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i'm in our computer room today and the
lighting is not that great but that's
okay because today i'm doing a tutorial
for anyone who has built a new pc and
has an old pc and wants to take the
stuff on the old pc and move it to the
new pc how should you go about doing
that and what are my recommendations
just a little over a month ago i built a
brand new pc for my lovely wife diana
it's still out in the garage and i've
been itching to move it in here and swap
her old pc which was named hotbox which
has gone through a few different
variations over the years and i'll post
the link to some of those videos in the
description if you're interested but how
do you take everything from an existing
pc and move it to a new pc to keep
things simple i have boiled it down to
three steps
excellent
so the three things you're going to need
to copy from your old system to the new
system are one your personal data your
personal files to your programs and
three your program settings or other
files that those programs might rely on
the tools you'll need in order to do
this are your old pc and your new pc and
i'm assuming that both of those are
functional up and running windows is
installed and it's up to date then you
will need some sort of medium for
transferring the data an external usb
flash drive or ssd or other external
drive is ideal and you might need more
storage on that depending on how much
data you have to back up off of your old
system and then you'll want an internet
connection to download programs or other
files that you might need and of course
to come back and reference this video
and then once you're done and everything
has gone so smoothly you can come back
to this video and hit the thumbs up
button or subscribe to my channel if you
want to see more tech videos and
tutorials before you start copying files
you should double check your existing
computer's configuration specifically
the storage configuration because if you
have an old pc and a new pc and they
both function independent of one another
then all you're really concerned about
is the data on the old pc and where that
data is located is going to be on your
storage drives you're going to have at
least one storage drive and if you're
running windows windows 7 or 10 or 11 is
probably most likely right now then it's
probably labeled as local disk and it's
probably your c drive now if you've just
got that c drive it simplifies things a
little bit i have a second one terabyte
ssd on this system but i know all that's
on there right now is this games folder
and then i'm capturing my obs screen cap
for making this video on that drive as
well one nice thing about having a
secondary drive especially if it's one
that has a lot of space is you can just
copy stuff directly to that drive and
physically remove the drive from your
old system and then just install it in
your new system and keep using things as
is that is what my plan is for today so
i'm just making a folder in here for
backing all this stuff up called march
2022 backup and note that if i was using
an external drive or an ssd and i had
plugged it into the system it would be
popping up as another drive just like
this so functionally from what you guys
are seeing it's going to be the same as
if you were using an external beyond
that everything else you can see as far
as the data represented on the system is
stored on this c drive that includes
everything that might be on the desktop
and that also includes all these system
folders like the documents folder the
downloads folder music pictures and
videos if you use those one thing you
might want to double check for all these
folders is if you right click them and
go to properties you can go to location
this location can actually be remapped
although someone would have have to have
done that with your pc so if someone
else set up your system or you're just
not sure double check to make sure these
locations are on the c drive and that
will allow you to make sure that you
don't have any files that are on another
drive that's on the system that you're
forgetting to back up with that said now
that we have a drive to backup to and
we've made a little backup folder here
we can start copying the first thing
which is going to be personal data and
that means files that are unique to you
typically things that are irreplaceable
like personal photos you should always
ideally have already backed up in more
than one location i always try to copy
photos to at least an external drive if
not cloud storage somewhere or even
better like a family member's house that
you share data with that you can sync
back and forth to so you both have
backups in both locations but these are
files that you cannot just redownload
from the internet so let's back those up
first and since this is not my pc it's
my wife's pc i'm not going to do a whole
lot of organization for her i'll leave
that up to her in the future so in the
backup folder i'll make a folder for
desktop one for downloads one for
pictures and so on and then we can just
start copying okay i am at least going
to organize photos but do bear in mind
if you're doing what i'm doing and
dragging and dropping there's two ways
to do it you can just drag and drop and
if you drag and drop with a left click
from one drive to a different drive it
will copy from one drive to the other
and it will leave the files on the
original drive you can also right click
