Need help transfering files from old computer to new one?

[suzanne]

Old computer has XP Home edition and new one has Windows Vista. I have DSL. How do I transfer all my files from the old computer to the new computer? Both computers are HP. I especially want to transfer my favorites list.

I'm not that savvy about computer speak so need easy to understand directions.

Thanks,

Suzanne

 

[laura1957]

I just did the same with my HP and my new Dell - I have a program that I bought a few years ago called Intellimover that worked great. Just look for a file transfer program. I transferred all my pics, music and word documents.
Very easy - just loaded the disc on both computers, hooked cables between the 2, and the computers did all the work. And that was XP to Vista. There was a program that was supposed to do the same thing that came with the Vista - but that did not work for me.

 

[Icarus]

You might want to try running the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard on both the old and the new computer. It will walk you through what you need to do, and you can use external storage or a home network to do the transfer.

On the computer running XP, the wizard is under start/accessories/system tools. Not sure where it is under Vista, but you should be able to find it.

-David

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

You might want to try running the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard on both the old and the new computer. It will walk you through what you need to do, and you can use external storage or a home network to do the transfer.

On the computer running XP, the wizard is under start/accessories/system tools. Not sure where it is under Vista, but you should be able to find it.

-David

Files and Settings Transfer doesn't pick up everything you might want to transfer, most notably e-mail message stores and address books. You need to locate those files and transfer them separately.

There are other items that are also often overlooked - generally I've found that if a program stores personal information in the "Program Files" folder (rather than the "Documents and Settings" folder), there's a pretty good chance that Files and Settings Transfer Wizard won't transfer that information.

 

[Icarus]

None of these programs will get everything Steve, but this thing claims to include contacts and email messages. (Not sure if that includes firefox/t-bird though, but if you want them, you can search for how to do that.)

On Vista, it's called Windows Easy Transfer, and there's a site if you want to download the Windows Easy Transfer on to the computer running XP. And use that on the old computer instead of using the XP Files and Transfer Wizard.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...31-973A-45C7-A4EC-4928FA173266&displaylang=en

Here's a description of what it does:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928635/en-us

Note: It says it includes contacts, messages and user account settings and several other things. User account settings should include your favorites.

I would try this method instead of the one I mentioned in my previous post.

Note: None of these will transfer the programs themselves. You have to install them first on the new computer. It should tell you that. For example, if you have quicken on the old computer and want to transfer your quicken data files and run quicken on the new computer, you have to install the quicken program itself on the new computer before running the transfer wizard on the new computer.

I've never actually used this, so let us know how it goes. As with the XP wizard, you should be able to use your home network or external storage, or writable cd/dvd, or a special cable to do the transfer.

You should consider doing a full backup of the new computer and taking a restore point before doing any of this on the new computer.


-David

 

[Icarus]

More info:

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/02/15/using-windows-easy-transfer.aspx

There's also a Windows Easy Transfer Companion (Beta) that will apparently transfer programs from XP to Vista. This one only works with a network or the special cable.

Here's the info/download for it:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...EB-4E37-4BE0-ADFC-786786E73E50&displaylang=en

Windows Easy Transfer Companion enables you to automatically transfer your most important programs from your Windows XP-based PC to your new Windows Vista-based PC. The software will move more than 100 of the most popular programs, as well as many others that you may have installed. You have complete control over selecting which programs to transfer, so only the programs you care about will move. The software will alert you if some programs may not be able to transfer, or may not transfer with high confidence. Most security software is not able to transfer due to technical reasons.

Easy Transfer Companion is designed to be used in addition to Windows Easy Transfer—which is part of Windows Vista and automatically transfers your data and settings. Connecting your two computers can be done with either an Easy Transfer Cable (available online, from retailers, and from PC manufacturers), or a home or small business network. If using an Easy Transfer Cable, you must first install Windows Easy Transfer on your Windows XP-based PC. By using Easy Transfer and Easy Transfer Companion you will be able to quickly and easily setup your new PC with all the data, settings, and programs that matter to you, so you can be productive on your new PC right away.

Easy Transfer Companion only transfers programs from a Windows XP-based PC to a Windows Vista-based PC. Easy Transfer Companion is currently in Beta, and only available for the US market.

