days as you discover anomalies, then address those as needed.
There will be problems, unless you fully understand the file structure of Windows XP, and where stuff is kept.
Information on how to do this is widely available online... it just takes some reading and some practice.
There is NO quick fix that will do it accurately and reliably. Your brain will be needed.
 
Umm.. raybay, have you ever used the File and Settings Transfer Wizard? That thing is incredibly well done, and will capture just about everything you can think of except the actual programs themselves.
 
SNGX1275 said:
Umm.. raybay, have you ever used the File and Settings Transfer Wizard? That thing is incredibly well done, and will capture just about everything you can think of except the actual programs themselves.

where do I find the wizard?
 
fileandsettings.jpg
 
Just curios

SNGX1275 said:
XP's Files and Settings Transfer Wizard will take care of most of that. You are going to have to install all your programs again because you can't transfer those. Its good practice (if you have space) to always save a copy of the install of anything you downloaded.


Do the two PCs need to be networked ?

What is the transfer route/media ?

I have worked mostly on main frames and standalone PCs, but I recall something about heterogenous networks. Anyway both PCs have the same os.

Can the new PC be given admin rights ? Then can it just about transfer whatever is on the first PC (except installed sw ? ) ?
 
1. No
2. Anything, it creates a file that you import when you run the wizard on the other machine.
3. As long as its 98 or better (perhaps even 95) it doesn't care what OS the source computer is, only the one you are transferring to has to be XP. It gives you an exe to run on the other computer. Take a gander through the wizard right now on your machine and look, you can always cancel out.
4. File and Settings Transfer Wizard doesn't set admin rights. I'd assume if you have a new comp and are wanting to transfer the files and settings that you would have admin rights on the new one.
 
Followup

SNGX1275 said:
1. No
2. Anything, it creates a file that you import when you run the wizard on the other machine.
3. As long as its 98 or better (perhaps even 95) it doesn't care what OS the source computer is, only the one you are transferring to has to be XP. It gives you an exe to run on the other computer. Take a gander through the wizard right now on your machine and look, you can always cancel out.
4. File and Settings Transfer Wizard doesn't set admin rights. I'd assume if you have a new comp and are wanting to transfer the files and settings that you would have admin rights on the new one.

Is it any easier/faster if the two PCs are networked, and then data/files are transferred over the network ?
 
Just depends on how much data you are transfering really. If its just Outlook Contacts and a few word documents using a floppy is better, if its gigs of files perhaps DVDs or over the network is better. All it does is make a file that contains all that information, and then the wizard opens that file on the destination PC and puts it in proper places.

You can run through the whole wizard right now if you want, just pretend that the PC you are on is the "Old PC" that way you can have it create that stuff for you, then you can delete it later, but it will give you an idea of how it works.
 
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