Transferring from old desktop to laptop

B

Bitey

Active member
I've recently ordered a new laptop from here to take to university and I just wanted some advice about how best to transfer my files from the family computer to my new lappy. I've got a fair amount of stuff on the desktop hard drive- 15gb odd of photos, 25gb-ish of music, some word docs and game saves that sort of thing.

Will I need some sort of transfer cable or a external hard drive? I'm looking to do this as cheaply as possible really- I do have an 8gb CF card from my digital camera so I guess I could do it in stages with that...

Also on a related note I'd like to transfer my email account over to the new laptop- I have an NTL email account currently set up with outlook on the old desktop but I am a serious luddite when it comes to understanding the workings of email. Can I make it so that my account is no longer linked to the old desktop and I only receive my emails on the laptop?

Thanks for any help, Bitey
 
vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
Windows Easy Transfer supports transfers using any of the following methods:
1) USB Easy Transfer Cable
2) Network connection
3) Removable media (such as a USB flash drive or external hard disk)
 
M

MintyDuck

Member
Use a removable harddrive , can serve as a backup for the data should the laptop ever fail

Also virus check everything before you transfer just in case.
 
J

Jimbhoy

Bronze Level Poster
Re. the e-mail question, NTL is now Virgin Media but that's not a prob. as long as you know your UN & PW from NTL you can access your e-mail from anywhere.

Just google 'NTL email' (or use any other generic search engine) and it'll bring you to the Virgin Media Webmail site. Stick in your details and you'll be able to use your e-mail as normal(ish). Slightly limited functionality vs Outlook.

[Saves messing about with Outlook on new laptop - although, if you want to it's actually simple enough.]

This can be done from any PC / laptop with internet access - or even a mobile, which can come in handy. You'll still be able to access on desktop via Outlook as normal.

If you specifically don't want access to your e-mail on the desktop, just delete the account in Outlook. The account with NTL / Virgin will not be deleted, just access to it via Outlook on the desktop.
 
Last edited:
B

Bitey

Active member
Right then, thanks for the quick replies.

Is the USB Easy Transfer Cable a specific piece of kit I'd have to buy or would any usb to usb cable do (if I even have such a thing!)
Similar thing for the network connection, I have a router on my home desktop system for internet access I guess this counts as a network connection? would I be able to link up the desktop through the router to the laptop via an ethernet cable? or go straight from desktop to laptop with the ethernet? Apologies if these are stupid questions but I'm really in the dark here.

Thanks for the advice about email, jimbhoy, I have used webmail before. What I wanted to do I think is more the second option you mentioned. I want to 'transfer' my email account, or as it sounds I'll have to delete it on the desktop and add it to the laptop, so that my emails can only be received and viewed on the laptop...

Would this be where the pop3 server and all that shenanigans comes in?
 
J

Jimbhoy

Bronze Level Poster
Yes, you'll need to know your POP3 & SMTP server settings before you can add Outlook account to lappy - just copy them from desktop.

Assuming you have Outlook on laptop, just go into accounts -> add account -> follow the macro. If it asks you to set as default, just say 'yes' since I'm guessing it'll be the only account on there.

Send an e-mail just to yourself (to check if you can both send & receive) and always a good idea, if you have a separate hotmail, gmail etc address to see if you can send / receive to/from them as well.

Just checked Virgin Media's online help pages and they have step-by-step instructions.

Jim

btw - there's no such thing as a stupid question.
 
Last edited:
B

Bitey

Active member
Ok then bit of necromancy here but its the same issue so it seemed silly to start a new thread.

I don't have outlook on the new laptop and am using windows live mail instead (I actually far prefer it) but I still can't find a way to get old emails from the desktop outlook onto windows live mail on the laptop. I've copied across an outlook.pst file which supposedly contains all the relevant data but when I try to import it to live mail, the first time only a fraction of the messages were transferred and now live mail isn't even recognising the .pst file as a valid source to import...
 
vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
This worked for me,Install Mailstore Home on your old computer,download from here.
http://www.mailstore.com/en/mailstore-home.aspx
1) Use Mailstore to read all of my Outlook email.(In Mailstore Home, select "Archive Email" and point to Outlook)
2) Export to "File System" using the eml format
3) Export to a directory such as C:\temp\email,then transfer to new computer using usb stick or other storage device.
4) In Live Mail use the Import Function
5) Select "Windows Mail" format
6) Select the directory such as C:\temp\email
Or have a look at this step by step guide.
http://www.systemed.co.uk/how_to/technical/moving-from-outlook-to-windows-live-mail/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top