I have just taken delivery of a Novatech PC, operating system is not installed.
What do I need to copy from my old PC to transfer to my new PC? Files, settings, drivers, email address list? How do I do that?
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Firstly you will need to sort out all your old stuff, and put it into the correct places. Usually my documents.
The install the new OS on the new PC
Then use the files and settings transfer wizzard you will find within,
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I'd rather move the files manually. The files and settings thing does some crazy things.
Nice to hear you have a new pc Duncan. Have fun.
If old and new pcs are connected to the same router you can allow them to see each others files and just drag a copy of what you want across. Other wise you'll have to backup from one to a USB disk if you have one, CD/DVD if not, and then copy onto new pc.
If you're using Internet Explorer use File Import & Export to backup your Favourites (use Export), then use Import to restore them to your new pc.
are your emails actually on your pc or on your email providers servers? Don't forget to export/import contacts and email account settings as well as emails.
As for other settings I'd just start afresh.
Don't try to copy drivers. You're coming from XP to W7? Get the W7 drivers. It's very impressive at sorting it out for itself.
John
Last edited by: Tooslow on Tue 14 Sep 10 at 21:46
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I used Microsoft's Windows Easy Transfer to transfer files etc from an XP Pro system to a new Windows7 Home Edition system - all that is required is a suitable cable to connect the two systems. (IIRC a memory card or USB pen drive may also suffice). See:
windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/windows-easy-transfer
Just select which files, e-mail messages etc you wish to transfer from the old to the new system after installing Windows Easy Transfer on both systems (ensure you get the correct version for the old system).
TooSlow's advice about drivers is very sound.
Last edited by: Stuartli on Tue 14 Sep 10 at 22:58
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>> TooSlow's advice about drivers is very sound.
Thirded. I built my first Windows 7 PC last weekend, and was amazed how painless it was. The OS found drivers for absolutely everything except the onboard USB 3.0 hub, and PCI wireless adaptor. Both were easily sorted using the CDs supplied with the respective hardware.
The machine was 99.9% functional on first boot, and the final 0.1% was a doddle.
For file transfer, I would personally create a folder in My Documents, or on the desktop. Dump everything you want to keep into the folder, as well as exporting your favourites, mail contacts etc into it. Then simply copy the whole folder onto a flash drive, and transfer it over manually. You can also use it as a good excuse to have a clear out, and delete anything you no longer need to keep. I usually find that, photos aside, 90% of the rest is junk.
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Thank you for those replies.
In all the bits of kit that come with the machine, there is a small plastic bag, in it there is a cable about five inches long with a rectangular socket on one end with four round male plugs inside; the other end there is another rectangular socket with sixteen male plugs inside. On the bag is printed " Foxconn cable & connector SATA Power and SATA Signal Cable 1A030H900-G9H-G".
The cables - four in number - are red, yellow and two are black.
What's it for?
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a wild guess but it probably plugs into your motherboard, dangles out of the back of your pc and allows you to connect an external disk with a SATA interface. Though that's an awful lot of plugs. I'm sure someone on here will have seen one and be able to give a positive id. You can certainly ignore it, that's for sure. It sounds like Novatech (I think you said you'd bought a Novatech?) have chucked all of the cables and bits and pieces into the box. That's A Good Thing, not a criticism. Whilst they may be useless, at least you have the choice.
John
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It is as TS described, an interface to attach an external SATA drive. It was supplied with the motherboard by the motherboard maker foxconn.
You probably have a foxconn motherboard manual which would show you how to use it. I would guess you will never need it, so file it away.
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duncan you could connect the old hd drive from your pc and copy the files that way easy!
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>> duncan you could connect the old hd drive from your pc and copy the files
>> that way easy!
>>
His old PC is over 5 years old so will not be a SATA drive. The new machine might not even have enough free IDE connectors. Although he could go and buy an IDE to USB case I think he'd rather do this a simpler way.
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I am afraid connecting hd drives would be too difficult for a simple soul like what I am!!
All in favour of a simple way. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.
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A slightly simpler way would be to get a USB drive caddy with a SATA interface, stick the old HDD in that and then plug the USB into the new PC. Without knowing exactly what your old HDD is I strongly suspect this would do the job, for example:-
www.ebuyer.com/product/149272
The biggest problem with this sort of data transfer is knowing exactly where the useful files are on the old HDD.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Wed 15 Sep 10 at 18:34
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spamcan it also assumes the old drive is a SATA drive and it possibly isn't. Can the OP initially try using the user migration wizards. If unsure then maybe pay someone to do it for you. If you keep the old PC you shouldn't actually lose any data.
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Any idea how much data you have Duncan?
Also any idea where it is on your PC? And what it is? Pictures, music, documents and spreadsheets?
