Due to Win10 requirements for several applications I just went ahead and got another laptop with Win10 already installed.
I'm still using my Win7 machine as well.

Question: What is the easiest way to transfer data? I don't have to move everything, but I do need some of it. It's mostly documents and pictures. The pictures don't really have to be stored on both machines.
I've transferred a few things with a thumb drive, which is pretty easy, but the ones I have don't have a lot of capacity.

Thanks in advance.

How much data do you have to transfer? Anything under 64gb and I'd probably just stick with a jump drive. 100gb+ and I'd probably use a cheap M.2 SSD and USB adapter cable.

I'm not sure but it looks like the thumb drive I used is only 64mb, not 64gb.
I think I need a bigger one.
I was wondering if I could just connect the two machines with a cable of some sort.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
How much data do you have to transfer? Anything under 64gb and I'd probably just stick with a jump drive.

Yep, if it's 128 gigs or less, the easiest and most straightforward route is just to buy an inexpensive USB thumb drive and use that. You can get a 128 gigabyte thumb drive at Walmart/Best Buy/Amazon/etc. for under $20.

Stick it in the old computer, copy the files to the USB drive, then stick it in the new computer, and copy the files to the new computer.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
I was wondering if I could just connect the two machines with a cable of some sort.

Yes, you can. It's more involved than just using a thumb drive, but might be a better idea if you have something like many hundreds/thousands of gigabytes of data to transfer.

If both computers have a wired network port, all you need is a network crossover cable to connect them together. They'll then be on their own "wired network", with files able to be copied between them.

See https://www.wikihow.com/Connec...th-an-Ethernet-Cable for instructions.

But understand that not all computers these days have a network port, with everything being done strictly wirelessly. That would still be doable, but a bit more complicated. However, if you have a wireless network in your home, and access to a friend/relative who's computer savvy, they can help you transfer files over the wireless network.

Do you have a backup hard drive, if not, now would be a great time to get one; use it to copy all your files from the old computer to the new and then use it as your regular backup drive.

Get a USB 3.0/3.1 64GB or large flash drive. They are cheap and easy to use.

You should be able to connect both via an ethernet cable , and copy everything between them

If both can connect to your router, you could even do it wirelessly

Windows may even share the files already unless you turned off file and printer sharing

If both machines are running why not just transfer over the (local) network?

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
If both machines are running why not just transfer over the (local) network?

Enter network credentials.

I have no idea what the user name and password would be.
The name of the computer?
The password when I log in?

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
If both machines are running why not just transfer over the (local) network?

Enter network credentials.

I have no idea what the user name and password would be.
The name of the computer?
The password when I log in?

user & password of the machine you are connecting to.

I couldn't get the ethernet cable to work. It recognized it, but didn't allow sharing.
I finally got the (local) network to work.
On the new computer I could see files on the other computer that were in the public directory, but that's not where what I needed was located so first I had to copy them to that directory.

Thanks guys.

Are they Pro versions of software or home versions?

Pro versions are easier to share.

Username: {computername}\{username}
Password: whatever it is

If Pro version: in file explorer type: \\{computername}\C$

Otherwise you have to share out the folder you want to access.

I could elaborate on how to share a folder but there are plenty of tutorials online.

Get thee an external hard drive for use as a backup.

I ran across a company called EaseUS. They have a ton of programs for everything from data transfer to backups, partition management, data recovery, etc.

They offer most of their products in versions ranging from free to pro-level and having used several of them, I can tell you that they're very user friendly and have worked flawlessly for me.

-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Get thee an external hard drive for use as a backup.

Indeed. If you care enough to transfer the files presumably you’ll care enough to want them again when the new HD fails.

Skip all the networking and hardware devices. Go with an internet based solution.

Just load Team Viewer on the machines and use the file transfer. It is free for personal use and the speed is fine. You can also look at FileZilla. I use both if these for work with clients all over the country.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Get thee an external hard drive for use as a backup.

Indeed. If you care enough to transfer the files presumably you’ll care enough to want them again when the new HD fails.

Personally I would do this and use the robocopy (robust copy)command from a command line.

quote:

Originally posted by Green Highlander:
Skip all the networking and hardware devices. Go with an internet based solution.

Just load Team Viewer on the machines and use the file transfer. It is free for personal use and the speed is fine. You can also look at FileZilla. I use both if these for work with clients all over the country.

Sending files out of the LAN over the Internet then back to the LAN is ridiculous.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Get thee an external hard drive for use as a backup.

Indeed. If you care enough to transfer the files presumably you’ll care enough to want them again when the new HD fails.

This was my solution as well. I bought a 1TB Seagate external SSD drive that has everything on it from my PC, laptop and phone. It's less than $50 and worth every penny.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by lkdr1989:
Do you have a backup hard drive, if not, now would be a great time to get one; use it to copy all your files from the old computer to the new and then use it as your regular backup drive.

I recently did the same. Just copy all your documents and photos to the backup drive and then the ones you want to the new computer. Quick and easy, even for me and backup drives are pretty cheap these days.