Looking for computer help
 

I need help moving files from an old desktop to a laptop. I have ZERO computer skills so I'm concerned I will lose pictures or important files. Any help appreciated and I'm willing to pay. Thanks, Bryan

If you have a Google account and the files are less than 15gb, go to "drive.google.com" on your desktop. Click on "my drive" and drag and drop the files to the "my drive". Then, go to "drive.google.com" on the laptop and copy the files to the laptop.

Another method is to copy the files to a flash (thumb) drive, move the flash drive to the laptop, and copy them to the laptop.

You want Jon Townsend, he did that for me perfectly. 352-250-1686

I used to copy files to a flash drive and then physically move the flash drive to the new device and paste them all to a subdirectory in the new device.

Now, I just keep the flash drive in my current device, and save ALL my files to that flash drive. When I get a new machine I simply take that drive and insert it into the new machine, and everything is still exactly where I put it the first time around.

Flash drives fail when used in that manner. You are risking total loss of all you files. That is a very risky procedure to do, and promote.

All important files need to be in at least 2 places, one of which is in the cloud. Out of the house where a fire, hurricane, theft, will not reach.

I agree. I use my Google drive to store all important documents. If you scan them, they use very little data storage. Everyone who has a Google account, which is almost everyone, has 15gb of free cloud storage that can be accessed on "drive.google.com" from any internet device. Many people don't even know that they have the free storage.

Does anyone have any idea how many photos or documents you can store with 15 gigabytes of free storage?

May want to disclose what village you live in..............the transfer process is easy, a poster might jus swing by if close and hammer this out for you.

:beer3:

You can also buy a data transfer cable on Amazon if you're unsure about the cloud transfer process. Just plug it in to both computers and follow the instructions. It just a drag and drop process of files and folders.

Most scanned documents are less than 1mb per page, so you should be able to store more than 15,000 pages.

Photos can vary greatly in data size, but typically, most photos require about 1mb per photo, unless you are using a very high resolution.

The cloud is only useful if you're online when you need a file. It's useless if you're in a situation when you don't have internet access.

My photos are in several places - on my hard drive, on google drive, on my flash drive, on my phone.

My data files are on a flash drive, though I do have some duplication to my hard drive on my desktop computer with some of the files. The only exception are the files I created using google sheets and google docs. Those are initially on the cloud server, and THEN I convert them to libre office formatting and save them to my flash drive. I don't use google sheets or docs for much though.

Most of my programs are on a flash drive, and I have my entire computer ghosted to an SD card.

This is the same flash drive I've had for seven years. It's fine. The USB port I usually stick it in is getting wobbly because my cat keeps rubbing against the drive. The data on the drive is still perfectly secure and allows me to work (and read books) offline.

I always convert my raw photos to jpgs, and that reduces the size from (sometimes over 2mb) to around 400kb or less.

Cloud is only accessible by wifi? What? Everytime you log in to Google mail, iCloud, or whatever cloud from your phone, you think you are using wifi?
You can get to the cloud using LTE, 4G, or 5G cell service.
I wouldn’t use a flash drive either for files, I would get a usb disk that doesn’t need any external power. But that’s the last thing I would do.
If somebody can come in and steal your computer, where are your important files? Probably not encrypted, probably not password protected.
And people wonder how their valuable info gets in the wrong hands.
HDDs are cheap, TBs for Pennies. The days of compressing files to save space have been over for decades. My photos are tens of MBs in size for each photo. I keep them in this size so if I want to modify them, I have all the data. If I have to send a photo in an email, then I convert it to a jpeg.

I used "Computer Corner"---Michael Frymier from Leesburg: 352-460-1155. He did all of that for we when we got a new computer.

Dropbox is a fine alternative or supplement to Google Drive. You set up a top level folder of everything that you might want to move, data, documents, etc. Then set that drive to be duplicated on the internet. You can work locally. Files will be synchronized with the internet copy the next time you are connected. It also does not matter if you decide that you want to switch platforms, Windows, Mac, even Linux, not that you care about that option. :)

Much easier than using USB or external drives.

Get a small filing cabinet. Copy your files to a floppy disk. Take the floppy disk and make a xerox copy of it. Copy files from the floppy disk to the new computer. Put the floppy disk and the xerox copy into the small filing cabinet.

Best approach would be to have someone who is not on TOTV and is knowledgeable about computers perform the transfer for you. Ask if they know Binary and Hexadecimal. Test them by asking the value of 1011 and F0 + 0F. (1011 = 123 F0 + 0F = FF = 255)

They will probably mess it up as well, but such is life with Computers that most of us don't really know how to use.

Thats the best idea. Then no worries about missing files or pictures ever

I don't see where anyone claimed that wifi was required. You need to be online and, as you point out, mobile phones can get online without wifi. On the other hand, if you are attempting to transfer files to a computer (desktop, laptop, tablet) then you will most likely use wifi.

