questions re transfer data from one desktop to another...

so I have the old computer and the new. all my data is on removable disks so all that's left on the old is the C: drive (windows and programs). Read all the complicated tutorials and they never say exactly how to connect the two computers (what cables and ports etc) and do both of them have to be connected to a monitor? So I want to copy over all the c drive
stuff except for windows of course so I dont have to download/reinstall all the programs. suggestions?

The simplest way to transfer files between computer is to use an external storage drive, cloud service (Google Drive, OneDrive), or over the network share connection.

You can also use crossover Ethernet CAT cable to connect two computers.

Data can be transferred using a pen drive or an external drive.
I don't think programs can be transferred, they have to be re-installed, because it may mess up the registry entries.
There are no free programs for that, most are paid.
One easy thing would be to either clone/image the C-drive (with all the programs) to a new SSD/HDD and install it to the new computer.
Someone better would be along with a better easier answer, please wait ?

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Msongs said:

so I dont have to download/reinstall all the programs

Click to expand...

Yes you do. Individual programs can not be moved from one system to another. Sorry, you have to reinstall your programs if you want a clean system.
One can image or clone but that moves everything, windows, programs, and all. It also moves junk files, corrupted files, and tons of old unused registry entries as well.

Under no circumstances, connect the two pcs via a usb cable. Unless the cable is a (rare) special crossover cable, you can fry the usb ports or worse, fry the mobo.

If I'm understanding you correctly, You can use a imaging program such as the free version of Macrium Reflect to make an image of the old computer to a external drive and then restore the image to the new computer. If I'm right and you do want to move Windows from your old computer to the new computer and keep all of your programs and settings start by backing up the drivers on the new computer to a usb drive to be on the safe side.
Then download Macrium Reflect free if you don't already have it.
Once you have Macrium, install it on both computers and make a Bootable Macrium Rescue disk to a flash drive. If you have two USB HDDs make images of both computers. Once done disconnect both drives and move the drive with the image of the old computer to the new computer. Then run Macrium and select to restore the image from the old computer to the new computer. Macrium will ask you to restart so it can restore the image. Once finished and the new computer is running with the image from the old computer, check in device manager to see if you have any driver errors. If you do you can restore them from the copy on the USB drive. If not you should be good to go. If anything major goes wrong you can restore the image you made of the new computer. For this you may need to boot from the rescue disk.

Actually, you CAN migrate individual programs from one PC to another --as I have done this numerous times.

But you have to use special software to do this.

The ones I have used are PC Mover Pro from LapLink and ToDo PC Trans from EeaseUS. The second works much better than the first, although it can not transfer ALL programs. And BOTH of these require the PAID versions to migrate apps, not just data. And they also migrate user account settings.

PCtrans can do many programs. Never tried laplink. There is also something called zinstall, never tried it.

The easiest way is to transfer your C drive to the PC that you want to copy the data to for direct file copy. It should be under X:\Users\username\Documents where X is the drive letter of the drive you want to copy from.