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Resolved Question

How do I trans from external HD to new win8 pc w/o WET?

Sep 17, 2013 4:34AM PDT

My pc was running vista and is toast so I can't install WET on it.

Discussion is locked

lafixx has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
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Clarification Request
(NT) What is WET? What's wrong with copy/paste?
Sep 17, 2013 4:44AM PDT
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Clarification Request
Windows 8 DOES have WET, so what's the problem?
Sep 17, 2013 5:07AM PDT

I never use WET for the above reasons, but I just checked and Windows 8 DOES have it. Have you tried it? You just wiggle the mouse in the upper right corner to get the charms, then click Search and type in "Windows Easy Transfer". Then click on it. Seems simple enough assuming that it works.
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Good luck.

Best Answer

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Windows Easy Transfer = No.
Sep 17, 2013 4:50AM PDT
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Answer
OK, I see what WET is
Sep 17, 2013 4:57AM PDT

Like Bob, I never use WET. I always do a full system backup to my external hard drive using Easeus Todo Backup Free, then load what I need back to the new system doing the same. I know Windows 7 has WET, but are you sure Windows 8 doesn't?

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I used WET on 8 from another earlier windows.
Sep 17, 2013 5:03AM PDT

Interesting to try but it falters a little so I was back to my old fashioned backup and restore to the next machine routine.
Bob

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clarification
Sep 17, 2013 8:44AM PDT

My old system was vista, which did not have WET. Since I cannot install WET on my old system (it's fried), WET on the Windows 8 side won't work. I want to transfer all of the data I have backed-up on the external drive from the old system and I cannot figure out how to implement the transfer in this OS.

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Once again, HOW did you copy to external
Sep 17, 2013 8:47AM PDT

I asked several iterations ago HOW you got the data on the external hard drive. If you copied it straight to the drive, why can't you copy it to your Windows 8 system? You're neglecting to give us the information we need to help you. Sad

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answer
Sep 17, 2013 10:42AM PDT

So sorry. I was using the external hd for backups. The last one completed on Sunday night. Monday, the computer was no more.

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So you used the built in Vista back up program?
Sep 17, 2013 11:48AM PDT

If so, we can check to see if there's a Windows 8 patch to let you load onto it, OR if you can find another Vista system, you might be able to get what you want.
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Next question. Is the old hard drive in the dead system still OK or do you know? If it's OK, you can use Bob's solution of removing it from the old PC, putting it in a $30 enclosure, plugging the enclosure into a USB port, and copying your stuff.
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You see, it all depends on things that we're struggling to get you to tell us without luck so far. Sad

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above my pay grade
Sep 17, 2013 12:17PM PDT

I bought the external HD simply to run backups from my pc - the backups ran automatically every week. I thought that since the pc is not working I could plug the external drive into my new pc and transfer the files pretty easily. I understand I will have to reinstall programs like photoshop and office, but I have 25K+ music files both in iTunes and in multiple folders. The music would be a devastating loss.

I called a friend of a friend who is coming over in the morning to see if he can salvage the old system.

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Whatever program you used to create the backup...
Sep 18, 2013 1:37AM PDT

... (which you STILL haven't said), you should be able to use to restore the files to the new one, assuming it's compatible with Windows 8.

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I used the vista backup program
Sep 18, 2013 11:38AM PDT

but it's all moot now as the dude who came over today was able to salvage all of my data from the old system - thank you for your patience

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Good to hear you got your data back.
Sep 18, 2013 1:04PM PDT

I suggest you get away from the Windows backup program and get yourself a good commercial backup program. I've seen forums fraught with problem reports for the Windows one. I know I was very unimpressed when I tried it. Two I'm familiar with and like are Easeus Todo Backup Free, which you can download from http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm and Memeo which has a 30 day free trial and you can buy it for $29.99 - you can download it from http://memeo.com . You can get Ghost for next to nothing (like I did) if you watch the sales.
The March 2012 issue of PC World was very high on the FREE program from Easeus and so is CNET. In my experience with a variety of configurations I have to say I'm very impressed. Like Ghost it will back up to a networked drive, and it will create a boot CD for when your PC won't boot. See CNET's review of it at
http://download.cnet.com/Easeus-Todo-Backup-Free/3000-2242_4-10964460.html?tag=mncol;1#editorsreview .
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CNET has a lot of backup program reviews at
http://download.cnet.com/windows/backup-software/?tag=contentBody;sideBar .

Some of these are free (last time I checked there were over 300), some have free trials (over 1000), and some are purchase only (over 200).
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External hard drives are best for backup. You can get a 500 GB one for around $55 and a 1 TB one for around $70. You can also buy a 32 GB flash drive for under $15. It's the best insurance you can ever buy!

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I hope this helps. Good luck

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It's much simpler than you think.
Sep 17, 2013 8:49AM PDT

Just place the old drive in some USB HDD case/enclosure and browse to your old user/home folder and copy over your files to the new home.

Yes, the settings and such are not moved but WET does not appear to be an option when we are dealing with a dead PC and have the HDD only.

-> Yes you could buy a working duplicate machine and install the old HDD in that and get it over with WET but is that worth it?
Bob