The easiest way of migrating Windows 7 settings, local drives, and other required data to new Windows 8 PC. Windows 8 final Version is not released, the steps involved in transferring data from Windows 7 to Windows 8 would probably not change.
In this Tutorial We will use an External Hard Drive or USB Flash Drive to save the settings,then move them to Windows 8 PC.
To Save Files and Settings To External Hard Drive or USB Flash Drive:
1. Launch Windows Easy Transfer in Windows 7 from Start Search. A utility that allows you to copy files, system and user settings from one PC to another.
2. It will open the Windows Easy Transfer wizard, click Next to choose the target location.
3. Select the third option, to move your system settings along with files to external hard drive. Plug-in the external hard disk, and then Select An external hard disk or USB flash drive option to proceed.
4. Select This is my old computer option to transfer files and setting from current PC.
5. In this step, it shows currently logged-in User profile and Shared Items options, allowing you to choose the folders from both User Profile and Shared locations.
Note: You can customize the default folder and file section by hitting Customize. The Customize link present in User Profile section lets you pick Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Program Settings and Windows Settings, whereas the Shared Items section’s Customize link will open a Shared Items menu, allowing you to choose the shared items that are to be moved.
In order to manually pick User profiles’ folders, and files from hard drive partitions, click Advanced to open Modify your selections dialog. It presents a simple file browser to select the Windows folders and local volumes which are to be transferred. After the Windows folders and local volumes are selected, click Next.
6. Once you’ve selected the files, it will ask you to enter the password to secure the transfer process.Click save.then Select the Destination Drive. When the destination folder is selected, it will start copying the settings and selected folders. The time it takes to complete the copying process depends upon the volume of selected data.
7. Window 7 Easy Transfer wizard will save all the settings, user folders, and files from hard disk partitions in a MIG file.
Note: External hard disk formatted with FAT-32 file system does not support saving file larger than 4GB. So, before you select the external hard disk destination, make sure that it’s formatted to NTFS file system.
Once copied, Now, eject the external hard disk, and move to PC running Windows 8.
Video Tutorial:
To Transfer Settings And Files On New PC Running Windows 8:
Just like previous Windows versions, Windows 8 comes with Easy File Transfer utility to help you move the data from old to new PC, and to restore the saved data in MIG file to original locations.
1. Open Windows Search from Windows 8 Start hover menu, enter easy transfer in search bar, and then click Apps. Now, launch Windows Easy Transfer utility from main window. If you don’t find the Windows Easy Transfer, then install Windows update to install all the additional Windows 8 components.
2. In Windows Easy Transfer wizard, select An external hard disk or USB flash drive option to restore data and settings saved in MIG file.
3. Choose This is my new computer option.
4. It will now ask you to plug-in the external hard disk where the MIG file is saved. Plug-in the external hard drive and select Yes to specify the Windows Easy Transfer file.
5. On selecting the MIG file, it will ask you to specify the password. Enter the password to restore the data, and click Next.
6. Once access is granted, it will ask you to choose what to transfer from old PC. You can select the files and settings that are to be transferred to your new PC.
7. While transferring files and settings from your old PC, it may ask you to enter the password of your old PC to transfer the protected content. Once correct password is entered, it will immediately restore the system and personalization settings of old PC including user account details, desktop theme and numerous other settings.
8. After all the files and settings are restored from old PC, you can take a look at the files that were transferred during the process, and applications which you might want to install.
