Transferring from one computer to another

Hi All… I have a computer that’s on its last legs and I have a new one coming here in a few days.

If all goes well, I’d like to put everything from my external harddrive back-up to the new computer.

Does anyone know the following:

  1. Do the MyBook Essentials backup our software programs too or just our files?
  2. Can I just tell it to put everything on the new computer without having it override the 8.1 Windows operating system with the old Windows 7 operating system?

I’m sure I’ll have other questions, but those are my big concerns for now.  I’d really love to NOT have to take the computer to a store and pay someone $150 to do this for me.  Any help is appreciated.

Cheers,

Laura

Hi,

  1. Do the MyBook Essentials backup our software programs too or just our files?

The backup software that comes with this unit, does not backup softwares, just the files.

2.  Can I just tell it to put everything on the new computer without having it override the 8.1 Windows operating system with the old Windows 7 operating system?

Restoring a backup wont override the OS. Since you are going to retrieve the files on a different computer, the file structure will be a bit different, so as a recommendation, retrieve the files to a specific location.

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Thanks for your quick response.

That’s disappointing about software not being backed up, but I guess I understand.  I hope I can find all the software disks for everything I had on my old computer.

So… if software and operating system don’t get backed up and restored, if someone had a virus… that probably wouldn’t go on to the new computer either, right?  Not that I have any, but I like ot be extra paranoid.  ;-)

BTW, what do you mean “retrieve the files to a specific location”?  Do I make a folder (like “Laura’s old computer”) and throw all the restores in there?