Hello, before I get flamed on for not searching before posting, I did search and I couldn't find the exact question I was asking, so I figured I would just make a thread for it. Someone approached me and asked if I could transfer his old information on his old laptop, onto a new hard drive on his new laptop. I know there are a ton of ways to do this, and I'm used to using network file sharing via ethernet or networks to share files between computers, but from experience I know that doing that for large amounts of information takes agggessss. I'm not sure what the hard drive size is, but apart from registries, system files, etc., he wants everything. I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say its about 50-100gb of information that he wants transferred. I didn't know if there was a faster way to do this or what. I know there are lots of freeware out there, but I know nothing about those or the dependability of them. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Also I'm going to assume they are both Windows 7 operating systems. I think by now most people are running on it.
Hawkeye22
Glorious
- Feb 10, 2006
- 11,442
- 1
- 49,065
Is this just data or programs too? If it's programs too, you can't just copy them over as it won't work. if he needs programs too, he'll need to clone his drive. Cloning will destroy all data on the drive it's cloned to (the destination drive).
If the laptop has space for a second drive, I'd just attach the second drive to his new laptop and copy any data files from one drive to the other. As stated, this doesn't work for programs. Programs will need reinstalled.
You can also use a crossover network cable between laptops. Turn on file printer and sharing and set each laptop to "obtain an IP address automatically". You can now transfer files like being on a mini network.
Your slowest option is to stick the old drive into a drive enclosure and attach it to the new laptop via USB.
If the laptop has space for a second drive, I'd just attach the second drive to his new laptop and copy any data files from one drive to the other. As stated, this doesn't work for programs. Programs will need reinstalled.
You can also use a crossover network cable between laptops. Turn on file printer and sharing and set each laptop to "obtain an IP address automatically". You can now transfer files like being on a mini network.
Your slowest option is to stick the old drive into a drive enclosure and attach it to the new laptop via USB.
Fastest would be to pull the old drive from his pc, and put in a desktop using the signal cable and power from the CDROM drive. They are compatible. Then put the new drive in the desktop using another sata cable and power cable. Most desktops have 4 or more Sata ports so this is not hard. Then copy at drive speed (50-70 MB/ sec). Western Digital and other drive makers have disk cloning software that will move from old to new, resize partitions to scale, etc.
Agree that the simplest way is to use a $15 USB attached sata cable and jsut copy at 20MB/sec. Its not that much slower and is really simple to do. (100GB at 20 MB /sec = 5000 seconds = 2 hours.). You would use the same drive cloning software. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002
Agree that the simplest way is to use a $15 USB attached sata cable and jsut copy at 20MB/sec. Its not that much slower and is really simple to do. (100GB at 20 MB /sec = 5000 seconds = 2 hours.). You would use the same drive cloning software. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram