transferring files between computers

[ReformedCharacter]

Looks like Urbandreamer is correct and Win11 may not return ping requests, but you should be able to see both machines on the same network.

RC

[ReformedCharacter]

You will also need to share a folder(s) from your Windows 10 PC, IIRC you cannot share the whole C drive. If your files are in the usual place, ie. under the 'Users' folder, then open Windows Explorer and navigate to Users (c:\Users) and then your named folder. Right click on the folder and select 'Properties' and click on the 'Sharing' tab... If you have files in other folders, that are not under the Users folder, you can repeat the process for those folders as well.

Now I think about it, the Win 10 PC will not show up 'on the network' if you don't have a shared folder on it. I said it was a faff

RC

[scrumpyjack]

I just put all my stuff in the OneDrive folder so it automatically replicates if I get a new computer. Also it means that it is automatically backed up to the cloud and I can retrieve old versions of files if I need to. I get 1 Terabyte of storage included with my Office 365 licence.

As I have several PCs, it is useful that all my files are automatically up to date on whichever PC I work on.

It helps that I have a fast internet connection so replicating is extremely fast (500mb download, 75mb upload)

[Howard]

You could set both machines up on the same network but that can be a bit of a faff, if you just want to move some files from one machine to the other then I'd suggest a USB stick would be the quickest solution. If you want to network them:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-do-i-connect-two-2-desktop-windows-10-pcs-to/d20132fc-dc2e-4582-a13e-3b2d51481c20

RC

I'm trying to get the 2 PCs networked, and I followed the steps outlined in this Microsoft answers page, but not much success.

The new Win 11 PC is connected to the router's wifi. The old Win 10 PC is connected to the router by ethernet cable.

I can successfully ping from the Win 11 PC to the Win 10 PC, but when I try to ping from the Win10 PC to the Win 11 PC the request times out.

And using MS File Explorer on the Win 11 PC, and clicking on "Network", the Win 10 PC doesn't show up.

Any suggestions welcome!

newlyretired

Out of interest, can you explain why you don't use OneDrive? For me it worked immediately. The Windows 11 laptop had access to all the files on the W10 PC. They share files without any hassle.

No Office 365 subscription is needed as I bought a one-off MS Office download for less than £10 for the laptop and OneDrive is free. It's kept things simple

regards

Howard

[Lanark]

All these solutions seem over complicated

Unplug your backup drive from the old computer

plug it into the new computer

Copy over the files you need from the last backup

Once that initial copy is done you may want to consider buying a new backup drive for the new computer, they don't last forever and they are dirt cheap these days.

[Urbandreamer]

All these solutions seem over complicated

Unplug your backup drive from the old computer

plug it into the new computer

Copy over the files you need from the last backup

Once that initial copy is done you may want to consider buying a new backup drive for the new computer, they don't last forever and they are dirt cheap these days.

The OP has never said what type of Win 10 or Win 11 machine they are talking about. What you suggest is indeed the simplest method, provided you CAN actually unplug the drive from one machine and plug it into the other.

Unplugging the drive may prove a tad difficult with some laptop's.

OneDrive is a great way to sync files if you want to work that way. It's in some ways even simpler than getting to a hard drive to unplug it. As has been suggested a number of times.

The OP has decided that they don't want to work that way either, but to get networking up and running. The decision is made. Let us support them in getting networking up and running.

[Infrasonic]

...Unplugging the drive may prove a tad difficult with some laptop's.

OneDrive is a great way to sync files if you want to work that way. It's in some ways even simpler than getting to a hard drive to unplug it. As has been suggested a number of times...

I'd interpreted Lanark's post to mean an external drive i.e an HDD/SSD in a USB case, which is a standard way to do OS and document backups and the way I've always set up friends and family's Windows PC's with Macrium Reflect and Windows File History on separate partitions. Some of them have been insistent about no cloud facility - so I respected their wishes but pointed out the dire consequences of a house fire or flood and total loss scenario both for their PC's/data and any paperwork stored in filing cabinets.

With an encrypted small portable USB SSD e.g. Samsung T5/7/9 you could actually carry it around with you and get around the offsite backup armageddon issue that way...

[newlyretired]

Unless you've deliberately disabled it you'll probably find many of your files automatically backed up to OneDrive on the W10 machine, have you checked?

There was a recent update to W10 called Windows Backup that is on by default, so even if previously you weren't being backed up to OneDrive that probably would have done it now. If so you should just be able to log into your Windows account and have the W11 machine sync with the existing OneDrive account.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/m ... ackup-app/

OK, I have decided to go down the OneDrive route, but I seem to have somewhat screwed up!

I did a full backup from the Windows 10 PC to OneDrive. I then copied the Documents folder from OneDrive to the Win 11 PC
This resulted in:
> Documents > Documents
(so I doubled up the folder on the Win 11 PC)
...and it then proceded to delete the whole Documents folder from OneDrive!

What's the best way to:
1. Restore the Documents folder and contents that has been deleted from OneDrive ?
2. Get this folder onto the Win 11 PC without doubling up ?