and drag over like this and here you can
choose move and i find that this helps
me keep track of the backup process
although it should be noted that this
does mean we're still only keeping these
files in one location so i'm only doing
this because i know these files are
backed up elsewhere already i'll just
choose move but this means that it's
going to pull it off of the desktop and
into that folder and then i know oh well
it's not on the desktop anymore so i've
copied that and backed it up
japan
oh see there's some files that you're
they're just too precious to leave
behind obviously oh some more pictures
from the desktop move all right and now
our desktop folder is empty although if
we look at the desktop we can see
there's still stuff on the desktop these
are all shortcuts if you're not familiar
with shortcuts they have a little arrow
on them and that's not a real file it's
just a shortcut it's a representation of
where a file is elsewhere on the pc so
these you can typically just trash i'm
gonna leave that one there as a reminder
so we've cleared off the desktop and
we'd also of course want to look at
pictures and videos and this is where
usually most of your personal data files
would be stored we have network attached
storage the free nas build that i have
built and rebuilt a few different times
so most of the photos that we copy off
of phones or cameras we copy over to
that for a little bit more secure long
term backup storage which is why the
videos folder and the pictures folders
on this computer are pretty much empty
from there you'll definitely want to
check out the documents folder and
here's where also lots of different
programs like to save stuff so feel free
to check individual folders a lot of
them you know might just be empty and
not something you need to copy but if
you play video games the video game will
often create a folder in the documents
folder to store game configuration
options or backup saves my wife is a
huge fan of overwatch so this folder is
definitely something that we should be
backing up if you're at all uncertain
it's okay to just grab the entire
documents folder and copy it over and
worry about that later if you need to
focus on getting the transfer done of
course if you're like me you've maybe
tried that before and then you have
various folders in different places of
like this backup that was done two years
ago and this one from four years ago and
you've never really quite gone through
and sorted those all out but at least
the data was there if you might have
needed it we also have a downloads
folder the downloads folder can often be
super crowded with a bunch of different
stuff and here is where you might have
more personal files if they weren't
moved from the downloads folder
somewhere else but most browsers like
edge firefox and chrome default to
downloading stuff to the downloads
folder so it is worth taking a look at
fortunately all the files in here are
installers so this is the chrome
installer this is the nzxt cam installer
steam rocket swarm the battle.net
installer all of these can be
redownloaded from the internet and all
of these also likely have updated
installers that would be better to
download from the internet anyway
so i'm just going to delete them so now
we have combed through looking for
personal files that we need to back up
over the desktop pictures and videos
folder the documents folder music is
another thing that's replaceable to some
extent online so you can re-download mp3
files and stuff like that that said not
everyone wants to do that so if you have
a music collection copy that over too
and then there is the 3d objects folder
which i still don't understand what it
is or why it's there so there's it's
empty so i'm not going to bother with it
so we should now be just about done with
step one copying all of our personal
data off of the old system but this is
something that you really want to double
check and make absolutely sure you've
been as thorough as possible with so it
may or may not be worth your while to go
directly into the c drive and dig
through some of these folders to see if
there's anything else there that you
might need to copy one final tip before
i move on if you're trying to dig up
more stuff or if you feel like there's
more stuff on your drive and you're not
able to find it winder stat is a little
application that you can download and
run and i'm not running it directly
right now but basically you run it it
comes through the entire drive and then
it gives you a visual representation of
everything that's on the drive and it's
also color coded so extremely large
blocks you can click on and be like
what's taking up that much data and it
will tell you oh this is a system file
or like all these little green files are
mp3s so in this way you can pick out
certain files like especially if you
have big video files that might be
taking up a lot of space but you can't
locate them with step one done though we
can move on to step two and step two is
to back up your programs now programs
are different than personal files
because you don't necessarily need to
copy the programs off of your old
computer and onto your new computer what
is often better is to just download the
programs from the internet directly onto
your new computer to make sure you have
the most up-to-date versions and also
because programs installed on your old
computer aren't often easy to just drag
and drop and copy you often need an
