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Thread: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

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    Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    Fairly soon I'm planning on getting a new Win 10 desktop. Was looking on Google about how to transfer installed programs and other files. Transferring files is not an issue but it would be nice not to have to reinstall all my various software. I found free and non free software that says it can do this but I would like to here anyone here that has had any experience with this. My current pc is Win 7 with 500GB SSD.

    Any info would be appreciated.

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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    Really no one has experience with this. Everyone sets up their new computer the old school way, like I always have, manually installing all their software. I'm surprised and depressed, I got tons of software on this machine.

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    Super Moderator jmcilhinney's Avatar
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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    It's unlikely that anything could effectively transfer installed applications. You'd have to know exactly what files and settings each individual application used. Not a job that I'd like.

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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    Quote Originally Posted by jmcilhinney View Post
    It's unlikely that anything could effectively transfer installed applications. You'd have to know exactly what files and settings each individual application used. Not a job that I'd like.
    Well that's not very encouraging. Maybe I'll just keep this machine, got no really necessity to upgrade. Got not speed issues, never know it just might out last me.

    Had hopes that someone might have used this https://www.easeus.com/pc-transfer/t...indows-10.html

    Could be worth the money if it actually works. All of my tax software was downloaded (and many others) and I know I can't get the old versions, at least not for free if at all.

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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    Quote Originally Posted by wes4dbt View Post
    Really no one has experience with this. Everyone sets up their new computer the old school way, like I always have, manually installing all their software. I'm surprised and depressed, I got tons of software on this machine.
    I tend to use https://chocolatey.org/ to set things up, I have a batch file or two that just install nearly everything I use. Saves a lot of time and effort in manually downloading and installing software.

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    PowerPoster jdc2000's Avatar
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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    I have used program transfer software and it can work, although there may be a few issues. A clean reinstall is generally preferable however, assuming that you have the installation files or media.

    One other potential option might be an "upgrade" from Windows 7 to Windows 10. This would also involve some extra work, as you would want to get a copy of your Windows 7 installation working on your new PC, and assumes that you have a retail version of Windows 7, not an OEM version.

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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    This is the first machine that I installed important software by download. I always bought my software on disk before but everyone's doing it so it must be OK. Downloading the software is fine but I didn't do my due diligence by properly storing the activation codes, should have paid the extra 10 or 15 dollars for the disk. So I get the Dumb-Ass awards, thank you very much. Really only my QuickBooks and 5 yrs of tax software are going to be the problems (might be more). Might still go ahead and spend the $40 for LapLinks PCMover just because of how much stuff I got on this machine.

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    PowerPoster jdc2000's Avatar
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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    LapLink's PC Mover may actually work on QuickBooks. I have transferred older versions of QuickBooks using it. At $40 it would certainly be worth a try and cost less than your time, a new version of QuickBooks, and data transfer/upgrade time. I'd still look at export/import options for the QuickBooks data, just in case though.

    You can hardly find software on actual media these days, so all downloads, product keys, receipts, etc. have to be part of your backup plan in case something goes south on you.

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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    You can hardly find software on actual media these days, so all downloads, product keys, receipts, etc. have to be part of your backup plan in case something goes south on you.
    A little late now to be telling me this don't you think. Where was this sound advise 5 years ago. lol

    Glad to hear from someone who actually has used PC Mover. Which method of migrating the information did you use?

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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    Use OneDrive to transfer data, external hard drive, data cable.

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    PowerPoster jdc2000's Avatar
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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    When I used PC Mover, I connected both drives to the computer that I wanted to move the software to. I would recommend that you make sure you have either a full image backup of the drives or are working with clones of the drives, just in case something goes wrong during the process (like a power failure, etc.).

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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    I mirror my HD to an external of the same type and size using Acronis TrueImage. I'm mirroring the whole thing, too, so if my current HD dies, I should be able to swap in the backup and be up and running to my latest mirror image. Of course, I don't backup the drive daily, so there will be some loss, but for files I'm actively using, I back those up to OneDrive and usually to a thumb drive, as well.

    That really doesn't help in this case, though, because you're talking about changing OS at the same time, whereas I'd be changing all the hardware around the HD, but leaving the HD the same.
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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    Quote Originally Posted by wes4dbt View Post
    Fairly soon I'm planning on getting a new Win 10 desktop. Was looking on Google about how to transfer installed programs and other files. Transferring files is not an issue but it would be nice not to have to reinstall all my various software. I found free and non free software that says it can do this but I would like to here anyone here that has had any experience with this. My current pc is Win 7 with 500GB SSD.

