Perhaps you got a new computer from a generous spouse or parent for Christmas. Or you may have, like me, purchased a new computer for yourself to replace an old computer. Here are a few tips (on one method) for moving to a new computer.
Equipment needed:
- new computer
- old computer
- external hard drive that you can read and write to on both computers
Steps
- Sort through the items on the hard drive. Delete what you don’t need. Avoid the temptation to be a pack rat and delete those files that you’ve had for years and are tempted to keep just in case …
- Make sure that the remaining files have logical names and are organized appropriately in folders.
- (Optional) Partition your external hard drive if you want to use it both to store the files that you don’t use very often and back up your new computer’s files. If you do not know how to partition hard drives or prefer to keep your computer backup separate, get two external hard drives.
- Move sorted items that you don’t need on a day-to-day basis to a folder (or the partition if you made one in step 3) on one external hard drive.
- Move sorted items that you will need on a day-to-day basis onto your new computer’s hard drive.
- Back up your new computer to your backup external hard drive (or partition).
- Create a schedule for backing up your computer and add it to your calendar.
When you are done, you will have
- files that you usually use saved on your new computer
- files that you rarely use saved on a partition on an external hard drive
- a backup of your new computer on the second partition of your external hard drive (or on a second hard drive)