Windows 7: Transfering files from XP hard drive to Windows 7

DanH · 08 Nov 2009

My motherboard on my laptop that was running XP went out. I bought a new laptop with Windows 7 and want to transfer some files from my old hard drive onto my new machine. From what I've read, it seems that I would have to install Windows Easy Transfer on the old machine before I can transfer the files to a machine running Windows 7. However, since my old machine won't boot, there doesn't seem to be a way around this. Other than putting my hard drive into another machine and booting off of it, is there a way to transfer my files?

kegobeer · 08 Nov 2009

If your system is completely non-operational, then you will probably have to remove the drive and slave it into another computer. If there is space on the drive, you could create a new partition and copy the data you want to save to the new partition. Or, you could copy what you want to save to a USB flash drive, SD card, etc.

DanH · 08 Nov 2009

Thank you for your response. I'm sort of a novice about these kind of things, so I apologize if I'm not understanding you right or if I wasn't clear in my original post. I've read that I can buy a USB to IDE adapter and plug the old hard drive into my new computer and transfer the files. Before purchasing this, I wanted to make sure that it would work and that's when I read that Windows Easy Transfer would have to be utilized when transferring files from an XP machine to Windows 7. However, are you saying that this isn't necessary if I use this adapter and plug it into the new laptop as a slave device?

DocBrown · 08 Nov 2009

Tri-head USB Adapter

coppertrail · 08 Nov 2009

I would pull the drive from the machine and put it in an external USB enclosure, then plug it into the laptop and transfer all the files over.

DanH · 09 Nov 2009

Coppertrail,

Thank you, but what I'm asking is if this will work if the original drive is from a Windows XP machine and my new laptop is Windows 7. Will the files transfer over if I just plug the old hard drive into my new machine? Nothing else would need to be done to the old hard drive beforehand, ie install Windows Easy Transfer?

ignatzatsonic · 09 Nov 2009

No, you wouldn't have to do anything to the old hard drive--but you shouldn't try to copy over installed programs. Just go after your personal data---bookmarks, email, pictures, video, mp3, Word files, etc.

DocBrown · 09 Nov 2009

Quote: Originally Posted by DanH

Coppertrail,

Thank you, but what I'm asking is if this will work if the original drive is from a Windows XP machine and my new laptop is Windows 7. Will the files transfer over if I just plug the old hard drive into my new machine? Nothing else would need to be done to the old hard drive beforehand, ie install Windows Easy Transfer?

If you use the adapter or an enclosure for the old laptop HD & it is not damaged in any way, you should be able to copy files, docs, pics, music, etc. But programs will have to be installed new. If you want settings from old HD you should look at the WET tutorial

Windows Easy Transfer - Transfer To & From Computers

coppertrail · 09 Nov 2009

I did this with my Mom's computer. She had an XP Laptop and we got her a Win 7 desktop. I pulled the drive from her laptop and put it in a USB enclosure. A word of advice though: Before you plug in your old hard drive, completely disable UAC on the Windows 7 machine. I ran into permissions issues on the old hard drive, I had to take ownership of several of her folders on her old drive. But once I disabled UAC, it worked fine. And it will not modify your old drive as long as you copy rather than move the files. You'll need to re-install any programs because of registry entries, etc.

DanH · 09 Nov 2009

Thank you everyone. I will try that.

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