And this article on how to use it:

How to use Windows Easy Transfer Companion to transfer programs from Windows XP with Service Pack 2 to Windows Vista

Looks like it's also worth a try. But take backups of the new computer first, if you have anything on there you don't want to lose. If there's nothing on it yet, you can always re-install using the restore program that came with the new computer.

I think you run this one first (install WETC on both computers), then use Windows Easy Transfer to get the rest of the files and settings.

It may not transfer every program you have and want to transfer, but it looks like it supports a decent set of common windows programs, including firefox/t-bird and office.

It's amazing what you can find with a good search engine.

-David

 

[Icarus]

Walkthrough (with screenshots) using WET (Windows Easy Transfer) over a home network:

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Migrating-Vista-using-Windows-Easy-Transfer.html

 

[xzhan02]

Anything that can help transition from old window XP to mac ? I was going to use external hard drive to transfer documents but probably have to redo all settings. thanks

 

[Icarus]

Anything that can help transition from old window XP to mac ? I was going to use external hard drive to transfer documents but probably have to redo all settings. thanks

To Leopard (or OS X or whatever)? No. Of course not. There's no way to automatically transfer settings or programs from one OS to another completely different OS from a different vendor that I know of. (But I suppose it's possible, but I doubt it .. did you try searching?)

But if you're running windows on the mac either through boot camp or a virtualization manager like Parallels or VMware, you can use the wizards I posted about above to transfer your stuff from Windows XP on the old computer to Windows XP or Vista on the Mac. For XP -> XP use File and Settings Transfer. For XP -> Vista use WETC and WET.

-David

 

[toxicesq]

xzhan02--

I just moved a bunch of stuff from my old Windows XP Dell to an iMac. I used a thumb drive and had no problem. Photos transferred right over. I installed Office for Mac and my Word documents went over just fine, with no adjustments necessary. I transferred my iTunes music using my iPod as an external hard drive (instructions are on the apple.com website). The only thing that was a problem was transferring my old Office Contacts to the Office for Mac Entourage address book. The data would not go into the correct fields. This is a common problem. There is a third-party software program available for download for $10 that made that problem go away. If you need it, I'll go look up what it's called.

 

[dmharris]

I would like to copy my Outlook Contacts from my desktop (HP) to my Laptop (also HP). I do have a "thumb drive" (I never know what to call these little thingies) that I could use. Anyone know how to do this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Icarus]

Diane:

Export them on the old computer. Import them on the new computer:

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_move_my_microsoft_outlook_contacts.html

(with links to Microsoft kb articles at the bottom of the page).

Here's another method (same as Dave Taylor's method, but using pst files instead of csv files):

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA011053931033.aspx?pid=CH062556111033

I found these pages by searching the internet for "copy outlook contacts to a new computer".

-David

 

[dmharris]

"Transfer that to your new computer, then you can import them into your new version of Outlook with the following steps:"

This is the middle part of Dave Taylor's "instructions" that falls down for me. Exactly HOW do you transfer that to your new computer??

 

[Icarus]

"Transfer that to your new computer, then you can import them into your new version of Outlook with the following steps:"

This is the middle part of Dave Taylor's "instructions" that falls down for me. Exactly HOW do you transfer that to your new computer??

Plug the thumb drive into the old computer. It will show up as a "drive" under "My Computer". Make sure there's some free space on it.

When you do the export, you will be able to browse to a location to save the file. You can save it on the "thumb" drive, or on your desktop and then copy it to your thumb drive. Then take the thumb drive over to the new computer and when you import it in outlook, browse to the file on the thumb drive, or first copy it to your desktop, etc.

It should be the same sort of dialog box when you do a "save as". They all should look similar in any windows program. Navigate to the thumb drive under "My Computer" when doing the export. When you do the "import" on the new computer, you should get the familiar "open file" dialog box that lets you browse to the location of the file, which will be on the thumb drive under "My Computer" after you plug the drive into the new computer.

The windows help link has more detailed instructions if you expand the hints/tips/how tos in the article by clicking on the "+" signs in the article.

Does that help?

-David

 

[dmharris]

It helps very much. I was guessing that might be the way, but I'm always afraid the computer will blow up if I do something I'm not supposed to do.

