Advice for a new PC

[Solmyr]

Question: I have quite a bit of stuff on my current HDD and copying it all manually would take forever. Will I be able to just plug the old HDD into the new PC and access the data? It's just images and documents mainly, obviously I will not be moving the OS or anything.

[sbr]

Without knowing any details I would guess yes you can just move it.  I moved an HDD from 2 other PCs into this one when I built it.

[Barrister]

Question: I have quite a bit of stuff on my current HDD and copying it all manually would take forever. Will I be able to just plug the old HDD into the new PC and access the data? It's just images and documents mainly, obviously I will not be moving the OS or anything.

Of course.

YOu can sometimes run into issues with trying to run a program that s in a different drive location than it thinks it should be, but accessing images and documents is no problem.

[Norgy]

An HD without the OS should be just plug and play.
If you run into any issues, say so. I'm fairly sure I can help.

[Solmyr]

First test has gone well, the PC is turning on and getting to BIOS. Now just waiting for the rest of my parts from Amazon.de (SSD and Windows), when I can fully finish it.

[viper37]

Question: I have quite a bit of stuff on my current HDD and copying it all manually would take forever. Will I be able to just plug the old HDD into the new PC and access the data? It's just images and documents mainly, obviously I will not be moving the OS or anything.

Yes, but you may not want to.

If you buy a new computer, it will have UEFI instead of the legacy BIOS, and if you have Windows 8.1, it should start faster (theoritiaclly), and it will enable secureboot in Windows 8, an extra layer of protection against viruses.  The caveat is, you need to install it in UEFI mode, wich means installing a new windows copy on a GPT partionned hard drive/SSD from a USB key that you will boot in UEFI.

Otherwise, if you don't want to bother with that, you can use the free Mini-Tool Partition Wizard for HDD to HDD transfer, or, if you move to a SSD, I'd recommend the 20$ Paragon Migrate OS to SSD.
Partition Wizard can copy one partition (or an entire disk) to a new hard drive, bigger, smaller or the same size, as you wish.  It works from Windows first, then reboot to complete the process before Windows runs.


Note that you can make it work, apparently (I've never succeeded), for free:
Link to free version

[Solmyr]

If you buy a new computer, it will have UEFI instead of the legacy BIOS, and if you have Windows 8.1, it should start faster (theoritiaclly), and it will enable secureboot in Windows 8, an extra layer of protection against viruses.  The caveat is, you need to install it in UEFI mode, wich means installing a new windows copy on a GPT partionned hard drive/SSD from a USB key that you will boot in UEFI.

I have no idea what you just said and why it would prevent me from plugging in an extra HDD. 

[viper37]

If you buy a new computer, it will have UEFI instead of the legacy BIOS, and if you have Windows 8.1, it should start faster (theoritiaclly), and it will enable secureboot in Windows 8, an extra layer of protection against viruses.  The caveat is, you need to install it in UEFI mode, wich means installing a new windows copy on a GPT partionned hard drive/SSD from a USB key that you will boot in UEFI.

I have no idea what you just said and why it would prevent me from plugging in an extra HDD. 

Extra HDD with only data: no problem.
Transfering Windows from old HDD to new SSD: no problem, but no UEFI, nor Secure boot.  Hence, better to reinstall.  You probably can use the Windows transfer thingie to restore some stuff after the install.

UEFI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface#Advantages

Secure Boot:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh824987.aspx

[Solmyr]

As I said, I'm only going to transfer data on the old HDD, I'm installing a fresh Windows 8.1 on the new PC.

[Norgy]

The old function of exporting files and settings is probably still available. Windows Easy Transfer. Hardly ever completely flawless, but works in a pinch.

And should you ever need to move a system drive to a new rig, there's a function to make it hardware neutral. Has worked (well, bordering on semi-well) for me. Even with UEFI BIOS.

[viper37]

As I said, I'm only going to transfer data on the old HDD, I'm installing a fresh Windows 8.1 on the new PC.

If you currently only have one hard drive, then it's easy:
- Plug only your new drive
- Install Windows 7/8 on this drive
- Perform all the Microsoft updates
- Update to Windows 8.1 (if you installed Win8)
- Perform all the Microsoft updates.
- Replug your old HDD
- Delete everything you don't like from this drive, keep only what you want.

If I misunderstood and you are reinstalling Windows on your current drive and transfering your data from this drive to another drive, than either use Teracopy which will let you copy files faster than Windows, or use Windows Easy Transfer as suggested by Norg.