    Any info would be appreciated.
    Since it's never a good idea to give or sell a computer with your drive in it, you could take that drive and make it the boot drive for your new computer. You could also clone it and, assuming the new drive is bigger, windows has a tool to expand drive partitions.
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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Orwell View Post
    Since it's never a good idea to give or sell a computer with your drive in it, you could take that drive and make it the boot drive for your new computer. You could also clone it and, assuming the new drive is bigger, windows has a tool to expand drive partitions.
    This works when going from a Win 7 to a Win 10 OS? I could just put my Win 7 clone on a Win 10 partition?

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    PowerPoster jdc2000's Avatar
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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    If you are looking to update from Windows 7 to Windows 10, you should be able to make a clone of the Windows 7 drive/partition and then update that to Windows 10.

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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    Quote Originally Posted by jdc2000 View Post
    If you are looking to update from Windows 7 to Windows 10, you should be able to make a clone of the Windows 7 drive/partition and then update that to Windows 10.
    Ok, I understand the "make a clone of the Windows 7 drive" but the "update that to Windows 10" part I don't understand what your saying. So, maybe you could clarify.

    Clone my Win 7 drive directly to my new Win 10 machine? Wouldn't that remove the Win 10 OS?

    Clone my Win 7 drive to an external drive and then some how update that Win 10?

    As you can see I'm confused about what your saying and how to proceed.

    EDIT - I see you've post on this thread before. Have your thoughts on the subject changed?
    Last edited by wes4dbt; Feb 12th, 2020 at 11:05 PM.

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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    Yes I've seen those articles but not sure what your point is. Are you suggesting I should upgrade my Win 7 machine to Win 10 before transferring my programs to my new Win 10 machine? I've thought about that but I not sure I want to over write the Win 10 OS on my new machine.

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    PowerPoster jdc2000's Avatar
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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    The ideal method for setting up a computer would be a clean install of Windows, followed by applying all Microsoft updates, then install your application software and get any updates for that, then transfer your data.

    However, if you are trying to avoid re-installing all of your application software and transferring your settings, and you have Windows 7 now, and your Windows 7 installation has all of the software and settings you want to keep, you would only want to go through the painful process of setting up things on a new machine once.

    What I would try, assuming your new computer hardware has Windows 7 drivers, would be to make a clone of your existing and working Windows 7 system, put that cloned driver into your new computer and do a Repair Install to get the Windows 7 drivers installed, verify that everything is working, make an image backup of that (just in case), and then do a Windows 10 "upgrade". That might be the easiest process.

    Otherwise, you can try LapLink's PCMover to try to copy the installed software from a clone of your existing Windows 7 drive (or the drive itself if you have an image backup) to the Windows 10 installation on the new computer, and then see if all of the software and settings that you copied are present and working properly. If you do this, you should also have an image backup of the Windows 10 drive before starting the PCMover process, again just in case something goes wrong.

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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    jdc2000,

    Thanks for the suggestions.

    What I would try, assuming your new computer hardware has Windows 7 drivers, would be to make a clone of your existing and working Windows 7 system, put that cloned driver into your new computer and do a Repair Install to get the Windows 7 drivers installed, verify that everything is working, make an image backup of that (just in case), and then do a Windows 10 "upgrade". That might be the easiest process.
    that's an interesting idea.

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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    Well Damn!!!

    I decided to upgrade my current machine to Windows 10, thought it might help make transferring programs to a new Windows 10 machine easier, less reinstalling of programs. So I spent yesterday doing house cleaning before the upgrade, then it took several attempts to upgrade but it finally worked.

    The end result is I now have a fully functioning Windows 10 Pro machine and the damn thing seems really fast. So now I can't justify spending the money for a new machine. I was looking forward to having a 9th Gen i7, 1Tb SSD, maybe 32Gb Ram and a quicker Graphics card. But my 4th Gen i7, 16Gb Ram, 512Gb SSD machine seems to have got its second wind. Honestly I think getting rid of AVG helped the speed quite a bit.

    Still, a new machine would be sweet!

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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    The spec difference between those two layouts is pretty minimal. The difference between 4th and 9th generation of i7 isn't likely to be all that much. A bit less power consumption, perhaps a slightly higher clock rate, but ultimately, we rarely max out our CPUs for most things we do, so none of that is likely to be noticeable. The other difference is RAM and HD size. The latter wouldn't have anything to do with performance, just with storage capacity. The former would impact performance, but only if you needed more than 16GB of RAM for something. Who does? I'm still running a Surface Pro 2, with the i5 and 4GB of RAM. I can run several instances of VS2010 simultaneously without any issue. The fact that I have a more powerful desktop system...barely matters.
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    Re: Transferring programs/files to new Windows 10 machine

    Yeah I'd agree with most of that but not the cpu comparisons. The PassMark benchmark for the i7-9700 is 15,933 and the i7-4770 is 9,780. That's a significant difference. Not that I really need it, that's not the point. The point is I haven't bought a new machine in @ 4 1/2yrs, that's a long time for me. I've got an itch and I need to scratch it.

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