Forum Discussion

my440's avatar
my440
Explorer III
Oct 08, 2016

Windows 10 transfer large folders pc to pc help

Hi
My gf has a new HP laptop and has given me the task of transferring her large music and photo folders from her old Acer laptop.
Ordinarily I would transfer files and folders via a USB stick.
However her music and photo folders out weigh the space provided on the biggest USB stick.
I tried copying 8 gb of files out of the 260 gb folder then pasting onto a 8 gb USB stick.
That works but then I have to delete the contents of the USB stick then go back to the big folder to see where I left off. There is alot of confusion... along with her constantly wanting her new laptop.
I cannot do this any longer.
Any suggestions on how to take the whole folder and send it over?
Uploading to the cloud is slow.
Both laptops running Windows 10 up to date.
Thanks
  • my440's avatar
    my440
    Explorer III
    Nov 19, 2016
    Fizz wrote:
    I use a Drive Mate, everybody should have one.
    It's cheap and easy to use. Pull the HD out, hook it up and it acts as a huge thumb drive. Over the years I've trashed a few PCs but always kept the HD.

    Drive Mate



    Thanks I have 4 old hard drives removed from old pcs of past. This Drivemate would be great. Shipped from Canada which is a big bonus.
  • my440's avatar
    my440
    Explorer III
    Nov 12, 2016
    I tried the networking and setting home groups etc. but I just get lost in it all.
    Perhaps when some free time comes by I may learn quicker... but I doubt it.

    It would be simpler if she just categorized her mess better. Gigs of music video dang recipes etc. scattered where ever the save button was pointed to I guess.

    On eBay I purchased a Insignia USB transfer cable as suggested and drug the whole works over to her new laptop which has a 2TB HD. I split 60% of it as a partitioned storage drive.
    Transfer cable eBay including quick shipping from USA $10.99
    Transfer cable big box store $29.99
    I may of lost abit in the swap but how would she know?
    Thanks so much!
  • my440's avatar
    my440
    Explorer III
    Oct 22, 2016
    Oh thanks so much for all of your inputs!
    We have been up north and offline now for several days which is why I have not responded sooner.
    This weekend I need to get this done so I will go through all the great info posted in this thread!
    Thanks again... so awesome.
  • strollin's avatar
    strollin
    Explorer
    Oct 10, 2016
    256GB data hoarder? I recently transferred more than 3TB of data across my network (moved my media library from one machine to another). I have a 1Gb network, took about 4.5 hours or so.

    Network would be my first choice since you only need to do the operation once. If you use an external drive or a thumb drive you have to do the operation twice, copy from PC 1 to external drive, then copy from external drive to PC 2. The advantage to using the external drive method is that the external drive can then act as a backup of the data.
  • APT's avatar
    APT
    Explorer
    Oct 10, 2016
    Get a USB portable drive. 1-3TB should be plenty for a while and under $100. Then you can have the backup for all her music plus a way to transfer.
  • austinjenna's avatar
    austinjenna
    Explorer
    Oct 10, 2016
    You dont need to buy external HD's, drive-mates, cables or anything. Like others have mentioned do it through your own network and let it copy away. Its free
  • GordonThree's avatar
    GordonThree
    Explorer
    Oct 10, 2016
    Jeez folks, 260 g was a lot 15 years ago, its nothing these days. I guess I forget the average age on this forum is on the higher side.

    I've been hoarding for a while now and have 2 terabytes (2000 GB) of media backed up with two different cloud services.

    A small company I consult with has over 20tb of data replicated across three sites.

    260gb is a yawn, nothing to be shocked by or ashamed of.
  • mchero's avatar
    mchero
    Explorer
    Oct 10, 2016
    Johno02 wrote:
    get a hard drive docking station, use the hard drive from the Acer, connect it to the laptop, and you are done. Docking stations are about $30 for usb 2 or 3. connect it to the laptop, and let her select the files or folder she wants to move. Simple copy and paste. Or even better, just leave them on the docking station. The docking station is nice to have around just for a backup drive.


    Listen to Johno02
    His siggestion is exactly what your looking for.MUCH faster than ANY of the other suggestions.
  • Ed_Gee's avatar
    Ed_Gee
    Explorer II
    Oct 09, 2016
    joebedford wrote:
    260GB and "she is a data hoarder"? Oh myyyy.


    In retrospect, I see your point. At the time of my 'data hoarder' comment I was only thinking of music ... I had overlooked the original poster's inclusion of photos in that folder.

    But another thought has come to mind... the girl friend had ALL her stuff on her laptop? NO BACKUP? Had that laptop HD failed, or gotten stolen, she would have lost it all. Really really ought to have already backed up all those apparently important files to a nice portable 1TB or more USB HD. Would be a nice gift from the original poster to his girlfriend, I think.
  • Tom_M1's avatar
    Tom_M1
    Explorer
    Oct 09, 2016
    tatest wrote:
    A 500 GB USB portable disk drive
    It would be hard to find one that small now. Go to Walmart or Best Buy and get a 1TB (1000 GB) USB portable hard drive for about $55.

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