WEA will ask you for a USB key or a USB drive or a DVD, I think.  So:
- use it to copy everything over to this media
- double check everything is there
- If it ain't your system drive, delete partition from this drive, otherwise, boot with Windows installation media (DVD most likely), make sure you boot in UEFI.
- Delete the partition, recreate a new partition, if it asks wich type choose GPT
- Install Windows
- Proceed with everything I said above i.e. updates
- Replug your old hdd (the data drive)
- Insert USB key, DVD, plug USB drive
- Start Windows easy transfer
- Pray everything is right, let it recopy your stuff to where you want it.

[Solmyr]

What I want to do is:

- install Windows 8.1 on a SSD
- have a new 2 TB HDD for most stuff
- plug in my old 1 TB HDD into the new PC, move my data from it onto the new HDD, then reformat the old HDD and use it as secondary drive

[viper37]

What I want to do is:

- install Windows 8.1 on a SSD
- have a new 2 TB HDD for most stuff
- plug in my old 1 TB HDD into the new PC, move my data from it onto the new HDD, then reformat the old HDD and use it as secondary drive

Right now, on your current system, before anything else, pick one of 3 methods:
Method #1:
- Plug your new 2TB hard drive
- Boot into Windows, download and install Teracopy (free) as described above
- Copy the directories you want from your old drive to your new drive
- Shutdown the computer, unplug your 2 hard disks, keep only the SSD
- Install Windows 8, all updates, Windows 8.1, all updates
- Once everything works, double-check you have everything you want.  If so, you can either reinstall Partition Wizard and use the command to wipe your drive (fill it with zeros and ones, so the data can't be recovered) or simply delete the partition and recreate it, since you are keeping your drive.

Method #2:
- Plug your new 2TB hard drive
- Download and install Mini-Tool's Partition Wizard Personal Edition (free)
- Copy your entire 1TB drive over to the new 2TB, select the option to adjust the partition size as it copies the drive.  PW will ask you to reboot your computer to complete the process because the drive is in use, do so, it will copy your entire drive.
- Clean up/delete what you don't want on the new drive
- Modify the partition of the new 2TB hard drive, using Partition Wizard to make it 'inactive' (right click on the drive, select modify at the bottom of the menu and select inactive; if it's greyed, you're already ok, no need to do anything else)
- Once everything works, double-check you have everything you want.  If so, you can either reinstall Partition Wizard and use the command to wipe your drive (fill it with zeros and ones, so the data can't be recovered) or simply delete the partition and recreate it, since you are keeping your drive.
- Shutdown the computer, unplug your 2 hard disks, keep only the SSD
- Intall Windows as above.

Method #3:
- Use Windows Easy Transfer (type it in your start menu) on your current computer.  This procedure will not work once you install Windows 8, it requires moving from one OS to another OS on a different machine.
- It will transfer user accounts, documents, music, emails (if you use Outlook), pictures, videos, assuming they are in Windows default directories (i.e. My Music, My Videos, My Documents, etc).
- Make a copy of your stuff on a USB drive
- Unplug your drives
- Install Windows 8 as above
- Right click on your documents, music and videos, etc folders, select "Location", point to the desired location (i.e. "D:\Data")
- Start Windows Easy transfer, point to your USB drive, let it retransfer your files, they should be located in D:\My Documents, My Videos, etc.
- If they are not, you need to repeat the step above and change the location, Windows will ask you if you want to move your files, you say yes.


Personally, I prefer method #1, it's the easiest, and possibly the fastest too for transfering simple data.

If you don't use Outlook, you need to check on how to transfer your e-mails to your new computer.  Thunderbird has an add-on for generating backups, otherwise, it's a real pain in the butt to transfer everything.  If you use something else, look for it on Google.  If it's Hotmail or Gmail, no problem, your e-mails are stored on the server.  Just don't lose your passwords
(btw, there is a nifty little tool called Lastpass, a browser add-on, compatible with IE, FF and Chrome that stores all your passwords on an encrypted server, all you need to remember is one master password for all, I highly recommend it, it makes reinstalls a lot easier)


As a precaution, I would recommend waiting 1-2 weeks before deleting the old drive.  Just let it sit beside your computer, in case you forgot to copy something. 

Also, don't forget to keep any software license key you may require in a print form for reinstallation on your new computer.

[Monoriu]

I prefer method #4 - pay someone to do it.   

[DontSayBanana]

Also, surprised nobody's mentioned the fun little scenario of having lots of things in the user-specific documents directories on the old drive (e.g. C:\Users\Jim\Documents and Settings\My Photos).  Permissions will still be set to the users for the old install of Windows, so you have to take ownership of the directories before you can copy the documents out of there.  Thankfully, there are a few prefab scripts out there that you can just click to do the job for you, but it's definitely a nuisance when you're trying to migrate data to a new hard drive.