Windows 8 Bible

Transferring Without Windows Easy Transfer

In some situations you might want to use a manual method to copy files and other items from your old computer to your new Windows 8 computer. For example, perhaps you can’t use Windows Easy Transfer because of limitations of the PC or your working environment, or maybe you just want some manual alternatives.

One choice is to copy any files you need on the new computer to some external medium. Although a flash drive or external hard drive is recommended, you can use CDs or DVDs if both computers have appropriate drives. After you’ve copied all the necessary files to that external medium, connect it to or insert it into your Windows 8 computer and copy files from it to appropriate folders on your hard drive (for example, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos).

Copying files won’t help with Internet favorites, e-mail messages, contacts, and such. But you can usually export those items to files. Copy those files to your external medium and then import those files to corresponding programs on your Windows 8 computer. Options to import and export are usually on a program’s File menu. If in doubt, you can search that program’s Help for “Export” or “Import,” depending on which you need to do.

The sections that follow offer a few handy tips and techniques. First, however, we offer a couple of cautions for people who skipped or didn’t understand the preceding sections of this chapter.

Caution

The techniques assume that you know how to navigate ...