[Sandy and Ed]

Have done. Works. Better to just buy external and also use as a backup after files are moved. I have SSD and use external to house most of my filets

[J1ceasar]

A lot of good answers involving cables Wi-Fi or directories. In my opinion you should already be backing it up if you use Google ever to free g drive in the cloud. Then very simply log on to your new computer with your same credentials and go to g-drive and download and walk away. It'll be done in a few minutes or a little longer depending on how much you have and look exactly the same as your other computer, excluding programs and software of course. However if you want to use your old software that's another matter and it depends strictly on how it was installed and registration keys. Then you want a cloning software program which may or may not work for all of your programs and software

[NoMo50]

Originally Posted by Sandy and Ed

Have done. Works. Better to just buy external and also use as a backup after files are moved. I have SSD and use external to house most of my filets

How do you get those steaks into the drive?!!

[sasman29]

Best way is to connect PCs via network either hardwire or wireless.
Windows does include required software
Another way would be to Google Drive or microsoft One Drive.

[tjsolomon]

I bought new laptops a couple of months ago and used thumb drives to move a lot of data over including my itunes library, photos and other documents and spreadsheets. You need to figure out how much data you have so you can purchase the right size thumb drive and then move the data. I did computer support for 30 years and there are other ways to move data, but the thumb drive will also provide a backup if you run into problems with the new laptop.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by RoadToad

It takes about 90 seconds to create a "cloud account" if you don't have one.
Go to Google; create an account; that is your credentials for email and cloud storage.
Signin, open "Google Drive"; copy all files into it; go to other computer; signin using same credentialsd; copy files onto new computer.
DONE!

If you already have a Gmail account, then you have Google Drive whether you know it or not.
Google, read, do.....Easy Peasy

I agree that Google Drive is a good way to store data in the cloud. But, Google Drive only provides 15GB of free storage. If you want more than that, you need to pay for a subscription. You can buy a thumb drive with as much permanent storage as you want, up to 1TB.

[Prism]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I agree that Google Drive is a good way to store data in the cloud. But, Google Drive only provides 15GB of free storage. If you want more than that, you need to pay for a subscription. You can buy a thumb drive with as much permanent storage as you want, up to 1TB.

That’s a good option too, but the 15gb is limiting, yes. I’m a fan of SSD external drives, after flash drive failures - even when using the “eject” feature which should protect the flash drive/thumb drive.

[BetsyMae]

I do it the old fashioned way. Don't mess with it and get frustrated. Call a professional I have used JonTownsend for years and he is good and reasonable. He synced my desktop and laptop together. I use my preferred desktop at home and my laptop for my real estate work with ReMax Premier. So he can certainly easily fix your problem. Jon-352-638-2348.
Betsy Lucsay
815-355-1740

[SeaCros]

You can move them to the “Cloud”

[Scorpyo]

Originally Posted by elsamms

I purchased “PC Mover” by Lap Link when I bought my new laptop but have not used it because I set up “One Drive” to go from one computer the other. That worked for my needs.

Boxed product is opened. Cost $39.99 from Amazon but will sell if you could use it for $20. It is sealed in box. See link for product information.

https://www.amazon.com/Laplink-PCmover-Ultimate-10-Use/dp/B008MR37XK[/IMG]

I used PC Mover to move my files and more importantly, my programs from my Windows 7 laptop to my new Windows 10 laptop. The program is a little complicated to use. It did not move the most important program, namely my Microsoft Office program. This was my primary objective in getting this program. So, that was a disappointment. It did, however, move other programs which made up for the cost. So, overall for me, it was worth the cost.
If I wasn't concerned about moving the programs I would have simply used an external hard drive. As a previous poster indicated not only will it move the files it will also be a backup unto itself.

[Malsua]

Originally Posted by SeaCros

You can move them to the “Cloud”

Every time you see the word "Cloud" in relation to computers, substitute this phase:

"A computer owned by a stranger"

Sure, that stranger may promise to hold it securely for you. He may even promise not to look through it. He may also just make it disappear and good luck getting him on the phone.

You could distribute your files on a blockchain distributed network, like Sia. This securely distributes your files all over the world so that no one stranger's computer has the entirety of it. That's not convenient though, so no one bothers.

[lennythenet]

Originally Posted by bobdeb

Any suggestions regarding moving a large number of files from an older laptop to newer?

I've considered using a thumb drive but is there a better method?

Is it possible to maintain directories?

Not Apple if that matters.

Thanks much in advance.

Move everything to iCloud then you never have to worry about data loss or transfer from one device to another. I love it as I can travel north and can still have all of my files available to me. I also created a recipes folder, scanned in my fav recipes and then I always have them when I am north. Definitely worth the move. It’s like $2.99 a month for 500gb. And since you’re not Apple, you can One Drive instead of iCloud.

[gb1944]

I had a laptop crash. I went to MMD Computer repair on 441 in Lady Lake to see if they could fix it. It was not worth repairing so I bought a new laptop from MMD. They cloned the new computer from my old hard drive. Works great.

[skippy05]

I would use microsoft's "onedrive" and not move them from PC to PC. Move them from PC to onedrive and then access them from the new or old PC via onedrive.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by skippy05

I would use microsoft's "onedrive" and not move them from PC to PC. Move them from PC to onedrive and then access them from the new or old PC via onedrive.

For those who don't know, OneDrive is a very good deal. For $70 per year, you get Microsoft Office on all of your devices and 1TB of cloud storage on OneDrive. You can go to the Microsoft 365 website to sign up.