Many thanks!

 

[xzhan02]

xzhan02--

I just moved a bunch of stuff from my old Windows XP Dell to an iMac. I used a thumb drive and had no problem. Photos transferred right over. I installed Office for Mac and my Word documents went over just fine, with no adjustments necessary. I transferred my iTunes music using my iPod as an external hard drive (instructions are on the apple.com website). The only thing that was a problem was transferring my old Office Contacts to the Office for Mac Entourage address book. The data would not go into the correct fields. This is a common problem. There is a third-party software program available for download for $10 that made that problem go away. If you need it, I'll go look up what it's called.

Thank you so much. I had to look up what thumb drive is, but my external hard drive should be the same. I'll run both computers at the same time for a little while so don't mind incomplete tranfer.

 

[suzanne]

Thanks everyone. I will let you all know how it goes. I was also told by a computer geek that I should download updates tro Vista as soon as I get the computer set up, as this will get rid of most of the issues people have been having with it. Is he correct, I won't have time to start setting everything up until my day off on Sunday. So wish me luck.

Suzanne

 

[Icarus]

Thanks everyone. I will let you all know how it goes. I was also told by a computer geek that I should download updates tro Vista as soon as I get the computer set up, as this will get rid of most of the issues people have been having with it. Is he correct, I won't have time to start setting everything up until my day off on Sunday. So wish me luck.

Suzanne

When you start up the new computer for the first time, make sure you are connected to the internet before you turn it on. During the initial configuration, it will ask you if it's ok to look for updates. If you've already started it up, just run windows update or microsoft update and let it download and install all the critical updates. For non-critical updates, you'll have to decide which ones to install yourself. You'll need to run windows update again after it downloads and installs all the critical updates in order to select non-critical updates.

-David

 

[suzanne]

OK everyone, I have the new computer up and running. The all in one printer fax copy scanner is connected and working great. I donwloaded all of the update things. But I am not having any luck on the transfering stuff from the old computer to the new one.

I did the wizard thing. downloaded the easy transfer to the CD and followed all of the on screen directions.

Everything was going great both times I tried it. It gets down to the very end on the old computer, I mean the very end on the sliding bar that marks the progress. Then poof, a box pops up that says it has to shut down the transfer because access was denied. It doesn't tell me anything else, but it will not go any further so nothing gets transfered. The new computer says the old computer stopped the transfer so I have to start it all over again. After the second time, I gave up and I'm turning to you all for suggestions on why this may be happening and how to fix it.

Otherwise everything is working great on the new computer.

Thank you all for your help.

Suzanne

 

[Icarus]

Is this using WETC? One of the issues on the WETC page is that if you need the .net 1.1 framework, you have to install it on the new computer before using WETC. Are you logging in as administrator when you run this stuff?

Other than that, you might try contacting microsoft. There isn't a lot of information available for WETC.

I guess you might try narrowing it down to transferring one or a few programs at a time.

-David

 

[dmharris]

David, I miss seeing your sweet happy face in place of some goofy cartoon guy. What's with this?

 

[suzanne]

Hi All, Great news. I was able to transfer everything. I went back into the old computer and shut down both the Firewall and virus program Defender Pro. Tried the transfer again, it still stopped and did not transfer. It stopped both times at Spybot. I went into the Add/Remove program on the old computer and removed Spybot Program completely and tried again. This time it worked like a charm. And was very fast at doing it.


Thanks for all your help and advice. TUGGERS are the best. Now I am happily computing on my new HP.:whoopie:

Suzanne
:hysterical:

 

[Icarus]

ok, so that was WETC (the companion that does programs). Did you run WET also?

Spybot is up to 1.5 now anyway, so it was probably time to reinstall the new version. The only thing I don't like about Spybot S&D is that the automatic update doesn't bother to tell you when there's a newer version out.

-David

 

[Icarus]

David, I miss seeing your sweet happy face in place of some goofy cartoon guy. What's with this?

Thank you. I'll probably switch it back eventually.

I used that same head shot and ran it through www.simpsonize.com, and with the choices I made, that's what came out.

-David

 

[dmharris]

David, you're much too cute to have this guy represent you. Spare us, please!