Moving data to new laptop?

[charlotteCH]

I'm getting a new Dell laptop and wonder about copying the data from my old Dell PC to the new.
The new laptop will be Win7- the pc is XP home.

Can I move the data myself by copying all the wanted files etc
on to an Apollo Imation 320GB portable hard drive and then downloading it to the laptop's HD?
Would this be hard to do or risky? I'm totally selftaught and not a top end whiz on computers.

AND... am I correct in thinking I should NOT copy any XP files and updates that are on the desktop's HD?

Guidance, advice etc very welcome- and if me doing it like this is a daft idea, please tell me before I muck up the new laptop.
 
Thanks,
charlotte

[Jamjar]

It's so easy. I did it and haven't had any problems at all.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=734917d8-0663-4c26-89d0-2d00b632ebdb&displaylang=en


http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3157/migrate-xp-to-windows-7-with-easy-transfer-over-the-network/

The process took a few hours, so don't start it if you need to go out during the day!

Jamjar

[stevieuk]

Yes you can copy to your portable HDD, then copy onto your new PC this is the way I`d do it.

There some reasons why I`d choose this route.

If you copy & paste to the external you still have the original files safe until you`ve moved them to the new PC.

If you move the files & something goes wrong you could end up struggling to recover them.

You can use the transfer wizard, but I prefer the tried & tested long winded way.

Don`t delete any files for a while until you`re sure all is well on the new PC & no files have been corrupted..

[charlotteCH]

Thanks Jasmjar and stevieuk

Any comment on Win XP files? Am I correct in thinking I should just leave all those uncopied?

charlotte

[stevieuk]

I doubt you`d need any WinXP files?

But we`re talking Windows so who knows? LOL

[Berlin-Bob]

As the new laptop has a fully functional operating system (Windows 7) you should only  need to move your data files (documents, images, speadsheets, FH data, etc). 

Any application programs will need to be re-installed.

I fully agree with Steve (and for the same reasons) about copying to an external hard-drive and then to the new machine.

Think of a good directory structure for doing this, and then you also have the basis for a good back-up system. Once your new machine is up and going, just keep a back-up of all data on the external drive.

Bob

[charlotteCH]

Bob, Thanks for your help.
On my pc I have a number of programs....exe... that I have paid for and downloaded from the net [ eg Album GV2.4.exe] and others such as Family Tree Maker that has all my entered data intrinsic to it as I understand it now.

Do I copy these to the external HD lin the same way as  the data files?
 I ask this as I don't understand how your remark "Any application programs will need to be reinstalled" differs from copying them via the external HD.

charlotte

[downside]

You cannot copy or migrate programs to a new computer, mainly because of Window's registry.  Every time you install a program it writes entries in Window's registry and so if you were to copy the program files over to your new computer the wouldn't work because the registry wouldn't know anything about them.

So you will have to re-install all your programs on your new computer.  You may have compatibility problems with your FTM program, but you may be able to overcome those problems with a patch from their website.

Make sure you copy the folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Name

To your external HDD as it will contain most of your data.

[Jamjar]

Hi Charlotte,

There is a very good reason to use the Windows recommended program I linked to. It will copy everything you need, to have your new computer set up exactly as your old one was. E.g it copies all your userfiles, drivers etc and even things like yours browser bookmarks and the like. You don't have to do anything, so if you're not a confident techie you can't go wrong. Just plug in your external hard drive and away you go.

The progam won't copy anything from XP that isn't needed. Remember you can't actually upgrade from XP to Windows 7. When you are changing from XP to 7 on the same computer it is a clean install. So, having everything set up the way I had it on XP was very useful.

As others have stated, you will have to re-install all progams, such as Office, email progams, etc.

Jamjar