Copying Old Hard Drive to New PC
"When I buy a new computer, how do I transfer everything from the hard drive on my old computer? I enjoy the Tourbus and appreciate all the information you provide."
If you bought a new computer, or just a new hard drive for your old computer, you'll need to transfer the files. Here's how...

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Do You Really Want To Do That...?
There are several options, but first let's talk about NOT copying everything from the old hard drive to the new one. When you use a computer for a couple of years, it tends to build up what I call Cyber Sludge, and you really don't want that nasty old sludge on your shiny new hard drive.
In most cases, all you really need to copy are the personal files you have created, such as word processor documents, spreadsheets, photos, etc. You can use File/Export to dump your web browser favorites into a plain-text file, and the same applies to your emails and address book.
Various Ways to Transfer Files
To transfer to the new computer, you can burn a CD containing those files, or copy them to one of those nifty USB-connected portable hard drives (also called Flash Drives or Memory Sticks), or attach the files to an email and send them to yourself.
If you have a home network, it's even easier. Just make the hard drive in the old computer a shared drive, and you'll be able to copy the files to the new drive with drag and drop. Without a network, you can install the old hard drive in your new computer, and just access the files on it as your D: drive. If you're timid about popping the hood on your PC, you can take both to a computer repair shop and ask them to install the old drive in the new machine.
Copying the Entire Drive
Since that's what you asked about, yes... there are ways to copy your old hard drive, lock, stock and bearings, to a new hard drive. In the old days, you could use the XCOPY command from a DOS prompt to copy everything in one swell foop, but modern operating systems make this impossible. I recommend you use software specifically written to deal with all the intricacies of dealing with partitions, copying the Windows registry, and handling locked, hidden & system files. Two programs I recommend for this purpose are VCOM Copy Commander and Partition Magic.
Posted by Bob Rankin on August 4, 2005 02:30 PM
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Most recent comments on "Copying Old Hard Drive to New PC"
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Okay, if I get a new hard drive with a bigger capacity and copy everything from my old hard drive to a new one, my OS will still run like my original one right? EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, your OS should run the same, maybe better with the extra space! |
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I had a compac pressario the the mother board was damaged.So i bought another compac pressario and would like to add my old harddrive as a extra, but when i followed your directions to add a second harddrive i only found 2 sata ports and both were being used. one by the hrddrive and one by the cd-rom there were no others. is there any way else to retrive my old data from the old harddive or to connect it to computer as a second EDITOR'S NOTE: Connect it as an external drive. See http://askbobrankin.com/convert_internal_hard_drive_to_external.html |
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Added a Maxtor external HD to keep all videos/itunes/pictures off the internal drive for better performance.How do I go about when downloading new pics/videos/itunes,that it goes directly to the external drive.F:\, and not the internal C:\drive.Maxtor offers a run backup everyday,however,I do not want to back up ,I want to load it directly to the F:/ .Any help greatly appreciated EDITOR'S NOTE: You can change a setting in iTunes to tell it where the music library shoulkd be stored. For individual downloads, you'll need to change the drive letter when selecting a folder to store the file. |
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Hello, I have a little problem. My computer crashed (mother board went out). Now I have a second pc with the same operating system. I want to save my data (pictures and other files) from my old hard drive. I installed this hard drive into the other computer as a slave. I can see the hard drive and access all the information but the one folder I have all the things on that I want to save. What can I do?? EDITOR'S NOTE: Are you saying that one specific folder on the old drive cannot be found, or that things are missing from it? If so, you should try a file recovery tool. See http://askbobrankin.com/recover_deleted_files.html |
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I have vista on my pc a the moment but i want to wipe the hard drive Could i transfer all my programs and files to another hard drive and have a new OS on my new hard drive wil the programs work from my old hard drive as a slave drive? EDITOR'S NOTE: No, you'll need to re-install those programs from the original media. Blame the Windows registry. |
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I have just taken my old laptop's hard drive out and placed it into an external enclosure to use with my new laptop, however when I connect it I find that it is very slow and that I can't copy anything off of it onto my new laptop's HD, whenever I try it just starts up saying - 'copying 24 (or however many) items, (however many) minutes remaining and just hangs there making no progress. I tried with just one mp3 file and the same thing happens, I end up having to disconnect the old HD or Windows explorer stops responding, what am I doing wrong? |
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I replaced my old dell Optiplex for a newest Compaq, but I wan to use the old hard drive in my new computer because i have a lot of programs in it. I just connected the old hard drive to the compaq, but it does not recognize the drive. It does not do anything, it is like nothing conected, the new desktop just wait for any hard drive in a black screen. I put the hard drive in the old desktop and it is working fine. Do you know why is it happening? |
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Do you have any advice on how to transfer all my files (incl. Win Vista) from an old HDD to a new blank one? I've tried Acronis and Windows Easy Transfer but they only make backup /or require my new HDD to have Vista already preinstalled. It is worth noting that my laptop vendor never gave me the OS (which is installed in the old HDD) and I have since lost the recovery disk he gave me. Are there any freeware software that could help me facilitate said migration? Thanks in advance. |
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Hi Bob, I have a "lot" of word documents that are on an older Windows 98 desktop that I would like to have use of again . I parked the old computer four years ago and don't know if this or the older older system will be a problem. Didn't find any comments that covered my issue. I have XP professional on my newer system. EDITOR'S NOTE: You should be able to open the Word documents from the Win98 machine on the XP machine with no problem. |
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(How to transfer programs from old hd to new) EDITOR'S NOTE: You can use the old hard drive as an external drive, connected via USB. See http://askbobrankin.com/convert_internal_hard_drive_to_external.html |
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