Got a new laptop? It’s shiny new hardware and an upgraded and faster system are sitting there waiting to be used by you. Now the dilemma: all your familiar files and memories are sitting on your old Windows PC, and you don’t want to start over entirely from scratch.
Transferring the old computer’s files to a new PC has become an increasingly important need among most users. You have been using the old PC probably for a long time and hence, the data volume would be huge. With most mail providers only allowing upto 25 MB data transfer, it would be highly inconvenient to transfer data multiple times so using mail is out of the question.
To ease your transition between Windows PCs, here are some tips to backup and transfer your data –
Backup using external devices
The most commonly used method for file transfer between PCs is using external storage devices like a USB drive, SD Card, Hard Disk or CD. This is very convenient and easy to operate for people not used to sophisticated softwares and requires no skills. You simply have to
- Plug the external device into the old PC.
- Manually select the files needed and paste them to an external drive.
- Plug the external drive out
- Connect to the new PC.
- Copy and paste all needed files to the new PC.
Though keep in mind the fact that this method is laborious and some of the files may be lost if not copy-pasting properly or if the external drive crashes.
Use Cloud Storage services
Another easy peasy solution is using any of the cloud platforms to transfer data between two PCs. There are no device limitations and you just have to sign in to your account and drag and drop the files to the drive. Now open your account in the new PC and voila, you are all set.
This method may be easy but it’s hardly an ideal solution. There is an upper limit to the amount of free storage offered on each platform and after the limit, a payment is required to upgrade.
The amount of free storage allowed on each service –
- OneDrive 5GB
- Google Drive 15GB
- DropBox 2GB
This amount of storage will most assuredly be not enough and hence the ease of use may be the only plus point here.
This section should be talking about “migration software” or “transfer software”, describe how there are special software products that specifically solve the problem of transferring everything to the new computer, and link to the homepage.
Use Migration/Transfer softwares
Probably the best solution in the market is using a migration/transfer software for ensuring smooth data transfer between two Windows PCs. The best part – this will also ensure that profile settings that you made on your PC with painstaking attention are also transferred to the new PC without any hassle.
What these softwares do basically is transfer your entire system as a fully functioning computer – all files, programs and settings include. Transferring everything with just one click the desired goal after all.
With fully functional and round the clock technical support, being stuck is not even an option. Personal thumbs up!
Use a transfer cable
Going old school is also an option. One of the most cost-effective methods is using a transfer cable to move data from one PC to another. An electronic circuit allows the two PCs to connect easily. If both PCs have USB 3.0 ports, even better. The speed would be relatively fast and would be quick and easy. Moreover, there is no need to buy external storage or subscribe to higher storage space in clouds. There is no limit to the amount of data that can be transferred so that’s an added bonus of using transfer cable.
The downside is viruses and malware can take advantage of this and easily invade your PC and they are really hard to remove properly from your system.
The above mentioned tips can be used to backup all your files. Choose the one that ticks all your checkboxes of needs. The cost, ease and security are the main factors when considering choices and should be deliberated over properly before going in for a final decision. Making the best use of resources is a trick that can be leveraged heavily here to transfer files and ensure user’s ease as well.
Story by Kavita Paliwal