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Easiest way to transfer data from old computer to new computer? Login/Join 
I Am The Walrus
posted
Got a new computer, now I have to transfer things from the old computer to the new computer.

I'm thinking the easiest way is to use a USB drive. The files will be easy that way.

The tricky part is how to do it for MS Office since I had to input a key after I bought it.

Any suggestions on moving my license over from the old to new?


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Posts: 13111 | Registered: March 12, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Frangas non Flectes
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Jumper cables.

No, pop your old internal drives out and run then as slave drives on your new machine.


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Carthago delenda est
 
Posts: 17125 | Location: Sonoran Desert | Registered: February 10, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Official Space Nerd
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Get an external hard drive. They are really inexpensive nowadays.

Copy old files to new drive, plug into new computer, and drag/drop. Piece of cake.

Plus, you now have a backup memory device (it only takes you losing your computer data once for you to really appreciate the utility of a backup device (I know from personal experience) ).



Fear God and Dread Nought
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Jacky Fisher
 
Posts: 21845 | Location: Hobbiton, The Shire, Middle Earth | Registered: September 27, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yup...cheap insurance right there! This particular model comes in 1/2/3 TB:

https://www.newegg.com/Product...?Item=1E8-0006-00101



"If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24
 
Posts: 11066 | Location: NW Houston | Registered: April 04, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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And you can store that drive at a remote location or in a fireproof safe.


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Posts: 5685 | Location: Ohio | Registered: December 27, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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How old is the computer? I have an XP that I keep around to run a printer and couple older programs that Win10 will not recognize.
WinXP did not recognize the Passport portable HD I bought to transfer stuff to the newer comps.

Just throwing that out there incase.
 
Posts: 7357 | Location: MI | Registered: May 22, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Data is easy. Programs not so much. You will most likely need to reinstall programs on the new machine.
 
Posts: 1040 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: August 16, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of wrightd
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quote:
Originally posted by PeteF:
Data is easy. Programs not so much. You will most likely need to reinstall programs on the new machine.

This. For xferring data, buy a cat5 crossover cable and hardcode the ips for each machine on the same subnet. Cable cost maybe 10 bucks. Fast as a greased pig. No ext drives needed.




Lover of the US Constitution
Wile E. Coyote School of DIY Disaster
 
Posts: 8682 | Location: Nowhere the constitution is not honored | Registered: February 01, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
No double standards
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quote:
Originally posted by Hound Dog:
Get an external hard drive. They are really inexpensive nowadays.

Copy old files to new drive, plug into new computer, and drag/drop. Piece of cake.

Plus, you now have a backup memory device (it only takes you losing your computer data once for you to really appreciate the utility of a backup device (I know from personal experience) ).


As the Bible says (reading a bit between the lines) "Blessed is the pessimist, for he hath made a backup".

You and I share that experience, and the resulting wisdom of external hard drives. Smile




"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it....While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it"
- Judge Learned Hand, May 1944
 
Posts: 30668 | Location: UT | Registered: November 11, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
No double standards
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quote:
Originally posted by wrightd:
quote:
Originally posted by PeteF:
Data is easy. Programs not so much. You will most likely need to reinstall programs on the new machine.

This. For xferring data, buy a cat5 crossover cable and hardcode the ips for each machine on the same subnet. Cable cost maybe 10 bucks. Fast as a greased pig. No ext drives needed.


Another quote(ish), "to err is human, to really screw things up requires a computer". Replacing programs may be a bit of a pain at times, and a bit costly. But some data, when lost/destroyed/corrupted, is gone, and "replacing" such data can be much more expensive, and maybe not possible at all.




"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it....While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it"
- Judge Learned Hand, May 1944
 
Posts: 30668 | Location: UT | Registered: November 11, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
For real?
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Do you have the original install disc/files for office?


Try this to get the key

https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/


The easiest way I move files (not programs) from an old computer to a new one is to take the old hard drive out and hook it up to the new one then just drag and drop.



