Transferring Data from Old PC to New PC (Both Win 10)

[WWGD]

What? Why are you carrying it around? You should stash it in a safe place. If you have a bank box place it there. Just find a safe place.

You could store it in your car but would likely need to protect it from the heat or cold using a box of some sort. If you have a musical instrument with carrying case, you could stash it there.

Its best NOT to store with or in something of value lest it be lost if that item is stolen.

How about storing it in One drive or some other cloud storage?

 

[WWGD]

Ok, so I am finally backing things up on a cheap drive. Is there a way of obtaining more detailed information of how my backup is coming along? Activity monitor is being very parsimonious. Anyone know where/how I can get more detailed information within Windows10?

 

[sysprog]

Ok, so I am finally backing things up on a cheap drive. Is there a way of obtaining more detailed information of how my backup is coming along? Activity monitor is being very parsimonious. Anyone know where/how I can get more detailed information within Windows10?

You didn't say exactly what you're using to do the local backup, or how you've configured or instructed it, so we can't very well know precisely how you should watch it, right?

 

[WWGD]

You didn't say exactly what you're using to do the local backup, or how you've configured or instructed it, so we can't very well know precisely how you should watch it, right?

I bought a cheap generic external drive. I just followed up Windows 10 methods; the path Control Panel/Backup and Restore/Create System Image

That was it. Backup is ready now but I am curious on how to keep track of it.

 

[StevieTNZ]

I bought a cheap generic external drive. I just followed up Windows 10 methods; the path Control Panel/Backup and Restore/Create System Image

That was it. Backup is ready now but I am curious on how to keep track of it.

Just let it do its thing and I'm sure it'll let you know once its done. Do you plan on installing the image you've taken on a new PC? I tried that once, and I had to re-activate every program that was installed. (mind you, this was replacing a dying HDD with a new one)

 

[sysprog]

I bought a cheap generic external drive. I just followed up Windows 10 methods; the path Control Panel/Backup and Restore/Create System Image

That was it. Backup is ready now but I am curious on how to keep track of it.

That isn't a complete backup. I suggest that you use a full-disk-imaging product such as clonezilla.

 

[WWGD]

That isn't a complete backup. I suggest that you use a full-disk-imaging product such as clonezilla.

Thank you. It seems I may then have to install some flavor of Linux , per your link.

 

[sysprog]

Thank you. It seems I may then have to install some flavor of Linux , per your link.

You don't have to 'install' clonezilla to run it; you can run it from a 'live' version -- https://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live.php -- please feel free to PM me if you would like advice regarding the specifics . . .

 

[jedishrfu]

Here's a youtuber discussing the best long term storage schemes to use with pros and cons.

 

[sysprog]

. . . discussing the best long term storage schemes to use . . .

For long-term archival storage I keep a supply of M-Discs.

 

[Vanadium 50]

You like them? I have a drive or two that will write them, but never tried them. Worth the money?

 

[StevieTNZ]

Those discs will be handy to have. I guess now the question is, does your computer have a DVD-RW (or whatever) drive?

 

[sysprog]

You like them? I have a drive or two that will write them, but never tried them. Worth the money?

For some data, I like the idea of archiving on media that will likely last hundreds of years, but for normal data, I use USB drives, e.g. Seagate Backup Plus.

 

[jedishrfu]

For me there are two key aspects, backup shelflife and multiple multi-site backup.

I've seen a few cases in my time where really bizarre things happen. In one case, a coworker was migrating his PC-XT files to a new PC-AT using the provided floppy disks. What he didn't realize was that these disks were specifically for the PC-AT drive and required a higher write current to record data properly.

He dutifully backed up his files to these disks and formatted the PC-XT harddisk before beginning his transfer to the new PC-AT. Incredulity, panic and then horror set in as he discovered that there was nothing saved on the floppy disks.

I've seen similar issues where someone was in the wrong directory or used an unfamiliar script that deleted all files on the harddisk because an argument ie subdirectory or filename was missing and a command like: DEL c:\ was run or in my own case rm -rf /bin on a unix box.

I've seen casette tapes get mangled in the recorder (cassette tape was popular with early PCs like the TRS80, Sinclair...)

I've seen CDs get mangled when placed in the CD drive too quickly with the door catching it at the wrong angle. I've seen floppy get demagnetized because your kid ran a strong magnet (the infamous superduper red horseshoe magnet) over the floppy to see if it could pick it up.

I've seen static discharge accidentally take out a USB stick at the wrong moment.

In the end, it seems that external USB drives are best. They carry their own R/W hardware, are heavily tested, can be copied at a fairly high rate and are more flexible than digital tape ie directory/file retrieval.

You can run diagnostics on them to insure files are still good. As long as USB is around, they should still be readable. Other media like CDs, DVDs, BluRay... require the appropriate hardware to read/write them and will fall out of use like the floppy disks did before them. You can have multiple external drives connected at the same time for camparison tests...

There are ways you can use external drives to do partial backups to limit the number that you keep around with some being sent to offsite storage in a bank vault or other safe places.

Here's some tape (works for external drives too) rotation strategies to consider if you're serious about backup management.

https://www.recordnations.com/articles/tape-rotation-2/

 

[jedishrfu]

For long-term archival storage I keep a supply of M-Discs.

I found this youtube video on M-Disks and their pros and cons.

 

[sysprog]

I found this youtube video on M-Disks and their pros and cons.

Nice find and nice video presentation; however, I didn't see any downside elucidated -- the conclusion seemed to be simply that the M-Disc was more robust -- as @Vanadium 50 wondered, though, are they worth the higher cost -- I suppose that depends on specific charactistics of the data and on storage conditions -- the person doing the archiving presumably would know how to make that call . . .

 

[jedishrfu]

The downside is heat and warping. You still have to keep them in a safe cool place.

I could envision someone keeping them in a bank vault and then deciding one day to retrieve a file, leave them in the car (Arizona?) and the heat gets them.

 

[jedishrfu]

And now some details on the SSD