Many thanks

newlyretired

[newlyretired]

OK, I think that I have now managed to undelete the Documents folder on OneDrive.

I haven't yet solved the doubled up Documents folder

And I have now download the Pictures folder via OneDrive. This has resulted in a 19.0 GB Pictures.zip file in Downloads, but I'm not sure how to deal with this!

newlyretired

[newlyretired]

...and the Documents folder which I copied to the Win 11 PC does have the folders which should be there, but no sign of the individual files within these folders - perhaps they are also locked up in zip files, but I can't see the zip files!

[newlyretired]

And I have now download the Pictures folder via OneDrive. This has resulted in a 19.0 GB Pictures.zip file in Downloads, but I'm not sure how to deal with this!

OK, I did manage to extract the folders and photos from Pictures.zip
...but they have all ended up with today's date!

newlyretired

[genou]

And I have now download the Pictures folder via OneDrive. This has resulted in a 19.0 GB Pictures.zip file in Downloads, but I'm not sure how to deal with this!

OK, I did manage to extract the folders and photos from Pictures.zip
...but they have all ended up with today's date!

newlyretired

I don't think you should be attempting to download anything. OneDrive on the old PC means that its files are uploaded to the cloud. When you attach the new PC to your OneDrive login, it will auto-magically pull down the existing cloud contents to that PC ( depending possibly on what settings you choose for having files available off-line on that machine). You manually pulling stuff down is what is creating the confusion.

[Infrasonic]

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/set-up-on ... -11.10927/

[GrahamPlatt]

Other means

https://www.wired.com/story/easiest-way ... -remotely/

[MrFoolish]

Bear in mind if files are accidentally or maliciously deleted then the one drive linked versions are also gone. Same problem if Microsoft screws up or gets hacked. It is not a replacement for your own physical backup.

[mc2fool]

Bear in mind if files are accidentally or maliciously deleted then the one drive linked versions are also gone. Same problem if Microsoft screws up or gets hacked. It is not a replacement for your own physical backup.

While I fully agree with your final sentence, I'm not familiar with OneDrive, doesn't it have versioning and backups?

I use both Google Drive (for "generic" stuff) and https://www.sync.com/ (for private & secure stuff) and both have both, so if I delete or mess up a file, as they both sync up more or less immediately, I can easily get it back straight away.

Of course, in most cases you can get a deleted file back from the Recycle bin anyway, and I can also get back deleted files/previous versions from my (hourly) File History backups and/or (daily) Macrium whole system backups, if they were caught by those.

But, as they sync up continuously, Google Drive & Sync.com let me recover subsequently messed up files that were created/edited since those backup snapshots...

[Infrasonic]

The other thing you can do with cloud is backup one ecosystem to another (e.g. OD to GD) using automation, which avoids chewing up LAN bandwidth and CPU cycles on your PC's / phones etc.

I know that Synology now have WORM (write once read many) capability on their plus series NAS' as a backup ransomware prevention measure, I'd imagine some cloud services have similar, but it might be a paid option only...

With respect to OneDrive specifically just check the small print to see what level of file versioning you get, I know that as you go up the MS365 paid tiers there's more granularity and the ability to do longer versioning periods. If data is important or sensitive don't just rely on free stuff without checking exactly what it doesn't do.

[NomoneyNohoney]

I use a simple program called Send Anywhere. Send Anywhere is a file sharing application that takes an easy, quick, and unlimited approach to file sharing. Cloud sharing or storage services often offer a promise of unlimited file storing and sharing but their speeds and usability is compromised. Send Anywhere is for anyone wanting to share quality content, quickly, from any device to anyone in the world.

https://support.send-anywhere.com/hc/en ... -Anywhere-

Load the app onto the two devices, the sender gets issued a 6 digit number. Write that on the receiving equipment, and it transfers. Dead simple.

[GrahamPlatt]

I use a simple program called Send Anywhere. Send Anywhere is a file sharing application that takes an easy, quick, and unlimited approach to file sharing. Cloud sharing or storage services often offer a promise of unlimited file storing and sharing but their speeds and usability is compromised. Send Anywhere is for anyone wanting to share quality content, quickly, from any device to anyone in the world.

https://support.send-anywhere.com/hc/en ... -Anywhere-

Load the app onto the two devices, the sender gets issued a 6 digit number. Write that on the receiving equipment, and it transfers. Dead simple.

There’s a similar service that I’ve used in the past called Wetransfer(.com). Free account allows sending of files of up to 2gb.

[NomoneyNohoney]

From Send Anywhere's support questions:-

"The maximum file size for transfer depends on the method used.

Send Anywhere Email Add-on subscribers can share large files to My Link at once.

6-digit Key Transfer: Unlimited

Share link: Up to 10 GB (Free member) / Up to 20GB (Lite member) / Up to 30GB (Standard member)

Directly To Device: Up to 10GB

※ Please note that when uploading or downloading files from external storage such as an SD card or USB, there may be a file size limit imposed by the external storage settings itself."