Not minority enough!
 
Posts: 8020 | Location: Cleveland, OH | Registered: August 09, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Security Sage
Picture of striker1
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quote:
Originally posted by Edmond:
Got a new computer, now I have to transfer things from the old computer to the new computer.

I'm thinking the easiest way is to use a USB drive. The files will be easy that way.

The tricky part is how to do it for MS Office since I had to input a key after I bought it.

Any suggestions on moving my license over from the old to new?


Start here:

Article: download official ISO for MSOFFICE and Windows

If you do not have your copy of the Product Key for MS Office, you can, as mentioned, retrieve it by running the Jellybean Keyfinder utility. Just install it on the old computer, run to collect keys (Windows, MS OFFICE), and then jot those down. You can just uninstall the Keyfinder afterwards.

With your legit Key you can then download the official version of MS Office you already own and reinstall it from scratch on the new PC.



RB

Cancer fighter (Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma) since 2009, now fighting Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma.


 
Posts: 7133 | Location: Michiana | Registered: March 01, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
His Royal Hiney
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if you have a microsoft account, you can get your keys from your account. You can also download office installation files.

What I do is have a document folder labeled software CDs and downloads. I put individual ISO and installation files that I download. I also create a txt file to record product keys.

Then when you transfer your data to the USB drive and the new computer, you also have your installation files on the new computer.



"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
 
Posts: 19663 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Buy Macs, fire up both old and new and launch Migration Assistant in Utilities. Smile
 
Posts: 8955 | Location: The Red part of Minnesota | Registered: October 06, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Security Sage
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quote:
Originally posted by MNSIG:
Buy Macs, fire up both old and new and launch Migration Assistant in Utilities. Smile


Well, ok then.



RB

Cancer fighter (Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma) since 2009, now fighting Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma.


 
Posts: 7133 | Location: Michiana | Registered: March 01, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I like to copy the folder of the program in question to a disc. Then reinstall the software in the new machine. Relevant files in the old folder can be switched to the new install.

I've only done this with Outlook (email) and older software packages. I wouldn't know where to start with a modern program (I know the programs that are important to me fairly well).

Saving a copy of the original folder is worth doing no matter which way you choose to go. It may save your bacon.

V.
 
Posts: 328 | Location: Pacific NW | Registered: April 09, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of bigdeal
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Best course of action is to simply re-install MS Office (and any other programs) on the new machine. That shouldn't be too painful. Then, I'd pull the hard drive out of your old machine, and install it in the new machine. This assumes the power supply in your new computer has a spare power connection, and you'll need a short SATA cable. Then just copy your data files from the old drive to the drive on the new machine. When you're done, you can either remove the old drive, or reformat it and leave it in your new machine for additional storage.


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Guns are awesome because they shoot solid lead freedom. Every man should have several guns. And several dogs, because a man with a cat is a woman. Kurt Schlichter
 
Posts: 33845 | Location: Orlando, FL | Registered: April 30, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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If both are networked (Gigabit ia the only practical way) just copy from one machine to the other over the network. You will need to share a folder or folders on the new machine.
 
Posts: 10785 | Location: South Congress AZ | Registered: May 27, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of Prefontaine
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In the future store all your files on an external hard drive. Once a month copy everything to a backup external hard drive or flash drive. Store nothing in your computer but your apps/programs.
Then if the machine ever takes a dump or you buy a new one you don’t even bat an eye.



What am I doing? I'm talking to an empty telephone
 
Posts: 12633 | Location: Down South | Registered: January 16, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Live long
and prosper
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Hi Edmond

Just sent you an email.

Keyword here is COPY. As with any data recovery job, what you must do is copy. DO NOT move / transfer your contents. Copy, as increate new identical files and folders.

0-0


"OP is a troll" - Flashlightboy, 12/18/20
 
Posts: 12108 | Location: BsAs, Argentina | Registered: February 14, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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