Help adding hard drive/transferring data

MrWazeleski

MrWazeleski

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Ok so my dad has finally bought a new PC. It has a 200 gig hard drive, while is old one was only 40 gig and stuffed full of his important work stuff. What is the easiest way to transfer all the data to the 200 gig or just add the old drive into the new computer?
 
DON'T let him take it to the geek squad. They will overcharge to do the work and probably screw it up anyway.

Some suggestions:

1) Take the old hard drive and put it in the new machine. Copy files over.
2) Get a 1 gig memory stick and copy what you need. For the price of the Geek Squad, you will get what you need. Then you will still have the memory stick left.
3) The file sharing would work too, as well as copying the data like Scorch mentioned.

TBW
 
[quote name='MrWazeleski']Thanks Scorch, any other suggestions? My dad wants to take it to the Geek Squad.[/quote]

Definately don't take it to them, it would probably cost $100+ for something that can be done with a $5 crossover cable (most likely $10 at Radio Shack or something). Won't even need a router if you use the crossover cable, just network them together (fairly simple) and FTP the files to the new PC.
 
geek squad charges like 159$ an hour
i would get an external enclosure for 19$ and transfer the files but leave the hard drive in the enclosure as backup. then he can always have a save of his work stuff.
it takes some time but it wouldn't be so crazy expensive.
as a note it would probably take geek squad like 4 hours or some bs. which is a hefty bill
 
Norton Ghost. Or, mount the drive, and copy & paste everything.

Geek squad is usually a bunch of know-it-all douche bags with no certification (for fun, I asked a few at a local store if they knew what A+ certification was, and nobody knew). Also, if you take it to a local PC repair shop, they'll likely charge about the cost of the hard drive just to look at the thing.

PC repair/installation is really something that can be learned semi-easily, despite the preconception that it requires a degree in computer science or something. Plus, if you run into any problems, one of the great things about the CAG community is that there's plenty of helpful advice to go around through posting problems.
 
[quote name='Skylander7']Norton Ghost. Or, mount the drive, and copy & paste everything[/QUOTE]

Norton Ghost doesn't really help him in this situation, since it is really for dealing with whole drives/partitions at once and Ghost isn't cheap.

The crossover cable idea is probably the most simple, straightforward way to do this if both PC's have network cards and you can figure out how to configure the networking and get the file sharing working.

If networking isn't an option, mounting the old drive in the new machine temporarily as a data drive is a good alternative. You have to remove the old drive from the old PC and either mount it as a slave drive inside of the new PC, or buy a USB drive enclosure and mount the old drive in that. When you're done moving the files over, just put the old drive back into the old PC.

If it's only a few GB that need to get transferred, the memory stick is a good idea or just archive stuff off of the old PC onto CD-R or DVR-R if it has a writeable optical drive. This works if there isn't too much data that needs to be transferred. After 5 GB or so, this would get tedious.

As others have stated, decide what you want to do and we can help you if you get stuck. No need to call in the GeekSquad.
 
[quote name='thealternakid']geek squad charges like 159$ an hour
i would get an external enclosure for 19$ and transfer the files but leave the hard drive in the enclosure as backup. then he can always have a save of his work stuff.
it takes some time but it wouldn't be so crazy expensive.
as a note it would probably take geek squad like 4 hours or some bs. which is a hefty bill[/QUOTE]

Agreed. Turn the Old hard drive into an external hard drive that acts somewhat like its in slave mode.
 
I would have to suggest keeping it simple, quick, and inexpensive... As mentioned earlier, simply network the computers together, burn the data to media, use a usb drive, or pickup a crossover cable depending on the amount of data you need transfered. My guess would be since your obviously the techy in the household and your looking elsewhere for help on file transfers, the amount of data will be quite minimal...

Keep it simple!
 
this is an easy solution : http://www.drive-backup.com/

All you have to do is have both drives hooked up, so just set the drive you are transfering to as a slave or CS. This program lets you copy a whole partition to a new drive, which would be axactly what you are looking for. I used this program recently and found it very easy to use.
 
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