How to transfer info. from one computer to another ?

[av1998]

I have just purchased a newer and faster computer. And I wish to transfer all the information from my old computer to the new one. Both my computers are equipped with only a floppy drive and a CD-ROM drive ..... so I guess moving files using diskettes won't be a feasible idea. Could anybody tell me how I can transfer everything from my old computer to the new one ? Thanks.

[Stan]

Hi.

Well, using the FDD is a no-no...
I guess the PC are not networked so this is the way i would do it.
1) Remove the HD from the old PC
2) Install it as slave in the new PC
3) Transfer the data
4) Done !

Stan

[This message has been edited by Stan (edited 11-04-1999).]

[izzzy12k]

if you want to copy "everything" over, use something like Ghost software and image one HDD to another and you would then be able to bbot from your new HDD. Just be carefull to make sure nothing is on the new HDD, because it will be completely overwritten.

-Izzzy12k

[LittleKing]

Depending on how much information you need to transfer (ie. The whole hard drive, or just a few large files) you could alway link the computer together via serial cable. It might take a little longer than ghosting or installing it in the new computer but it will work.

LK

[chuckiechan]

Yes to all of the above, plus many HDD mfgs. have a copy utility you can download-not as good as "ghose", etc. but free.

Have you considered reloading your o/s and software for a fresh, clean install, and then just copying files via floppy?

PS what brand HDD do you have?

[PaulSinclair]

Out of interest, if the new PC has a different processor (eg moving from P1/2 to P3/Athlon), would the system work as normal afterwards, or how far would you have to update/reinstall all software to recognise and work with the new CPU?

Eg if you use Photoshop or Voice Recognition, or even MS Office BigBuggerWithLotsOfFeatures 2000, these use the P3/Athlon features. Would you have to reinstall these totally to get the advantage of the new CPU instruction set, or would most programs pick it up automatically next time they run? Not to mention Windows itself, which must surely have P3 optimised code somewhere too...

[Comtech]

Take the primary harddrive out of your system and put the new one in as primary master. Set cmos accordingly.

Boot from a floppy and fdisk and make it active. Format the harddrive according to your preferences. Do not place system files on it. Turn system off.

Replace your primary harddrive as primary master and install the new drive as secondary master. turn on the system. Set cmos accordingly. Boot the system fully into win9x.

Start a msdos prompt. This is important as the dos prompt must be underlying the full windows system for this procedure to work.

Issue the command "xcopy32 x:\*.* y:\ /s/e/r/c/v/y/h/k", where x is your old drive and y the new one. All the switches are important as they cause the command to do various things as I will explain later.

When this command completes (sometimes it takes awhile) issue the command "sys y:" to place the system files on the new drive. You should now have an exact and bootable copy of your first harddrive on the second.

Take the first drive out of the computer and place the new drive as master of the primary channel. After setting cmos accordingly it should now boot up.

The switches explained.

/s copies subdirectories except empty ones.
/e copies empty subdirectories
/v verifies writes
/c continues to copy even if errors occur
/r copies read-only files, overwrites destination read only files is any are present.
/h copies hidden files and system files.
/k copies attributes. Without this switch will reset read-only
/y copies without prompting. overwrites all existing files (if any).

You can get a complete list of these switches by typing xcopy32 /? at the dos prompt.

I hope I haven't left anything out, but if I have I'm sure someone will notice.