Moving to a new computer without losing anything

The order matters more than the tools. Take an inventory of what is on the old computer, back it up completely, and only then start the transfer. Then keep the old machine untouched for two or three weeks, until you are sure nothing was left behind.

People who lose something when changing computers almost never lose it during the transfer. They lose it because they gave away, wiped or traded in the old machine too soon, before discovering that the old accounting program never came across, or that fifteen years of email were stored locally rather than with a provider.

Here is the sequence, and above all the list of what never transfers on its own.

Step 1: the inventory, the half hour that saves the week

Before touching anything, open a notebook or a document and write down the following. It is dull, and it is the only step that really counts.

The software you use, including the one you open once a year: taxes, bookkeeping, genealogy, photo editing, the little utility for the label printer.

The devices you plug in: printer, scanner, camera, the bank’s security key, an old graphics tablet. Each one needs a driver on the new machine, and some no longer have one.

The passwords you know by heart and the ones you do not know because the browser fills them in. That distinction is critical.

Where your files actually live. Documents, Desktop, Pictures, Downloads, and the odd folder at the root of the drive you created in 2011.

Your email accounts, and for each one the answer to a specific question: are the messages held by the provider, or only on this computer?

A good test for that last question: open your email in a browser, on your phone or on another device. If you can see years of correspondence there, it lives with the provider and it will follow you. If you can see only the last few days, the rest exists nowhere but on this computer’s drive.

Step 2: back up before plugging anything in

Make a full backup of the old computer before starting the transfer. Not a copy of a few folders: a real backup, to an external drive or online.

This is not excessive caution. A transfer erases nothing in theory, but the handling around it, plugging in drives, reinstalling a system, clicking through setup screens too quickly, is exactly the sort of moment when accidents happen. And a backup gives you a permanent net: if six months from now you find a folder is missing, it will still be there.

If you are starting from nothing, our article on the 3-2-1 rule covers what to back up and how long it takes.

Step 3: what transfers by itself

The good news is that a large share of the work is automatic.

Mac to Mac, Migration Assistant copies files, applications, accounts and settings. Put both machines on the same network, or connect them with a cable, and let it run. The same tool can also import files from a Windows PC, though not its programs.

PC to PC, Windows can restore your folders, your settings and some of your applications from the backup tied to your Microsoft account during first setup. How much it covers depends on the online storage you have, so check what actually came back rather than assuming.

Anything already online returns simply by signing in: email held by a cloud provider, files in OneDrive, iCloud or Google Drive, bookmarks and passwords synced to a browser account, photos in a photo service.

The simple method that always works: copy your personal folders to an external drive, plug that drive into the new machine, and copy them back. It is manual, it is slow, and it never fails.

Step 4: what never transfers

Here is the real list, the one behind the distress calls three weeks later.

Software licences. A serial number bought eight years ago does not follow the machine. Track down the keys, the purchase confirmation emails and the maker’s account logins before wiping the old computer. Some software also limits the number of installations, which means deactivating the old one before activating the new.

Locally saved passwords. If they live in a browser signed into an account, they follow. If they are saved only on the machine, they vanish with it. Check this specifically: it is the most common and most painful loss. It is also a good moment to adopt a password manager.

Local email archives. If your mail program downloads messages and removes them from the server, your history exists nowhere except in a file on that drive. It has to be found and copied deliberately.

Printer and scanner software. It reinstalls, provided the manufacturer still offers it for the current version of the system. A ten-year-old scanner is the classic case where the hardware works perfectly but the driver no longer exists.

Application settings and add-ins, document templates, custom dictionaries, email signatures, inbox sorting rules.

Anything plugged into a port that no longer exists. Many recent laptops have dropped the network socket, the SD card reader and the optical drive. Plan for adapters, or retire the device knowingly.

Step 5: keep the old machine for two or three weeks

This is the most useful rule in the article. Do not wipe it, do not give it away, do not trade it in yet.

Use only the new one for two or three weeks, going about your normal life. That is the only test that surfaces the gaps: the tax return you open in March, the invoice template, the contact list inside some old program. As long as the old computer still starts, all of that is ten minutes away from being recovered.

Write down what is missing as you notice it, and make one second recovery trip at the end rather than ten.

The same logic applies to the internet connection and the printer: reconnect everything and do a real print, a real scan and a real video call during that period, not just a test page.

Step 6: wipe the old computer properly

Once you are sure, the erasing remains. Deleting files and emptying the trash is not enough; the data stays recoverable.

In order:

1. Sign out of your accounts. Leave your Apple, Microsoft or Google account, turn off Find My on a Mac, and deactivate any software licence that asks for it. A device still tied to your account can stay locked for its next owner.
2. Remove the accessories: the USB stick forgotten in the back port, the SD card in the reader.
3. Reset the system. On Windows, “Reset this PC”, choosing to remove everything and clean the drive. On a recent Mac, “Erase All Content and Settings” in System Settings.
4. Confirm it restarts to the welcome screen of a brand-new machine. That is the proof it is done.

If the drive was encrypted (BitLocker on Windows, FileVault on a Mac), the reset is more than sufficient. If you are not certain and the machine held financial documents, get help rather than guessing.

What to do with the old machine

Give it away. A six-year-old computer with an SSD and 16 GB of memory is still perfectly good for a teenager or a parent. Wipe it first, completely.

Keep it as a spare. A second computer in the basement saves the day when the main one fails, and it serves as a backup way to reach the bank.

Recycle it. A computer does not belong in the recycling bin or the garbage. Ecocentres and electronics drop-off points take them back at no charge. Remove the drive first if you could not erase it.

Never resell it unwiped, not even to someone you know.

A realistic schedule

Budget an evening for the inventory and starting the backup, a night for the backup to finish, half a day for the transfer and first setup, then two or three weeks of running-in before wiping the old machine.

Spread out that way it is a calm project. Compressed into one Saturday afternoon is exactly where things get lost.

If you would rather have someone handle the technical half and confirm in front of you that email, the printer and your passwords all work before they leave, that is what our new computer service covers. The backup beforehand and the check that it restores fall under data and backup, and if you have not bought yet, our piece on which computer to buy comes logically before this one.