<p>Our 8 year old desktop would not start Windows last night - all I could get was a black screen with white writing telling me to choose an option to try to repair or restart (“last known good configuration” - which didn’t work). The only thing I could get it to do was what appeared to be a system restore - the original Gateway screen came up and wanted me to insert a system restore disk #1 - well I only have one system restore disk - not numbered ones - and it was saying the disk I had was not the right one.</p>
<p>Anyway, might take it into the shop to see what they say, but hey, the thing is 8 years old. </p>
<p>What I’m curious about is I have an external back up drive that has been hooked up to it - assuming THAT is not corrupted, and if we get a new computer - laptop or otherwise - how hard is it to transfer stuff on the external drive to a new computer? Have never done this before. Will I have the option to only transfer certain stuff? Will it all automatically transfer? I’ve had this thing hooked up for 2-3 years but have never had any need to actually transfer anything.</p>
<p>I suppose I could also have the computer guy do transferring but of course, want to try and save some bucks if I can do it myself. H is the only one who will probably use this computer and he has NOOOOOOOO computer knowledge!</p>
<p>What is on the backup drive that you would like to transfer? I assume you have XP. If you are trying to transfer programs, you may be out of luck. Your new PC would likely be Windows 8 and it’s not a given that your old programs would function on the new operating system. Things like pictures, PDF files, documents would transfer back onto a new PC no problem. It all depends on what you want to recover.</p>
<p>Yes, probably just some personal files, pictures, Word files. Really when I think about it, there may not be a ton of stuff. Program wise, I don’t think there will be an issue. Besides Microsoft Office, not a ton of extras we use.</p>
<p>We (i.e. husband) had to do just this last summer. We didn’t transfer everything that was on the backup drive just what I knew I needed. My son went looking for something over winter break and found that we hadn’t transferred it, but it was still on the back up drive. My impression is that it’s not hugely difficult, but enough of a time sink that you might still want some one else to take care of it.</p>
<p>We did take the opportunity to update programs. I hate all the new versions! Well except publisher - the changes they made there were for the better.</p>
<p>If it’s “stuff”, meaning not an operating system and just stored as files - like mp3 is stored as mp3 - then transferring is as easy as copying. If you’re talking, as you mentioned, about programs, the issue is whether the program will be recognized without all the hidden bits - in Windows, the various libraries and registry keys, etc. If you own Office, meaning you have the disk, then you can perhaps just install from the disk. It gets weirder if you just have a license key, but you can google how to do that. In normal cases, re-installing isn’t hard, even if you have to download a new version, but Microsoft has more license restrictions than many companies so there may be an issue with their stuff, especially if it’s older.</p>
<p>If the backup is in some backup format, not just as files, then you should be able to figure out what program created it and go from there. The new machine should recognize the drive. You go from there.</p>
<p>You should also be able to mount the drive from the old computer (take the drive out of the computer and place it into an external USB drive case). You can then browse for anything that might not have made it to the attached external usb (pictures, etc).</p>
<p>If you do pursue this option, be sure to check whether the hard drive your desktop is using is IDE/PATA or SATA. While machines from 2006 are mostly SATA, if you bought that machine used or at a discount, there may be a possibility your machine may be using older IDE/PATA hard drive interfaces.</p>
<p>I definitely won’t be taking any drive OUT of my computer!! </p>
<p>Talked to H and I think we are just going to spring for a new laptop, hook up the external and hope for the best. If we have a lot of trouble, we can pursue going to the computer tore to try and retrieve at that point. We don’t need anything fancy - here we come Costco!</p>