USB sticks have to be the cheapest way to go don't they? Play.com have a 4Gb here for £5.99 delivered. If you didn't have huge data you can use it afterwards to backup to, on a regular basis.
Internet favourites are easy peasy, just export from old computer and import to new.
Mail is usually OK too, what mail client do you use?
The rest if just straightforward copy and paste.
The trick is knowing what you have.
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>> Any idea how much data you have Duncan?
I am using about 13gig total space on my HDD including everything.
>>
>> Also any idea where it is on your PC? And what it is? Pictures, music,
>> documents and spreadsheets?
Where is it? it's all on the C drive - is that what you mean? Its pictures, documents and software.
>>
>> USB sticks have to be the cheapest way to go don't they? Play.com have a
>> 4Gb here for £5.99 delivered. If you didn't have huge data you can use it
>> afterwards to backup to, on a regular basis.
I have just bought an 8 gig stick, so that should transfer most of the stuff I need - I think.
>>
>> Internet favourites are easy peasy, just export from old computer and import to new.>
>> Mail is usually OK too, what mail client do you use?
Yahoo
Last edited by: Duncan on Wed 15 Sep 10 at 23:17
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Software will require re-installation, either from original media or download again. You may have some compatibility problems if you have really old software - i.e. it may not work.
I guess your mail will be OK under Yahoo, as I think you simply access that through your browser.
It's probably a fair bet that all your pictures and documents are in the My Documents folder. Click on it (on the old machine) and see if you recognise what's there.
If you do, right click on My Documents and the Properties, and check the size.
If it is less than the capacity of your stick, copy the lot to the stick (best way - click on My Documents to open it in the left hand pane, then select all in the right hand pane (Ctrl A), right click and select Copy. The select the stick, click in the left pane then right click then select paste and wait for it to finish). Then move the stick to the new machine, once it's loaded it should come up with a number of options, including Explore or similar. So do that. Select all in the right hand pane - this should be the stuff you just copied. Click Computer then My Documents on the new computer, right click in the right hand pane and select Paste, wait for it to finish.
Wouldn't mind betting that the above is a bit poorly defined but it's late - someone else will no doubt clarify :-)
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Just makes sure all your files you want moved are in my documents, and let the windows wizzard on your new machine do it. Its why they included it.
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>> Just makes sure all your files you want moved are in my documents, and let
>> the windows wizzard on your new machine do it. Its why they included it.
>>
in other words, do just what Microsoft Help advises.
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>> guess your mail will be OK under Yahoo, as I think you simply access that through your browser.
I use Yahoo for email and my mail is not left on Yahoo for long. Duncan needs to be sure too. He might need to copy emails over from an old email program like Outlook Express.
If the old PC has about 13Gb in total this will include programs and Windows itself so the 8Gb USB stick should hold everything. He just needs to work out where it is. If using a wizard type migration program is not for Duncan and he's unsure then maybe pay someone nearby for a few hours help? Money well spent. I bet smokie and Zero are both nearby. Maybe a £50 fixed price job?
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I'd just copy everything over, like me and smokie say the tricky bit is finding out where the stuff you want to keep is, so at least copying everything over gives some chance of finding stuff in the future. Although most Microsoft apps. store files in 'my documents' by default, this is certainly not true of many 3rd party apps. so stuff could be anywhere really.
Good point earlier rtj70, this is the equivalent ATA100 caddy:-
www.ebuyer.com/product/136250
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>> I have just taken delivery of a Novatech PC, operating system is not installed.
>>
>> What do I need to copy from my old PC to transfer to my new
>> PC? Files, settings, drivers, email address list? How do I do that?
>>
Duncan, while others are busy re-inventing the wheel ( and confusing you with geeky gobbledegook such as "my documents" which ceased to exist with Vista and Windows 7 ), just head over to
windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/help
windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/transfer-files-and-settings-from-another-computer
Does what it says on the tin.
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Update.
The new PC is installed, up and running - sigh of relief from me.
Microsoft are very keen on promoting their own products aren't they? Surprise, surprise.
Question please. How do I make Yahoo Mail UK and Ireland my home page? Likewise Google UK my default search engine?
I have two complete systems running side by side with the exception of the monitor. So it is a bit of a faff - or would be a bit of a faff if I did it; to switch the monitor supply from one system to the other.
Thank you all for your help and advice.
Last edited by: Duncan on Thu 16 Sep 10 at 16:20
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>>
>> Question please. How do I make Yahoo Mail UK and Ireland my home page? Likewise
>> Google UK my default search engine?
>>
Assuming you are using Internet Explorer then navigate to the page you want to make your home page and then select Tools > Interenet options then click on the 'general' tab. Then click on the 'use current' button near the top. That's for IE7, I imagine IE8 is very similar.
