Transfer your data to a new PC

Eventually, there comes a point when you have to bite the bullet and buy a new PC. Your new computer will be faster and better in all sorts of ways, but switching to a new machine does leave you with the problem of how to transfer all your important files and data from the old machine onto the new one.

Fortunately, this isn’t that difficult – in fact, there are several options available, depending on how much data you need to transfer across.

All these options are straightforward, though, so here’s a selection of the quickest and easiest options for transferring your data onto your new PC.

How to back up
Of course, the sensible advice for any PC user is to regularly back up your important files and data onto an external hard disk.

If you are already doing that then transferring your files onto a new PC is a piece of cake, as you can disconnect the hard disk from your old computer, plug it into the new one and copy your files off the hard disk and onto your new computer.

It might take a while, depending on how much data you’ve got stored on the hard disk, but this is one of the easiest options for transferring data between any two computers.

Not everyone follows that advice, though, so it’s worth looking at some of the other options available. Instead of using a hard disk, you could burn your files onto one or more CDs or DVD discs, and copy the files across by inserting those disks into your new PC.

However, CDs and DVDs are a lot slower than a hard disk so this option could take a while – especially if you’ve got dozens of gigabytes worth of music, photos and videos that need to be burnt onto multiple DVD disks, or if your old PC doesn’t even have a DVD burner.

If you only want to transfer a few important work files or photos then you might be able to do it all with a USB memory key. You can get cheap memory keys that store just a few gigabytes worth of files, so this is a cheap and cheerful option for people who don’t have a huge amount of data they need to transfer.

Transfer your hard disk
However, if you are dealing with several years’ worth of old music, photos and video, work files and emails, there are two main options that will help you to transfer everything across in one fell swoop.

If you are feeling adventurous and don’t mind getting busy with a screwdriver, another option is to physically remove the hard disk from inside your old PC. Once you’ve removed the hard disk you can buy a ‘caddy’ – or ‘enclosure’ as they tend to be called by the manufacturers.

This is an empty box with a USB port attached to it, so you can insert the hard disk from your old PC into the caddy and effectively turn it into an external hard disk that you can then connect to your new PC.

You can pick up caddies from stores such as Maplin or PC World for as little as £15, so this is a fast and affordable option for transferring large amounts of data onto your new PC. We’ve also got some video tutorial covering how to install a hard disk into an external caddy Computeractive website.