installer to install a program and you
might not still have those there's a
couple ways to look at what programs are
currently installed one is to go back to
your c drive and just look through your
program files folders some programs do
not install there but almost every
single one should but that can get a
little confusing because there might be
system folders in there or other
confusing things so the better thing to
do in my opinion is to go to the add or
remove programs part of the control
panel i guess if you don't want to
search for it you can go to settings and
it's under apps and apps and features
and here you have a list of installed
programs i've copied this list as simply
as just doing a screen grab taking a
picture with my phone windows plus print
screen will take a screenshot of what
you're currently looking at just
remember that that screenshot will then
appear in your pictures folder so you'll
want to copy that to your backup drive
or you could even use pencil and paper
technology to just copy down or write
down uh the applications that you know
you still want again keep in mind you do
not need an exhaustive list here some
apps like candy crush soda saga are just
default installed by windows and
shouldn't even be there in the first
place so it really helps if it's your
computer to just reality check and make
sure that the apps you're writing down
are the ones that you actually use on a
regular basis or if you're doing this
transfers for somebody else this is a
good time to sit them down and be like
what do you actually use on your
computer what programs do you launch all
the time and that way you can run down
the list and make sure you don't miss
anything if you do happen to be on a
metered internet connection or you're
concerned about redownloading a bunch of
data or how much time it might take then
it might also be worth your while to
double check that downloads folder like
i showed you earlier there might be
install packages there that were
downloaded previously that you could
just copy and that might save you a
little bit of time just remember that if
you try to go into like the program
files folder you typically cannot just
drag and drop a whole folder from the
program files folder into your backup
and then onto your new pc because like i
said you often need to run an installer
to install a program rather than just
having the folder that's not always the
case though and if you have a lot of
games installed on your system then here
is where it really might be worth your
while to back stuff up rather than
redownloading it for example the
overwatch installation on this computer
is about 20 gigs and you know that's
going to take some time to redownload
depending on your internet speed so with
a lot of games you can drag and drop and
copy the bulk data files of the game and
then depending on the launcher you're
using whether it's steam or the
battle.net launcher there are various
ways to get the launcher on your new
system to recognize the game that's been
copied over and there's a really good
written article on that that i will also
link in the description for anyone who's
copying stuff over that said for steam
specifically if you go into the steam
folder there should be a steam apps
folder i originally set up steam to
download games to the savage one
terabyte drive on here but in the steam
apps folder there is a common folder and
then that will be where all the
individual folders for each game are so
if you copy those over then you can plop
them onto the new system in the proper
folder location and then using the
article linked in the description
it'll walk you through the steps for
getting steam to recognize those and
then not having to re-download them and
that's all for the second step so now we
can move on to the third step which is
copying program data and this is sort of
a catch-all category for extra stuff
that programs might need that you might
not know that you need in order for the
program to work the way it did in the
past let me give you an example to
clarify if you have a bunch of shortcuts
or bookmarks saved on your browser well
yes with a lot of browsers you can log
into the browser and it will store that
in the cloud like chrome will do that so
keeping in mind that if your browser has
the ability for you to log in and store
that stuff in the cloud then you can
back it up that way but you can also
manually back it up this is how you do
it in chrome it's pretty similar in
firefox and other browsers we're going
to click on the three dots and go over
to our bookmark manager and then click
on these three dots and go to export
bookmarks and we've gone ahead and saved
these to our backup drive and the other
part of backing up files that some
programs you use might be reliance on
i've kind of already showed you but just
to reiterate if you go back over to your
documents folder there will likely be
folders here that have unique files
configuration files or otherwise that
tie into the programs that you use so
that's something that you hopefully have
already backed up in that step but if
you didn't double check it now and make
sure that for any of the programs that
you use regularly there's nothing there
that you need to copy and backup as well
and that should just about cover you but
once again if you go over the list of
programs that you already made in step
two you might want to double check those
make sure you have no unique programs
that might save data elsewhere on your
