Computer geeks needed!

[Reef Engineer]

I just got myself a nice new system over here (3.2 GHz cpu, 1 GB ram, 256 mb ATI 9800pro vid card, etc, etc) and want to know what's the easiest way - without simply removing the HD and putting it in the new system as a slave - to transfer the data from the old to the new. I have a ton of pictures, data, etc that I'd like to put back on the new system and clean it off the old one. Any ideas?

Additionally, where are the bookmarks (favorites) stored on internet explorer? I want to move those over to the new computer because I don't want to have to find all those porn sites, errrr, cowboy sites all over again. Ha ha. Seriously, though, I have a bunch of sites that I frequent and a ton of others from my wife's work and I'd like to simply copy the file over to the new system.

Oh yeah - one last thing here! This computer is all of two days old now and the system has blacked out and rebooted on a number of occasions - obviously not good! I'm going to talk to the guy that I bought it from but he's closed on the weekends - does this sound like a bad powersupply to you? The cpu temp is around 115F at the highest so I don't think it's temperature related.

Thanks in advance!

 

[adbutcher]

The easiest way to transfer files would be via a network. You could share the folder and browse it freely from any computer on your network. If you are running XP setting one up is easy as pie. Other than that get off of your lazy arse and insert the hard drive into your new computer, lol.

As far as your favorites, they are found in the following directory. “C:\Documents and Settings\"your user name". Your favorites are represented by a STAR.

Now the catch is that you have to export it from your old computer and import it to your new computer. Again you can achieve this over your network or you can burn them to a CD or write them to a floppy.

Your shutoff problem sounds like something I just experienced. I just built my son a puter from a bare bones system and I had the same problem. I think you are having a problem with your Master Boot Record, MBR. To make sure at start up it should be just one operating system showing (MBR will flash right after the Processor, memory, device check; It is right before the Windows log in Screen, Black screen white letters). If more than one operating system shows up then Houston you have a problem. The only time you should have multiple OSs is when you are running a dual boot system. (This can also be in the form of two Window XPs).

Unfortunately, that was the good news. If your MBR is screwed up I don’t know of any non-destructive method to remedy it. ( You might want to wait on some other forum member’s input because the following primes your system to start your system from scratch)

Anyway, this is what I did. I have in my possession something called the ultimate boot CD, you can download it--> HERE (I don’t know what kind of BIOS that is on your system but to reach my BIOS Setup I press “Delete” when it prompts me at the initial boot. Once in your BIOS you can instruct your PC to boot from CD in its boot priority list). After you change your boot priority, save changes, and reboot.

When your PC reboots you will come to a screen that looks like a DOS screen. From there you can select any of the hard drive utilities to remove the partition with one of their partition utilities. After the partition is removed, remove the boot CD then replace it with the Windows XP disc and boot from it. Follow the prompts and re install it from scratch.

Notes:

After Windows is installed be sure to download all of the recent updates. I know the instructions seem convoluted but once you get start the onscreen prompts make it relatively easy. Good luck.

 

[GTaylor]

I remember a program called Ghost - it used to transport the contents from one entire hard drive to another, but than again you would have to connect the two together (And thus take apart one of the PCs). As far as transferring without taking stuff apart, besides the network all I can think of are burning it to a cd/dvd then loading it to the new PC, if it's not a lot of data you can use "Jump drives", they're not too expensive (I got mine for $42 employee cost, $60 retail and it can hold 256Megs, item is so small I carry it on my keychain. A very nice Christmas present for that geek in the family)

And stay away from IE - very buggy. Use Firefox, more stable and it doesn't have as big a bullseye as IE...plus, they have an option where you can export your bookmarks.

 

[adbutcher]

I remember a program called Ghost - it used to transport the contents from one entire hard drive to another, but than again you would have to connect the two together (And thus take apart one of the PCs). As far as transferring without taking stuff apart, besides the network all I can think of are burning it to a cd/dvd then loading it to the new PC, if it's not a lot of data you can use "Jump drives", they're not too expensive (I got mine for $42 employee cost, $60 retail and it can hold 256Megs, item is so small I carry it on my keychain. A very nice Christmas present for that geek in the family)

And stay away from IE - very buggy. Use Firefox, more stable and it doesn't have as big a bullseye as IE...plus, they have an option where you can export your bookmarks.

Good suggestions. One thing about Ghost though. If you back up the entire harddrive image and try to launch it on a new hard drive, you better make sure that their sizes are the same or you might be in for some major headaches.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Good suggestions. One thing about Ghost though. If you back up the entire harddrive image and try to launch it on a new hard drive, you better make sure that their sizes are the same or you might be in for some major headaches.

Only problem with the size with ghost is if the new HD is smaller...however if it is larger you should have no problems.

