Solved Laptop Upgrade questions

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Antoine

PCHF Member
Apr 24, 2017
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So I have a few questions about upgrading my laptop. Once I get my new on whats the best way to transfer everything from my old one to my new one? Before anyone says hard drive cloning I only want the files and stuff from my old laptop not the OS as I think something is wrong with my OS an my new laptop will have a fresh OS install. Thus from my old laptop Id only want my games, pics, videos, downloads, documents and preferably my browser and saved password settings

Also my OS on my new laptop would be on a 250gb M2 SSD drive, EVERYTHING ELSE will be put on the 4tb SSHD drive in the laptop, thats also where Id want any new downloads or installs to go, the ONLY think taking up space on my M2 SSD will be the OS. My question is what kinda folders would the SATA drives have? I mean wouldnt the programs needs to be on the same drive as Windows to function, usually when you install programs they go in the Program Files folder, documents go in the My Documents folder and downloads go in the Downloads folder which are all Windows folder. would the SATA drives have those folders? If not what folders would it have and how would I know where to install/download them, would the program shortcut still show up on the Star Menu or desktop is theyre on a different drive? Would the programs function at all if there not in those folders mentioned? After all surely certain files get put into Windows system folders and registry in order to run. How would the installer know to do that if its being installed on a completely different drive than what Windows is on?
 
want my games
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You can't transfer games/programs. These have to be installed from CD/DVD or if downloaded - a fresh download and install.

pics, videos, downloads, documents
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Either put them on a large USB stick and move them that way or a longer method, upload to someplace like OneDrive, Dropbox or GoogleDrive then download to the new laptop.

my browser and saved password settings
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I put my profile from my desktop on a USB stick, then place that profile folder into my laptop. Both browsers then match. I use Firefox and Palemoon. I'm not familiar with Internet Explorer nor Chrome to know if that would work with those browsers.
 
I only use firefox so that part Wouldnt be a problem. But what about the other questions?
 
I have an SSD + HDD. My OS is on my SDD, everything else is on my HDD. No, programs do not need to be on the same drive to function. The only thing that'll happen is that the registry resides on the same drive as the OS, so programs you install will modify the registry as needed without issue.

You can change the location of the Downloads, Documents, etc folders to reflect to a location on your HDD. Just simply right-click the folder and click Properties -> Location. There you can change the location of every folder to a location on your HDD instead of your M.2.

Say your HDD is D:\. You can change the location to say D:\Downloads for the Downloads folder, etc.
 
so its ok to move windows based folders (like downloads an documents folders) from the drive windows is installed on to another one? Wouldnt that cause issues/comflicts if you ever had to reinstall OS/reset anything?
 
Antoine said:
so its ok to move windows based folders (like downloads an documents folders) from the drive windows is installed on to another one? Wouldnt that cause issues/comflicts if you ever had to reinstall OS/reset anything?
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If you reinstall the OS then it is best to reinstall the software. As far as move windows base folder(s) for Downloads and Documents I have never had any issues. You might also go into the software that is saving the download and documents and tell it to redirect to the specific drive and folder.
 
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