In terms of Google .uk then I need to do that myself at the moment and can't believe I've forgotten how to do it, sorry.
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>>Likewise
>> Google UK my default search engine?
Again assuming its IE 8, click down arrow next to magnifying glass on top r/h side
Manage search providers
search providers
find more search providers
add google
dump bing.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 16 Sep 10 at 16:46
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Glad to hear it Duncan. Just let the girls have a fight now. Don't worry, it's normal until something else attracts their attention. Come back any time if you need any further help.
John
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>> Duncan, while others are busy re-inventing the wheel ( and confusing you with geeky gobbledegook
>> such as "my documents" which ceased to exist with Vista and Windows 7 ), just
>> head over to
>> windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/help
>> windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/transfer-files-and-settings-from-another-computer
Im really sorry we spoke John H, we all of course bow down to your superior intelect.
Next time we will all keep our useless and unworthy traps shut and wait for the oracle to deign to turn up and put us all on the path of truth.
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>>
>> Duncan, while others are busy re-inventing the wheel ( and confusing you with geeky gobbledegook
>> such as "my documents" which ceased to exist with Vista and Windows 7 ), just
>> head over to
>> windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/help
Unfortunately even Microsoft (probably) don't know where all the OP's important data is filed.
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>> Unfortunately even Microsoft (probably) don't know where all the OP's important data is filed.
>>
Having read some of the previous posts by the OP on computer matters, it would be surprising if he ever found a place other than the default locations to place his important data.
Also, at least Microsoft won't confuse him by referring to "My Documents" in Windows 7 as it does not exist, and the OP would never find that on his new computer if he followed the advice given as quoted below:
"Click Computer then My Documents on the new computer, right click in the right hand pane and select Paste, wait for it to finish."
>>
>> Question please. How do I make Yahoo Mail UK and Ireland my home page? Likewise
>> Google UK my default search engine?
>>
:-) The answer is on the Windows Help page I linked earlier:
windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/help/internet-explorer
which includes these two sections
windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-your-Internet-Explorer-home-page
windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-or-choose-a-search-provider-in-Internet-Explorer
Last edited by: John H on Thu 16 Sep 10 at 17:26
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>> >> Unfortunately even Microsoft (probably) don't know where all the OP's important data is filed.
>> >>
>>
>> Having read some of the previous posts by the OP on computer matters, it would
>> be surprising if he ever found a place other than the default locations to place
>> his important data.
>>
..which is fine for MS apps that use TFFKAMY*, but many 3rd party apps. store user data under 'program files' or somesuch by default, which won't be as easy to track down.
* The Folder Formerly Known As My Documents
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>> ..which is fine for MS apps that use TFFKAMY*, but many 3rd party apps. store
>> user data under 'program files' or somesuch by default, which won't be as easy to
>> track down.
>>
Fine and I understand the point you are making. Let us wait and see if Duncan* has any such app.
*I don't know of any apps on my XP or Vista or Win7 computers that store data other than in TFFKAMD, but then I just have run-of-the-mill apps.
Last edited by: John H on Thu 16 Sep 10 at 17:50
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"... while others are busy re-inventing the wheel ( and confusing you with geeky gobbledegook such as "my documents" which ceased to exist with Vista and Windows 7 "
...and where does it say it's Windows 7? Or are you making an assumption? OK, it's a fair assumption, but I really don't think your smarmy attitude is necessary when people are trying their best to help. Guess you work in user support where people skills are all too often missing...
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Thanks for all the responses. I am sorry if my naive questions have caused dissent in the ranks.
This computer duffer has loaded an operating system onto a new PC, got it working, sorted the emails and saved a few favourites to a favourites list. Now I need to sort out MS Office, or Open Office and move some files over.
My files are still on the HD of the old PC, all I need to do is swap the monitor over and put the files I want on a memory stick.
A job for tomorrow I think.
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" I am sorry if my naive questions have caused dissent in the ranks."
Don't worry Duncan, it's normal round here, they enjoy it. Pleased to hear you're up and running. Enjoy the new pc and come back any time if you need more help :-)
John
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>> ...and where does it say it's Windows 7? Or are you making an assumption? OK,
here www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=2649&v=f
but I see you missed out contributing to that one.
>> it's a fair assumption, but I really don't think your smarmy attitude is necessary when
>> people are trying their best to help. Guess you work in user support where people
>> skills are all too often missing...
>>
Your guess is entirely wrong. You don't take criticism easily then, do you? Not suited to any support role, I think, but then you are a moderator! :-)
Last edited by: John H on Thu 16 Sep 10 at 21:38
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My contribution was as a contributor not a mod. Quite happy to accept criticism when deserved. Less so when not.
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I Have a New Computer - Zero
