How should I backup my files to transfer from my old laptop to my new one?

Asked by desiree333 (3241

) September 18th, 2011

Currently I have a Dell inspiron and tomorrow morning I am picking my new MacBook Air up at my University’s Campus Tech store. I am giving my old laptop to my sister, so I can keep some files on it. However, for my pictures and documents how should I back them up? I have a memory stick but I don’t think it has many GB’s. Should I use blank CD’s? Also, how can I save all the things on my iTunes and somehow put them on my MacBook? I have never had to transfer data to a new computer because my Dell was my first laptop.

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4 Answers

Buy an external hard drive. You can get one with the space you need probably for under 50 dollars. It can serve as a backup drive, too.

wundayatta (58741

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It all depends on how much data you have to transfer.

The easiest way is to open security permissions on your local home network to allow one of the PC’s to connect to the other via a share. Then you can simply drag and drop the files from one PC to the other without any hardware. This configuration will vary depending on what OS you are running. If it is Windows, Right Click on the drive your files are on and select properties. There will be a selection for sharing. You may have to tweek the Windows Firewall settings or network settings. Tell us more about the OS and we may be able to step you through it.

blueiiznh (16703

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You can also open up a Dropbox, 4Share and / or other similar account where you can drop off your files temporarily for later retrieval.

CWOTUS (26102

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You can try Migration Assistant on the Mac if both computers are on the same network. It is in Applications/Utilities on the Mac and looks like this. It will walk you through transferring everything over.

jrpowell (40562

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