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Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav

Premium Member

Best way to migrate to a new computer?

I have had bad luck in the past swapping hard drives and especially email windows accounts in the past.

I am thinking about this time doing the cloning method. Clone a hard drive over to the new one that is going in a new computer. That way im thinking there should be no surprizes. The only drawback is running windows 7 32 bit on more modern 64 bit computer. Any suggestions welcome.

koira
Hey Siri Walk Me
Premium Member
join:2004-02-16

koira

Premium Member

I use a utility named carbon copy cloner for my macs , don't know if there is a windows file system equivalent . Works well for me.

JC_
Premium Member
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON

JC_ to Anav

Premium Member

to Anav
Easiest way is to just copy all of your data over to the new computer using the network. Alternatively you could take the hard drive from the old computer and put into the new computer as a slave, you just need to make sure that you boot of the new hard drive into Windows and than just copy over all of your personal data.

Both of the above methods will require you to reinstall all programs, which is the best way to go as it will give you a clean slate to start with.

I have done this process many times over the years using a mix of installing the old drive(s) and doing network transfers. It has also allowed me to consolidate a lot of files that were spread out through folders in documents, pictures, videos, music, ect... into proper folders.

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav

Premium Member

Hi JC, thanks for the tips. I have no problems with data files......
The main problem is effing email accounts. I will get scalped if I frig that up.
One thing for sure is will keep windows 7 not go to windows 8. I hate that interface.

JC_
Premium Member
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON

JC_

Premium Member

What program are you using for email?

digitalfutur
Sees More Than Shown
Premium Member
join:2000-07-15
GTA

digitalfutur to Anav

Premium Member

to Anav
Transfer all your email accounts to webmail, e.g. Outlook.com, then it doesn't matter what computer you use.

You can back up outlook.com accounts by syncing a desktop email app to it, e.g. Outlook. After that, all the webmail is downloaded into an .ost file that can be archived.

Jackorama
I Am Woman
Premium Member
join:2008-05-23
Kingston, ON

Jackorama to Anav

Premium Member

to Anav
I just retired my XP and moved my email accounts, contacts and emails over to my win 7 laptop with no problem following this guy's instructions.

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· iWwLsjsc


»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· jGZ9hkxo


The two videos helped a lot. I can't believe how small email files are. After exporting, I copied them to a flash drive and copied them to my win 7. Went into windows mail and did the importing. Was faster than coping my data that I wanted to keep on to an external HD then back over to my win 7 laptop.

Good Luck.
vue666 (banned)
Let's make Canchat better!!!
join:2007-12-07

vue666 (banned) to Anav

Member

to Anav
I use Thunderbird and I've done this quite a few times I now.

I find out where my mail is being saved on my computer

C:\Users\kenmo\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\szp2qp9q.default\Mail\pop3.eastlink.ca

And back a backup copy of it

From my isp's support website I obtain the settings for pop and smtp servers then all I need to do is remember what my e-mail password is

Then I install Thunderbird on the new computer, copy my e-mail over and enter in the proper server settings for email account. Launch Thunderbird and on the first launch enter my password and click the box to remember password.

Works every time for me.

I recently did this for my brother when he purchased a new computer. And he too hated the Windows 8.1 interface and back reved his computer to Windows 7.

Cheers

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav

Premium Member

THanks for the suggestions!

kingb71
join:2000-10-09
Mississauga, ON

kingb71 to Anav

Member

to Anav
if you're using Thunderbird, you should just be able to back up your profile, and restore that, and it brings all data & settings over.
momo95
join:2008-02-22

momo95 to Anav

Member

to Anav
This piece of software will help you move your windows user profile to the new computer. You just have to make sure you have all the software installed.

»www.forensit.com/move-co ··· ter.html

Last Parade
join:2002-10-07
Port Colborne, ON

Last Parade to Anav

Member

to Anav
time to start leveraging the cloud more, kids

Mashiki
Balking The Enemy's Plans
join:2002-02-04
Woodstock, ON

1 recommendation

Mashiki to Anav

Member

to Anav
Acronis, no muss no fuss. You can use it for 30 days free as well, and "the cloud" is a bad idea considering how poorly security is implemented on it.
mr weather
Premium Member
join:2002-02-27
Mississauga, ON

mr weather to Last Parade

Premium Member

to Last Parade
Fuck the cloud. I'll take the inconvenience of manually moving my files from one machine to a new one.
vue666 (banned)
Let's make Canchat better!!!
join:2007-12-07

vue666 (banned) to Mashiki

Member

to Mashiki
said by Mashiki:

Acronis, no muss no fuss. You can use it for 30 days free as well, and "the cloud" is a bad idea considering how poorly security is implemented on it.

I second that. If security is a concern then the cloud is not a viable option...
Riamen
Premium Member
join:2002-11-04
Calgary

Riamen to Anav

Premium Member

to Anav
You could use the built-in Windows Easy Transfer program.

Bender2000
Bite My Shiny Metal Ass
Premium Member
join:2002-05-06
J7W 8E4

Bender2000 to Anav

Premium Member

to Anav
if you're transferring a windows 7 operating system onto a new computer with windows 8, just be sure you can get all the drivers for windows 7 for your new computer. If you don't, you may end up not being scalped for other reasons
Datalink
Premium Member
join:2014-08-11
Ottawa ON

Datalink to Anav

Premium Member

to Anav
You still haven't indicated which program you use for your email. It would probably be an easy task to transfer the mail folders, just have to do a little research for that specific program. Just to point out, Windows 7 mainstream support ends 13 jan 2015. Security updates continue until 14 Jan 2020, but, that is security updates only. If you do any gaming at all you should be interested in DX12, which will run in Windows 10, and 8.1. "Microsoft hasn't officially said one way or another whether Windows 7 will support DX12." That's an ongoing question at the moment.

