I'm switching computers at home and...

[Landshark]

...want to know how to transfer programs from one to another.
Especially my Kodak program since it has all my pics on it.

My cd writer on the old HP doesn't seem to work so I can't just burn the pics.

I only have a couple things on my old computer I want to transfer over so it shouldn't be too hard, of course I'm very computer ill-literate.

My new computer is a Dell Inspiron.

 

[brianhos]

Do both computers have ethernet? If so network them both, or just use a crossover cable. Or just load them on a flash drive and move it over, or even better, pop the HD out put it in the new computer and just copy what you want over.

 

[rbrook]

Purchase a USB memory stick and download your pictures to it.

 

[1100011CS]

There's no easy way to transfer programs from one computer to another other than re-installing them. The data used by/created by those programs is another story. Your pictures, for example, could be transferred in many ways. Burn to a disc (which seems to be out for you), copy between the two via file sharing, copy to another place on a network, etc... So, assuming you can't burn to a disk, do you have a network you can use?

 

[1100011CS]

If you have a gmail account you can use that as temporary storage . Just zip up all your pictures and send it to yourself.

 

[06_CY]

Do both computers have ethernet? If so network them both, or just use a crossover cable. Or just load them on a flash drive and move it over, or even better, pop the HD out put it in the new computer and just copy what you want over.

I was unable to network my desktop and laptop. I also bought a crossover cable and tried to do it that way; no dice on that either. I ended up just burning everything onto CD, which only took 7 CD's.

So if anyone wants a crossover cable, you can have mine.

 

[ISUKyro]

Do both computers have ethernet? If so network them both, or just use a crossover cable. Or just load them on a flash drive and move it over, or even better, pop the HD out put it in the new computer and just copy what you want over.

Say Brian, how easy is it to use a crossover cable to transfer stuff? I've thought about doing that for past projects, and I think my brother-in-law may be doing that soon.
Do you have to set up much for file sharing between the two or is it a click and drag type thing?

 

[Landshark]

Purchase a USB memory stick and download your pictures to it.

Aaahh yes, I got one of those last year for X-Mas....cool...

 

[CYdTracked]

USB flash drive is probably the best. You can get a 4GB on Buy.com pretty cheap. The thing about new PCs is most of them are SATA drives now where I'm guessing your old hard drive is IDE so some of these new PCs don't have IDE controllers anymore since most devices are now SATA. If you have a home network going you can probably create a share on each machine and just move the files over the network too.

 

[1100011CS]

Aaahh yes, I got one of those last year for X-Mas....cool...

I hope it's bigger than the 128MB one I got for Christmas a couple years ago.

 

[Landshark]

I hope it's bigger than the 128MB one I got for Christmas a couple years ago.

It is, it should work.

 

[tim_redd]

I hope it's bigger than the 128MB one I got for Christmas a couple years ago.

I got a 128 meg one about 5 years ago for Christmas as well. It's good for (small) documents, but not much more.

 

[Landshark]

I'll give it a shot with the flash drive, thanks!!!!

 

[price26]

If that doesn't work, you could go out and buy a Belikin Transfer Cable, I used it to move stuff from my old desktop to my laptop and got pretty much everything I wanted moved moved. It runs about $40 bucks though.

 

[jumbopackage]

flash drive or USB hard drive is your best bet. Either way, you'll need to find out where your programs actually save your data, and copy it that way. Then you'll need to re-install the software from the original media to your new computer.

 

[uro cy]

Do both computers have ethernet? If so network them both, or just use a crossover cable. Or just load them on a flash drive and move it over, or even better, pop the HD out put it in the new computer and just copy what you want over.

I highly recommend doing this...With the last couple of PC's i have purchased, I have done this. It is easier than you think, and you know you will have all the files you want. Plus you have extra hard drive space.

 

[CloneBack]

Use your old hard drive as an external. Not difficult and you may learn a few things in the process.

Build an External Hard Drive - Expert Help by PC Magazine

 

[Cyclonesrule91]

What about those back-up storage devices. I just bought one to back up my work computer and home computer. Has 320mg of space and I think it was called a back up hard drive.

I don't know, I know about enough on computers to make me dangerous.

 

[jumbopackage]

What about those back-up storage devices. I just bought one to back up my work computer and home computer. Has 320mg of space and I think it was called a back up hard drive.

I don't know, I know about enough on computers to make me dangerous.

It's just a hard drive in a USB enclosure. You can build your own if you have a hard drive and a kit for it in about 5 minutes. They work great, and I highly recommend them.

 

[Cyclonesrule91]

It's just a hard drive in a USB enclosure. You can build your own if you have a hard drive and a kit for it in about 5 minutes. They work great, and I highly recommend them.

When I bought this back up, it came with some software that I can try for free for 30 days that works in the background automatically backing up your computer. Is that something I want? and, if not, how is the easiest way to save to that hard drive. It didn't come with a lot of instruction.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, just thought of this.