The only problem I have ever had with ghost is if you are running an older system with fat 16/32 on the old one...and the new system has a NT file system....also if the power supply on the old one is completely different then the new one it can cause a boot loop.

 

[silverbear]

Only problem with the size with ghost is if the new HD is smaller...however if it is larger you should have no problems.

The only problem I have ever had with ghost is if you are running an older system with fat 16/32 on the old one...and the new system has a NT file system....also if the power supply on the old one is completely different then the new one it can cause a boot loop.

I have used a really excellent program with a really funny name, AlohaBob's PC Relocator... I bought it when I got my new PC, and used it when we replaced 2 of the office PCs at the hotel I work at... all 3 installations were completely glitch-free, and the instructions were easy to follow-- just connect the cable they supply to the two PCs, click on the AlohaBob icon, and follow the step by step instructions...

It does need to be installed on both computers, but that doesn't take long... when the transfer was complete, I just uninstalled the program...

I never worked with Ghost, even though I'm a big fan of Norton products, but it sounds like it's a little more "glitchy" than I found AlohaBob to be...

 

[adbutcher]

Only problem with the size with ghost is if the new HD is smaller...however if it is larger you should have no problems.

The only problem I have ever had with ghost is if you are running an older system with fat 16/32 on the old one...and the new system has a NT file system....also if the power supply on the old one is completely different then the new one it can cause a boot loop.

Yea that was the case; off the cuff I just remembered that neither hard drives where the same size.

Also Brain correct me if I am wrong but if you go from a smaller HD to a bigger one with Ghost does it partition your space for you or render the extra space unusable? For example, if you take an image from a 10 gig HD and launch it on a 40 gig HD, wouldn't your OS see the 40 gig HD as a 10 gig HD?


That is why it is so much better to have a home network. I just built a file server with samba. I have all of my images for every computer in the house stored there. I took an old PC with 5 HD bays, added a NIC and installed samba, after a little tweaking it works beautifully.

Samba

 

[adbutcher]

I have used a really excellent program with a really funny name, AlohaBob's PC Relocator... I bought it when I got my new PC, and used it when we replaced 2 of the office PCs at the hotel I work at... all 3 installations were completely glitch-free, and the instructions were easy to follow-- just connect the cable they supply to the two PCs, click on the AlohaBob icon, and follow the step by step instructions...

It does need to be installed on both computers, but that doesn't take long... when the transfer was complete, I just uninstalled the program...

I never worked with Ghost, even though I'm a big fan of Norton products, but it sounds like it's a little more "glitchy" than I found AlohaBob to be...

That sounds like a good prog, could you hook us up with a linky to where we can find it?

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Yea that was the case; off the cuff I just remembered that neither hard drives where the same size.

Also Brain correct me if I am wrong but if you go from a smaller HD to a bigger one with Ghost does it partition your space for you or render the extra space unusable? For example, if you take an image from a 10 gig HD and launch it on a 40 gig HD, wouldn't your OS see the 40 gig HD as a 10 gig HD?


That is why it is so much better to have a home network. I just built a file server with samba. I have all of my images for every computer in the house stored there. I took an old PC with 5 HD bays, added a NIC and installed samba, after a little tweaking it works beautifully.

Samba

I never had a problem with losing space using ghost....we used it on all of the computers where I worked and the only problem I had was ghosting to older computers with the motherboards/bios/power supplies having some problems.

 

[Tobal]

Are both machines Windows XP? If so Microsoft has a built in utility that will allow you to select all the settings from your old machine or the usual files people want to move, it will also allow you to customize your file extensions.

 

[silverbear]

That sounds like a good prog, could you hook us up with a linky to where we can find it?

I got mine at Circuit City, I think... they have what appears to be one of the older versions available for 30 bucks...

There is a good review of the program at PCWorld.com, at the following link:

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,14310,pg,1,00.asp

If you're serious about trying this one, I'd recommend you check the article out... then, go to either shopping.com or amazon.com to comparison shop... you'll find there are several versions, including one called "Enterprise" for over 200 bucks... I'd recommend the AlohaBob PC Relocator Ultra Control 6.0... it seems to run about 60-70 bucks... there are other, cheaper versions out there that you could go with, but they appear to be older versions...

 

[silverbear]

Are both machines Windows XP? If so Microsoft has a built in utility that will allow you to select all the settings from your old machine or the usual files people want to move, it will also allow you to customize your file extensions.

Tobal, I read a less than glowing review of that feature on PC World's website some months back...

 

[Reef Engineer]

Tobal, I read a less than glowing review of that feature on PC World's website some months back...

I remember reading something along these lines as well. I believe the article talked about how it worked well in going from a legacy system (Win 95, 98) to XP but not so well going XP to XP ... go figure.

