Is It Worth $130 to have everything moved to my new PC?

[gdr_11]

I am 75 and no longer tech savvy. I have an old computer with about 125 GB of files and programs that I neec to move to a new PC. I amconcerned about losing login and password data. Local shop wants $130; is it worth it?

[Kyle1886]

I'm pretty much in the same boat, although I'm trying to go from a Win 7 PC that was put in service in 2011 and move everything to a new Apple PC that our son "gave" me from his business. It's no going well at all. I only know of one local computer place and they wanted way more than 130.00 to transfer stuff. Basically told me to find an individual as they primarily build custom units. If you have the funds and not want to shoot either PC, let them do it.

Good luck.

Kyle

ETA: I had a mobile tech guy that did repairs / etc. a while back but the rascal vanished during the covid fiasco. I'm thinking maybe I'd better off and try to find a mobile tech versus continuing to being stubborn and getting frustrated...besides breaking all this stuff down/hauling is a bear.😁

[ibanezfoo]

It is easy to do yourself but I get it if you don't want to spend the time. Depending on how much data you have it could take 30 minutes it could take 2 hours. A flat fee of $130 I think is reasonable. If I ever help people with computer stuff (which is VERY rare) its $100 / hr.

[Preston-CLB]

First: Do not 'move' files to the new PC...Copy them. Retain the old drive.

Second: Copying things like documents, pictures, PDF is easy,

Third; Copying programs, i.e. executable files may not work (see caveat below). It would be best to make a list of the programs you want and then download install them afresh onto the new PC. If you have legacy programs, you'll need to know if they are compatible with the new OS. If they are, you can reinstall from the install disks you already have, or download new copies, assuming they are still available.

caveat: You could clone your old C:/ drive to the new machine, but you would lose any factory installed programs, including the OS.

caveat 2: Install a secondary drive into the new PC and then clone the original drive that has the files and programs. You would then have to point to those items from the new PC's OS.

Depending upon how comfortable you are doing things like this, it might be more cost/time/frustration effective to have it done by your tech for the $130.
-P

[SactoDoug]

Before you do anything, make a hard copy of all of your IDs and passwords. I don't normally recommend that but if you are not comfortable with doing things on your computer then having a written backup is cheap insurance. Just put your hard copy in your safe or somewhere else that is secure.

125 GB is not that much by today's storage standard. You can buy 128 GB flash drives that can hold all of your data for less than $10. That would be a cheap and easy way to copy your files. Buy a 128+ GB flash drive, copy your files to the flash drive then plug the flash drive into your new computer and copy your files to the new computer. You also have an extra copy of your data on your flash drive now if you want to have an extra copy.

[Big Chudungus]

$130 should include them putting at least your data on a Thumb Drive for extra backup.

What Preston said about certain Programs might not work. If they were installed, but you don't got the installer Exe File, and that program is MIA on WWW, you might be out of luck. But unless you are into really kinky stuff, a shop should be able to track down WTF they need.

I boggles my mind that Apple and MS haven't figured out a way to reliably and painlessly transfer your whole "world" to a new "machine". They make their money with the "Microsoft Tax" because 90+% of people will use Factory Windows on their new PC, and new PCs are cheap enough people would by them every year, just because.

But my Desktop is Windows 7 or Vista, just because its a PIA to make new default passwords etc. Phone makers seem to have it mostly figured out with some "Smart Switch" and lots of people buy new phones for no real reason.

I also don't get why Google didn't figure out a way to get rid of the Yahoo! virus that was going around a few years back. Somehow you'd click something and suddenly you were always directed to Yahoo! as default when you wanted Google, and it was a real PIA to fix.

[sigstroker]

Before you do anything, make a hard copy of all of your IDs and passwords. I don't normally recommend that but if you are not comfortable with doing things on your computer then having a written backup is cheap insurance. Just put your hard copy in your safe or somewhere else that is secure.

125 GB is not that much by today's storage standard. You can buy 128 GB flash drives that can hold all of your data for less than $10. That would be a cheap and easy way to copy your files. Buy a 128+ GB flash drive, copy your files to the flash drive then plug the flash drive into your new computer and copy your files to the new computer. You also have an extra copy of your data on your flash drive now if you want to have an extra copy.

I'd get something bigger than 128 because flash drives lose capacity over time.

[Reno-Kid]

Passwords to websites? Your Browswer will have a tab that lists the website and passwords. Copy by using your mouse to a word document.

You can also export list of websites with passwords. You should already have a paper notebook with sites and passwords as back up.

https://youtu.be/G8UtuBrqB78?si=pmQfCZ-8czQ5PbG4

For everything else just use move command with mouse.
500GB HD are cheap at <$75

What browsers are you using? Did you write down the password for your PC and Microsoft Account and also tie it phone number for back up restore?

https://www.greengeeks.com/tutorials/export-your-bookmarks-in-chrome/

Configure-Import-Settings-768x342.png

[Big Chudungus]

lotsa folks buy new $1700 phones every year, like clockwork, just because. sounds silly, since Apple stopped doing real improvements over 10yrs ago, but if you consider its something you will use and rely on, all day, every day, the extra $6 a day over a year seems OK to have the latest and greatest. More like only $4 day if you trade in.

The reason that is possible is the various "Smart Switch" apps that make it quick and easy to port "your life" to new phone. 98% of the reason I've still got a desktop running Win 7 is its a royal PIA, with lots of FUD, to put "my life" into a new PC and Windows. Not sure how that goes with Apple PCs, but AFAIK its also PIA and not at all like phones.

Bill Gates would sell 5x as many copies of Windows, always pre-installed on PCs, if it was even only 2x as hard to transfer to new PC as it is for either Apple or Android phones.

Likewise, there are still active Brouser Hijacker virus that jack your PC to Yahoo away from Google which most people use. This has been going on for decades. Avast, Malwarebytes and MS Security don't fix it. WTF doesn't Google have some team of bright boys write a nice easy to use app to allow people to fix that without needing to become entry-level hackers themselves???
Google runs on ads AKA eyeballs and this one type of virus must cost them billions.

[BrokerB]

Yes pay it. Or spend hours of time trying to make sure nothing got lost.

[Big Chudungus]

Yes pay it. Or spend hours of time trying to make sure nothing got lost.

A good shop will take a look at how gramps got his stuff set up on old PC and give him a few tips worth at least $130, if he values his time at $2/hr.

[Preston-CLB]

BigC said, "What Preston said about certain Programs might not work. If they were installed, but you don't got the installer Exe File, and that program is MIA on WWW, you might be out of luck."

That's not what I said..."Copying programs, i.e. executable files may not work"

While you are correct about not having the installer, programs install DLL's and other files all over the place on the drive. Additionally, Windows installs keys in the Registry that allow the program to work properly. This is why I said the best course of action is to...

"...make a list of the programs you want and then download install them afresh onto the new PC. If you have legacy programs, you'll need to know if they are compatible with the new OS. If they are, you can reinstall from the install disks you already have, or download new copies, assuming they are still available."

Regarding login info and passwords: I have used the free version of Last Pass browser extension for years. Your stuff is securely stored on their hardware, and you use your user-defined master password to access your 'vault'.
-P