Windows 8 or 8.1 and hate the interface? Not a problem. Load Classic Shell and you never have to look at the tiled interface again. You can choose your desktop appearance XP, 7, etc. That's what I have done, and it works very well.

sm5w2
Premium Member
join:2004-10-13
St Thomas, ON

sm5w2 to Anav

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to Anav
Cloning a hard drive is easy. Whether it's IDE or SATA, I have a few spare computers where I hook up the source and target drives and boot Norton Ghost from a floppy and the cloning process takes about 1 minute per GB.

BUT -> getting the clone to run on anything other than an exact duplicate system (same motherboard and video card) is extremely difficult. There is no clean way to do it - every situation will be different as you stumble your way through helping the new system discover new hardware. You will also have to re-validate your installation of windows with Micro$oft at some point along the way - and you'll only get one shot at doing that and if you mess up you'll have to wait 3 or 4 months to try again.

You'll most likely end up booting the Windows installation CD and perform an in-place reinstallation, where all your installed programs and almost all registry settings are maintained.
IamGimli (banned)
join:2004-02-28
Canada

IamGimli (banned) to Anav

Member

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Since you're going from Windows 7 to Windows 7 Microsoft's User State Migration Tool (USMT) should be able to move all your application data for you effortlessly. Just re-install your apps on the new computer using a throaway user account then import your old user state and everything should work as it did before.
Riamen
Premium Member
join:2002-11-04
Calgary

Riamen

Premium Member

USMT is designed for large-scale deployments and more complex to setup. Windows Easy Transfer is built-in, does essentially the same thing and is well... easier.

urbanriot
Premium Member
join:2004-10-18
Canada

1 recommendation

urbanriot to sm5w2

Premium Member

to sm5w2
said by sm5w2:

BUT -> getting the clone to run on anything other than an exact duplicate system (same motherboard and video card) is extremely difficult. There is no clean way to do it -

Yea, not sure why there were so many posts before someone said this.

You should never clone one system with differing hardware specifications to another and even then, even if specifications matched there's still a proper way to complete that process and it's not a straight cloning.

The focus should be on transferring the user-created data and not the entire system as-is.
NefCanuck
join:2007-06-26
Mississauga, ON

NefCanuck

Member

said by urbanriot:

said by sm5w2:

BUT -> getting the clone to run on anything other than an exact duplicate system (same motherboard and video card) is extremely difficult. There is no clean way to do it -

Yea, not sure why there were so many posts before someone said this.

You should never clone one system with differing hardware specifications to another and even then, even if specifications matched there's still a proper way to complete that process and it's not a straight cloning.

The focus should be on transferring the user-created data and not the entire system as-is.

Actually that's not quite accurate as Macrium Reflect has in their (paid) version) an option for a "bare metal restore" which has allowed me to migrate my OS/data drives multiple times with zero issues (including a MB failure one month out of warranty :/)

NefCanuck

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav to Datalink

Premium Member

to Datalink
Thanks datalink did not know that a working shell was available.
vue666 (banned)
Let's make Canchat better!!!
join:2007-12-07

vue666 (banned) to Datalink

Member

to Datalink
said by Datalink:

You still haven't indicated which program you use for your email. It would probably be an easy task to transfer the mail folders, just have to do a little research for that specific program. Just to point out, Windows 7 mainstream support ends 13 jan 2015. Security updates continue until 14 Jan 2020, but, that is security updates only. If you do any gaming at all you should be interested in DX12, which will run in Windows 10, and 8.1. "Microsoft hasn't officially said one way or another whether Windows 7 will support DX12." That's an ongoing question at the moment.

Windows 8 or 8.1 and hate the interface? Not a problem. Load Classic Shell and you never have to look at the tiled interface again. You can choose your desktop appearance XP, 7, etc. That's what I have done, and it works very well.

Actually a friend of mine who I set up their new Asus computer which came with Windows 8.1 hated the interface so much so he threatened to return the computer if they would not downgrade to Windows 7. The tech suggested he install 'classic shell' and is a happy camper now... Told me it's just like the Windows 7 experience...
MichelR
join:2011-07-03
Trois-Rivieres, QC

MichelR to kingb71

Member

to kingb71
said by kingb71:

if you're using Thunderbird, you should just be able to back up your profile, and restore that, and it brings all data & settings over.

That works like a charm. I even did it moving from Windows 7 to a Mac. No problem whatsoever.

koira
Hey Siri Walk Me
Premium Member
join:2004-02-16

koira to Anav

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After reading this thread I remembered switching my laptop from XP over to window 7 and I wanted to wipe the drive clean prior to the 64 bit win 7 install. There wasn't much data on it aside from outlook email .pst and archive files. I backed those files up on an external usb drive but had a bit of a time restoring them to the new install so they were visible in outlook. I also use webmail and outlook has a check box option to delete the file on the Web server once it's downloaded. I prefer to set that so email stays on the Web mail service.
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