Skip to main content

Quickest way to transfer data from old PC to new PC - doing whole backup first

Thread needs solution

Hello

I've bought my son a new PC for Xmas but want to keep it as a surprise.  He's an avid gamer and coder so has at least 1.5TB of data currently to be transferred over.  I want to do a backup of all of his files in secret and transfer them to his new PC so on Xmas Day he is up and running.  The only issue is that between the time of me doing a whole backup and transferring it to his new PC, he'll have files that have been added/deleted and changed. 

I would like to be able to run a backup on xmas eve overnight that only backs-up the added/deleted and changed files.  Then on Xmas day the only downtime would be to transfer these files over to the whole backup.

Does anyone know if this can be done?  I've tried the differential back-up but it seems to want to include all files in its backup.

I'm losing the will to live. HELP!

Thanks

Emma

0 Users found this helpful

Emma, welcome to these public User Forums.

Sorry to add to your worries over this proposed scenario but I doubt that this is something that can be done as quickly as you are envisaging!

If by 'doing a whole backup first' you mean creating an 'Entire PC' or a 'Disks & Partitions' backup of the old PC then this will include not only all the gaming data but also the complete Windows OS and all installed applications, device drivers etc.

Migrating such a whole PC (OS, applications & data etc) backup to a new PC is not a trivial operation as you need to understand the differences between the old and new PC in some detail.  What versions / editions of Windows is installed on both?  Are these the same, i.e. both PC's have Windows 11 Home?  If not, then you will run in licensing issues as Windows is licensed based on the PC hardware signature.  If the old PC is older, then it may be running Windows 10 and not be capable of running Windows 11 if it does not have UEFI BIOS and TPM, whereas I would expect all new PC's to now arrive with Windows 11.

Note: Acronis cannot be used to just migrate installed applications from the old PC to the new one.  The gaming applications would need to be installed directly on the new PC and licensed as needed for that new hardware.

The settings and data for the gaming applications may be able to be exported from the old PC and imported to the new PC provided the same applications are installed on both?

In this case I would recommend not trying to surprise your son but rather get him engaged in helping with the migration as I expect he may have a better understanding on the gaming application requirements and capabilities for transferring the data and settings.  It would also be a good learning experience for him and help take away a whole lot of stress that you are anticipating if you don't get things right!