Moving from Win XP to Win 7 Pro 64 Bit, Need help copying stuff

[MTL777]

I'm upgrading my old PC that's still on Win XP to Win 7 Pro 64 Bit. I would like to be able to copy my Outlook Express emails and Firefox bookmarks from the old Win XP SSD to the new Win 7 SSD. How do I go about it?

BTW do you recommend NOT having the system reserved partition when installing Win 7? I've read of ways to avoid creating the system reserved partition during installation.

Thank you so much in advance for your much appreciated help!

 

[Ranger4]

Hi MTL777, welcome to the Forum.

What email program are you planning on using. Will you be using MS Office & if so, which version. You need to copy your contacts & saved emails to a USB thumb drive & use that to import your Contacts & emails into the newly installed Outlook, but other email programs may pose a more difficult operation.

If you copy your bookmarks & other browser settings to a USB thumb drive, you should be able to copy those into Firefox again.

For ease of installation & minimum of problems just let Windows install the reserved partition. There is really no advantage in not having it.

If you are planning on using the old SSD it would be best to let Windows reformat it during the install procedure so you have fresh install.

 

[MTL777]

I can continue to use Outlook Express if it's available in Win 7. Is it?

Otherwise, I will have to use Microsoft Office Outlook by installing a fairly recent version of Microsoft Office (I don't have that yet). Will it be difficult to transfer my Outlook Express emails to Microsoft Office Outlook?

 

[Megahertz07]

Outlook express isn't at win 7. I had to install Office 2003 on the XP, converted the dbx files to Outlook 2003 and then use it on Outlook 2010.
But now it seems that there is a Outlook express for win 7. Have a look at OE Classic - Outlook Express on Windows 7 and Windows 10 - Where is it

 

[MeOnMine]

Hi, Outlook Express is not included in Win 7.
Some intelligent person here on the Seven Forums has taken Win Mail from Vista and made it install into Win 7.
I have used it for many years, it can be a little flaky at times.
If you want the System Reserved partition included in "C" drive then format the drive before you load Windows.
If you want the System Reserved partition then load Windows to a raw drive.
Remember to unplug all other drives until Windows is loaded.

 

[samuria]

If you have sync enabled in FF bookmarks etc will apearon the new system as if by magic. Or you can use the special backup for FF TB MozBackup - Backup tool for Firefox and Thunderbird
Thunderbird will import all emails from outlook so it may be worth installing importing mails then using the backup

 

[dg1261]

In the past decade I have done countless OE6 email conversions for customers migrating from XP to 7/8/10. IME, the most reliable method was to create a temporary IMAP account with gmail or hotmail/outlook.com, move all your mail up to the IMAP acct from XP, then back down to your new computer and whatever replacement client you choose to use. (No, 7 does not have Outlook Express, but there is a port called OE Classic that has a fairly similar UI.) Afterward, delete the gmail/hotmail/outlook.com acct if you no longer need it.

From considerable experience, I can tell you all of the one-click conversion utilities I tried did not work. They either dropped attachments altogether or mangled many of them, at best.

Other than IMAP, the only error-free experiences I had were with Outlook's import-from-OE utility (I used Outlook 2003 for this), but only if OE was already installed. It did not work to simply save/copy OE's dbx files, I needed to actually have OE installed. That means this method required Outlook to first be installed temporarily on the XP machine, emails converted to a pst file, then installing Outlook on the new machine and importing the pst. I'm not sure if new Outlook versions still have the OE-import feature, though ... perhaps others can confirm that.

Regardless, I found the IMAP transfer method easier, and it costs nothing.

 

[MTL777]

Thank you so much everyone for your replies!

Outlook express isn't at win 7. I had to install Office 2003 on the XP, converted the dbx files to Outlook 2003 and then use it on Outlook 2010.

Does Outlook 2003 allow you to use/switch different identities just as you could in Outlook Express? I have two identities that I'd like to port over.

But now it seems that there is a Outlook express for win 7. Have a look at OE Classic - Outlook Express on Windows 7 and Windows 10 - Where is it

Does OE Classic on Win 7 use the same DBX files as Outlook Express DBX files on Win XP? I'm wondering if it's possible to simply install OE Classic on Win 7 and move over to it my DBX files from Win XP Outlook Express that I've saved on a thumb drive.

If you have sync enabled in FF bookmarks etc will apearon the new system as if by magic.

Could you please give me more details on how to enable sync in FF and how this works? A URL would help.

Thanks again!

 

[Marie SWE]

Outlook express isn't at win 7. I had to install Office 2003 on the XP, converted the dbx files to Outlook 2003 and then use it on Outlook 2010.
But now it seems that there is a Outlook express for win 7. Have a look at OE Classic - Outlook Express on Windows 7 and Windows 10 - Where is it

I quick question.. because i want to learn.
What do you know about OE classic?

I looked around at their site, and there is nothing about the company, nothing about the programmers, no open source. No phone number to the company. Nothing about them in the license agreement or in the privacy statement. a cut from License agreement:((OE Classic" authors - in following text THE AUTHORS,))) okay.. but who is the authors??:huh:
And under news and in the "Behind the scenes blog" they talking about how to protect yourself from bitcoin miner Trojans and not to install unknown programs and so on..
hmm unknown programs.
isn't this an unknown program then?

If this is the real deal.. then its sounds wonderful. I really do miss the outlook express program.

 

[dg1261]

Does OE Classic on Win 7 use the same DBX files as Outlook Express DBX files on Win XP?

OE6 uses .dbx files, while OE-Classic uses .mbx files. I don't know what's different about them, but I don't think you can do a straight drag-and-drop replacement.

OTOH, OE-Classic has an "import-from-OE6-store" function, which I think you should be able to point to the store on your thumb drive and import from the dbx files.

Could you please give me more details on how to enable sync in FF and how this works? A URL would help.

Easily found by opening Help->Firefox help from within FF:
How do I set up Sync on my computer? | Firefox Help

BTW, FF also has a built-in Bookmarks backup/restore function, so you can backup your bookmarks to a file and restore them to FF on the new installation.

 

[MTL777]

OE6 uses .dbx files, while OE-Classic uses .mbx files. I don't know what's different about them, but I don't think you can do a straight drag-and-drop replacement.

OTOH, OE-Classic has an "import-from-OE6-store" function, which I think you should be able to point to the store on your thumb drive and import from the dbx files.




Easily found by opening Help->Firefox help from within FF:
How do I set up Sync on my computer? | Firefox Help

BTW, FF also has a built-in Bookmarks backup/restore function, so you can backup your bookmarks to a file and restore them to FF on the new installation.

Awesome! Thank you so much!