bought new PC/how to copy from old?

[bt]

I upgraded, and purchased my 2nd Gateway computer, and before I part with my "old" gateway, I would like to copy over my programs and file I use alot,
ie. Quickbooks as it is has be updated over the past year from downloads.
my documents, pictures, etc.

Is there a simple process to do this?
Thanks again for any advice you are able to offer!

Also, (I guess a 2nd question) I will be selling my "old" pc, I am wondering if I will need to reinstall windows 95 and all drivers, etc. to have it clean for the next person. I there a way I can clean up all my "stuff" without doing that? This new pc comes with Windows Millenium and I am not familiar yet with that. The little bit I read in the book, it looks user friendly to reinstall lost operating system, drivers, etc.
THANKS AGAIN!

[sea69]

Hi

A little more info on ur system would help http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif

I take it u dont have a cd-rw. You can purchase a 'Belkin'- DB25 Male/Male Parallel PC to PC File Transfer Cable (10'), and do a Direct Cable Connection. (around $20.00-us)

go to start, programs, accesories, communications, 'direct cable connection..

Does ur old pc have a "Recovery Disk" that came w/ it?? Most newer pc's do. You can use that to set the pc to how it was from the factory.

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif u will not be happy w/ Win ME. (sorry to be the bearer of bad news)

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ok... now what ??



[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 01-26-2001).]

[ReddDogg]

There are a couple of ways to accomplish this feat. One way, is to install quickbooks and other programs you have via the cd, no matter how old the cd is, then, after installing the older cd version, take the hard drive out of your old pc, and put it in your new pc, making it the secondary master, or, in other words, putting it in place of the cd rom drive in your new pc. then, from in windows, your old hard drive will be drive D: If you go under program files, and find the directory under program files that contains the program you want to copy, you just copy and paste it into the new computer's hard drive under program files, overwriting any duplicate files. What this does, is it updates the cd installed program to the current one you had been running. Do that for any programs you wanted to keep, then copy any loose documents, pictures, sound files, etc. that you want, then shutdown the computer, remove your old hard drive and put it back in your old computer, and replace the cd rom, and it should work.

If removing your old hard drive sounds to complicated, and installing it into your new computer, and all that popping the hood doesn't seem to be what you want to do, then you could do what sea69 suggested, get a cable, adn directly connect the pc's. once you do that, you will need to do the other steps I outlined above.

The reason you will need to install quick books from the cd, is when it is installed via the cd, it creates registry entries and such in the system. If you just copy over the program files without ever installing it, it will likely lockup your system, or give you errors. This doesn't work with all programs, but it does with most. It is what I do myself, when I move computers and I want to resume what I was working on, I copy the files like I told you over my network. But, if you are getting rid of your old computer, I doubt you want to go through the hassle of buying 2 network cards and a crossover cable.

As for Windows ME, I personally love it, I wouldn't go back to windows 98. I enjoy the restore feature, I like the higher sound quality, and it doesn't crash on me any more often than your average new IMac (Mac's are known for reliablity). I know some PC manufacturers have had a nightmare coputer come out with ME, but it is because you aren't getting the official ME, your are getting OEM windows ME. So, I defend ME as a good operating system, but I recommend clean installing it yourself so you don't get anything the Manufacturer tampered with.

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Joe Redd
MCP

[Jumby]

Buy a Zip drive. That way you can copy large files without a problem. Depending on your version of QuickBooks you might have to do that to upgrade. I copied the upgrade patch to a zip disk and now it's there if I need it. And if you have all your application CD's, then what's the problem? Just reinstall the software. Reddog is making it much more difficult than it is.

[sea69]

hmmmmmmmm Joe.. knew someone out there actually liked WinME.. hehehe http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif


Jumby, while ur added advice (idea) was appreciated. Your comment regarding 'reddog's post was unnecessary, and was not helpfull to anyone.

This is a friendly forum here http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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ok...so now what ??

[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 02-04-2001).]

[Paleo Pete]

Not to mention the fact that ReddDogg's suggestions were correct. Using a zip drive to copy large files works fairly well, but you still have to do the same thing. Reinstall the software, due to the possible and probable error messages and lockups involved in simply copying them.

My preferred method would be to set the old drive up as slave, and copy everything to the new one, as ReddDogg said. It is tedious, but not really all that difficult.

To restore the old drive to original condition, either use the Restore disk, if it has one, or format and reinstall windows.

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