My external disk is stored safely and securely away from my computer. That way any issue with the computer does not affect the backup of my important files.

1011 != 123
1011 = 11 or 521 or 1,011 or 4,113

Floppy disk? I hope the new computer doesn't have a floppy disc drive because it won't be a new laptop. Most new laptops don't come with any built-in data drives. I don't know binary or hexadecimal, but I do know how to copy files from a desktop to a laptop.

I subscribe to Microsoft 365 for $70 per year. It provides the Microsoft Office software (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook, etc.) on all of your internet devices, and the programs can be downloaded for offline use. But, it also provides 1TB of cloud storage using OneDrive. I use about half of the cloud storage for lossless music files. It is a very good deal.

recently retired from 47 years in computers, and I'm bored. So send me something in my inbox and I'll do it for you. I work for tips LOL ok that sounded wrong, how about a donut? LOL. Just saying I'm good but don't cost anything.

its not a big deal deal - if you are not far from me I would do it for nothing - message me

OP, copying files and using the cloud are two things that you really should learn how to do. You will get a lot more use from your new computer.

Try this: If you have a smart phone, click on the "my files" app and see if the Google Drive appears. If so, this is the easiest cloud drive to use for storing files that can be accessed from anywhere.

Programs or files?
 

If you want to move files that it is easy. Use a flash drive, or DropBox, or other cloud drive. If you want to move programs then you will have to buy a software program that moves programs too. A program that will transfer programs and more is PC Trans by EaseUS. There are a couple of others as well.

I use Dropbox and you have the option at the file or folder level to choose cloud or cloud and local. For example, I have music both cloud and local so there is no need for download to play a song. But my pictures are cloud only, which means they must be downloaded before viewing.

Flash drive or any single point of failure is a recipe for disaster.

OneDrive offers the same option. You can sync any new files created to OneDrive, and it will upload them to the cloud, and/or download them to any device or devices you choose.

Looking for Computer help
 

Many people including myself use Michael McLeer. He really knows his stuff and charges only whatever you think is fair. He also goes by “The Geek God”. His number is 352-638-6720.

computer help
 

let me know if you don't get a zillion people offering to help...

i would be glad to help for free...

Tranfering to new computer
 

I have done this many times. Call me if you need on site help
Mike Roth 513-646-6523

No, it's only accessible if you have INTERNET. The cloud is an internet-based storage system. If the cell tower is down and your internet service is interrupted (such as in the recent case of Hurricane Milton), then you have no access to the cloud at all.

So if you keep things on a physical drive with access to a charger (such as a cigarette lighter charger in your car, or a portable charger), then you have access to everything you stored on your physical drive.

Again, you MUST have internet access to use ANY cloud server. If you can't connect to the internet for whatever reason (like a hurricane when both cell service and internet service are down for awhile) then you CANNOT connect to the cloud, no matter which company is providing it.

You must have internet in order to update files or to access files that are not already on your local drive. I use DropBox and every file in the cloud is already on my laptop’s drive.

If my primary device is my phone or iPad and the internet is not available then I’m simply out of luck. No USB drive or external drive will help get files to those devices.

So for me, a cloud drive is:
- Automatic - files I add or modify are automatically available on all my devices
- Universal - I have my cloud drives connected to a laptop running windows, an iPhone, an iPad, a Kindle Fire, and through a web browser on any device
- Available anywhere - I don’t have to carry a thumb drive and I couldn’t plug it into my phone anyway
- Relatively inexpensive - Some space on Google Drive is free, I pay for DropBox, I have some space on iCloud, and OneDrive comes with my Office 360 subscription
- Safe - I won’t lose it, drop it, fry it, and my cat won’t damage the port it needs
- Secure - I’m guessing here but I suspect I can block a stolen device from accessing the cloud drive

Jacob's computers in Wildwood. Just look the number up. Jake was awesome helping me. Knows what he's doing.

MMD does a good job at a reasonable cost

Assume you have 2 computers, computer 1 and computer 2. With the OneDrive software, you can sync new files created on computer 1 to the cloud, and, at the same time, automatically download the file to computer 2. So, you have the file in the cloud and on both computers at the same time. So, you don't need access to the internet when you want to access the file. It will be located in the cloud and also on 2 local computers. And, you can specify which files will be downloaded, and which files will only reside in the cloud by using the correct file folder names. This can all be set up to operate automatically.

Yes, Jon is the best around !

Ditto on One Drive. I keep all my data on One Drive. It's basically a carbon copy of what's on my desktop. Don't need Internet to access files because they are all on my local computer as well as in the cloud. I can access my cloud from any device, anywhere.

Rule of Three!

I have a 400TB NAS for local storage. Offsite physical backup. Cloud backup.