drive that you need to copy or in
particular keep an eye out for stuff
like this a lot of printers have unique
utilities that might be difficult to
find sometimes especially if you're
using something older we have a brother
printer that works really great it's a
network attached and everything like
that but sometimes it's a little finicky
if you don't install the utilities but
that was the last thing on my list to
talk about so at this point i should be
able to pull the old pc out drop the new
pc in where it was copy the stuff off of
that drive onto the new system and get
it set up to the point where when my
wife comes back to use it it's pretty
much the exact same as her old system
was okay so i've placed the system where
the system is supposed to go and as i
mentioned in the build video for this
the reason why i went with the flipped
orientation is so you can actually see
it from this side when the system is
where it is here it's also much much
much brighter than my pc right there and
the free nas is in the middle and i do
want to point out since there's you know
cables over here various things have
cluttered up the space since i did the
original cable management video in here
with the sit stand desks and everything
but i want to take another pass at it
and uh make things look a little bit
more pristine in here and probably move
the freenas down to the lower level
although that is pretty close to the
ground so i'll i'm gonna figure some
stuff out i'd also like to get rid of
the texture on the walls in here like we
did out in the living room out there but
i'm getting a little bit too far ahead
of myself main point is look system
boots up uh i should activate windows
that'd be cool too and the drive from
her old system is this uh hyperx savage
one terabyte ssd i just popped it out of
there i haven't even taken it off of the
tray
this is a sata to usb adapter status to
usb 3.0 adapter actually specifically so
these are really convenient these also
work with the mechanical hard drives
although i do believe the power
requirement can vary on that but just
going to plug that in there
plug the other end into my conveniently
accessible front panel usb 3.
open folder to view files and there is
all the stuff that we just backed up in
case you're wondering this is a 42-inch
4k monitor that my wife uses and
actually she's getting a little over
this one it's only 60 hertz and she'd
like to game in here again which is part
of the reason why we're thinking about
swapping out so stay tuned for a future
video i'd like to do sort of a revamp of
my wife's current setup to kind of go
along with her super fancy pc that's
over there now so if you guys have any
suggestions for that i would love to
hear them in the comment section of
course and in the meantime just give me
a few minutes here to copy this backup
stuff to the new system
[Music]
i just copied the desktop folder to the
desktop
it's very
very meta
i guess i can't say meta anymore it's
like desktop section i don't know
my old windows 8 pro licenses are the
gifts to keep on giving i've activated
so many pcs with these right so at this
point it's just a matter of kind of
doing things in reverse order like i can
go
back to the bookmarks manager to import
my bookmarks
oh it looks like it just dropped them
all into an imported folder that's
that's cool well at least they're here
and if she really wanted to she could
just log back into chrome and with that
i am mostly done uh there are still a
few more things to do but uh let's reset
the desktop background to what it was
before and i just need to double check
that programs list to reinstall any of
the programs that are still needed and
then of course once my wife actually
gets home she can reality check and make
sure there's nothing glaringly missing
from this that she needs to set up as
well she will need to slightly
transition from windows 10 to windows
11. it's not too jarring i found it to
be pretty simple to use once you get a
hang of a few of the ui quirks and
hopefully for you guys watching home you
now have a better idea of how to
transfer all your stuff from an old
system to a new system and apart from
the step-by-step stuff that i talked
about today a lot of it boils down to
having good practices in place for where
you keep your stuff on your computer
from the get-go so you know where things
are when you need to go in and back them
up and if you're comfortable with that
and you're comfortable with the steps i
walked you through in this video then it
also gives you an extra layer of
protection if your system is compromised
if you need to wipe your windows
installation reformat and reinstall
windows then having these backup steps
in place already means you can reset
your system if you ever got a virus or
malware or something along those lines
but guys thank you so much for watching
this video and as mentioned hit the like
button if you enjoyed it and check the
description for links to useful stuff
like winter stat and some of the other
things i mentioned today you can also
find a link to my store down there at
paul's hardware dot net where you can
buy shirts mugs pint glasses and other
high quality merchandise to help support
my channel and get yourself some high
quality merch at the same time and if
you're not already subscribed maybe
consider subscribing as well thanks
again you guys and we'll see you in the
next video
[Music]
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