How to Transfer Files from Your Old Laptop to Your New Laptop

Congratulations on switching out your old, weathered laptop for a brand new one that doesn’t freak out every time you open two applications at once. It’s always a relief to hit the reset button on your technical woes and start fresh with a shiny new laptop that runs lightning-fast.

However, you’re still faced with the dilemma of transferring everything from your old laptop to your new laptop, and ideally before your old laptop decides to throw in the towel for good!

It’s worth noting that if you don’t consider yourself the most tech-savvy person, and you’d rather handover the task to an expert, QuickTech’s qualified and experienced technicians are highly proficient in transferring files from old laptops to new ones. We can take care of the entire process for you, so that you don’t have to.

But if you’re eager to get the job done yourself, here are the four fastest ways to transfer files from laptop to laptop.

#1 – Perform a direct file transfer

For a direct file transfer, you’ll need both laptops and a cable to connect them. Log in on both laptops, and simply start selecting files/folders on your old laptop to drag across and drop into the appropriate locations on the new laptop. However, if you have quite a lot of files to transfer (and not a whole lot of patience), then this might not be the most convenient or straightforward option for you.

#2 – Use an external hard drive

The benefit of transferring all of your files onto an external hard drive is that you’ll now have a backup of all this data. Even once you’ve copied everything across onto your new laptop, you can keep a duplicate of all these files on the external hard drive, for safekeeping in case anything happens to your new laptop (touch wood!).

Purchase an external hard drive (they vary in price depending on quality, but generally you can expect to spend $100-$200 for a decent one) and plug it into your old laptop. A new folder or “drive” should appear on your desktop, and from here you can start “dragging and dropping” or “copying and pasting” files and folders onto the external hard drive, the same way as described in Method #1.

Once done, right-click on the drive and select “safely eject” before unplugging the external hard drive. From here, you can plug the hard drive into your new laptop and transfer the files across.

#3 – Store your data in the cloud

This approach requires signing up for a cloud provider, of which some suitable options to choose from are:

It may cost you a couple bucks a month, but it’s a small price to pay for peace of mind that there’s a secure backed up copy of all your data, which can be quickly and easily downloaded to your new laptop (and any other subsequent devices down the line).

Instructions:

Choose a cloud provider
Create an account
On your old laptop, upload your files into the cloud
On your new laptop, log into the cloud and download them

Note: Both laptops will need to be connected to the internet in order to carry out this task.

#4 – Clone your hard drive

To clone your old hard drive is to quite literally make an exact replica of it to be used on your new laptop. There are several versions of software out there (both free and paid) for cloning your hard drive, however it’s quite a complex task and you’d generally be better off opting for one of the first three options before resorting to this (or bringing in a professional to transfer files from your old laptop to your new one for you).

Transferring files from laptop to laptop is a breeze, with QuickTech

QuickTech’s highly knowledgeable technicians can make quick work of transferring all your files across from your old laptop to your new one. It’s also worth noting that the methods listed above will only work if your old laptop is still functioning and the data hasn’t been corrupted. If that’s the case, you might need to invest in data recovery services, which we can also assist you with.

For file transfer, data backup/recovery, home computer installation, smart home hub setup, WiFi network support and other convenient technical services, don’t hesitate to call us on 1300 016 017 today.

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