 

[Reef Engineer]

Are both machines Windows XP? If so Microsoft has a built in utility that will allow you to select all the settings from your old machine or the usual files people want to move, it will also allow you to customize your file extensions.

I was trying to avoid this due to the advice of some others that pointed out some problems experienced doing that. Not sure if it's the same thing you're referring to or not, however.

I think I'm getting off my lazy arse, as explained to me, and connecting the two HDs together and transfer one to the other. After all, I have both cases open right next to each other - I probably won't even have to remove the drive - just switch the cable. Still too much effort.

 

[Reef Engineer]

Ab,

I think the problem might be a faulty power supply ... but what do I know? I seem to remember having a similar problem on one of my computers a couple years ago and the store I took it to replaced the power supply and the problem went away. I'm hoping that's the case since, like I said before, the thing is only a few days old! I'm hoping to talk to the guy I bought it from on Monday when he gets in.

Thanks for the help with the IE stuff and yeah, I spent a good hour plus downloading and updating drivers, etc and am up to date in that regard.

 

[trickblue]

Ab,

I think the problem might be a faulty power supply ... but what do I know? I seem to remember having a similar problem on one of my computers a couple years ago and the store I took it to replaced the power supply and the problem went away. I'm hoping that's the case since, like I said before, the thing is only a few days old! I'm hoping to talk to the guy I bought it from on Monday when he gets in.

Thanks for the help with the IE stuff and yeah, I spent a good hour plus downloading and updating drivers, etc and am up to date in that regard.

Perhaps your pc just went into sleep mode? XP has an unreasonably short default setting for that mode... you can easily reset it under "Power Options" in the Control Panel... I say that because you said your screen went black as opposed to the blue screen of death normally found in Bill Gates products...

As Abutcher said... if you have a corrupt mbr, you are up the creek as far as an easy fix...

One other thing... you had mentioned just hanging your old HD off the back of your new one and copying your files over... in reality that should only take you about 2 minutes of physical work... not a biggie...

You can also move all of your email over easily including your folder structure if you use Outlook Express... if you do send me a message and I will send you the instructions (too much to list here if you aren't using it... now I am the lazy arse... )

Also if you are using Outlook Express as your mail client... you can export all of your preferences and settings via a .iaf file... again... easily done...

Good luck...

 

[adbutcher]

Ab,

I think the problem might be a faulty power supply ... but what do I know? I seem to remember having a similar problem on one of my computers a couple years ago and the store I took it to replaced the power supply and the problem went away. I'm hoping that's the case since, like I said before, the thing is only a few days old! I'm hoping to talk to the guy I bought it from on Monday when he gets in.

Thanks for the help with the IE stuff and yeah, I spent a good hour plus downloading and updating drivers, etc and am up to date in that regard.

I hope it is something as easy as the power supply, good luck and keep us informed.

 

[Reef Engineer]

Perhaps your pc just went into sleep mode? XP has an unreasonably short default setting for that mode... you can easily reset it under "Power Options" in the Control Panel... I say that because you said your screen went black as opposed to the blue screen of death normally found in Bill Gates products...

Trick,

When I said the screen went black I meant that I was in the middle of working on something (Doom 3, actually ) and the screen went black and rebooted. It's happened while surfing the net, responding to emails, etc so it's not a sleep mode issue. I wish it were, tho!

The PC guy called me yesterday so I'm taking it in to him. He's going to check it out in order to ensure that there are no bad sectors in the ram or HD that could be causing the problem as well as checking to make sure the motherboard is ok (and power supply). In either event, he'll take care of it and I won't have to worry about it. He actually offered to come by my place and pick up the PC so that I wouldn't have to make the trip to him - gotta love that customer service. I declined since I'm going to be in his neck of the woods today anyway but the gesture was cool.

Thanks too for the other info - I'll be hooking up the two HDs when I get the new one back ... I was only avoiding it since there are some other things I have to do (add dvd burner, upgrade card, etc) to the old one and once the case is open, I might as well do all the work - ugh.

Thanks again!

 

[Reef Engineer]

I hope it is something as easy as the power supply, good luck and keep us informed.

Me too!

 

[Reef Engineer]

Well, the computer guy called me and said that he thinks it's a driver conflict because he could not replicate the problem I was having and I told him that it would happen to me even if nothing was running at all which was weird. Anyway, he decided to run it all night (like I do) and still nothing. He called me this afternoon to tell me that he still was not having any problem with it so he wanted me to pick it up and simply track if it happens again when, voila! the system rebooted on him! Bastid!

He ran some additionally tests and the system would reboot so he's replacing the powersupply, motherboard, ram, hard drive & video card. He's basically using the same case - ha ha. So I get my 4 day old computer replaced - is it obsolute yet? Maybe I should upgrade?

Glad to see that it wasn't me! And equally glad that I didn't spend too much time adding things to it since I'll need to replace it all!