With the passage of time we accumulate all kinds of personal files on our computer. Photos, documents, games saved games, projects and much more is kept on our hard drive over the years. And although the technology and operating systems have evolved a lot lately, there is one aspect in which they have not improved: helping us to change computers and transfer all the data from the old to the new.
There are several ways to save data from an old computer for use on the new one. One of the most used, and least practical, is to copy all the data one by one to a second hard disk and, when we have the new computer ready, transfer it back to the new one. This can make us forget to copy some files (and lose them), as well as taking much longer and not being the most practical or intuitive.
Luckily, although companies like Microsoft or Apple do not finish finding the key to facilitate the migration of data from an old PC to a new one, below we are going to see a series of programs specially designed to help us in this work.
Best programs to migrate Windows 10 data
EaseUS All PCTrans
One of the most complete and easy to use programs to transfer all the data from an old computer to a new one is EaseUS Todo PCTrans . This program has been designed so that, through a very simple interface, we can automatically transfer all the computer accounts, data and settings from the old PC to a new one.
This program allows us to transfer the data from PC to PC by cloning the data directly from one to the other, to make a transfer in the form of a data image or to migrate the complete applications. The process, in any of the 3 cases, is completely intuitive and automatic, so that any user, even without knowledge, will be able to do it. It also has an advanced cleaning tool to avoid taking unnecessary files to the new PC and helping us to remove larger files that are not necessary.
We can find a free version of this program and a paid one. The free one, unfortunately, has serious limitations, since it only allows you to pass 500 MB of data or two applications from one PC to another. The paid version costs 67 euros.
We can download this program from here .
Laplink PCMover
PCMover is a program developed by Laplink to help all kinds of individual users and companies to pass their data from one computer to another. This program is the one that Microsoft usually recommends to migrate data from one computer to another because it is one of the longest on the market, one of the most complete and that works best.
This program has a very simple and intuitive interface that allows any user to migrate data and settings without complications. It allows us to move all kinds of files, programs (and their settings) and system settings from one PC to another. Supports both Wi-Fi and USB 3.0 (the latter recommended for more speed). It even allows you to undo your changes if, when you migrate the data, the computer starts to malfunction.
Unfortunately, this program is paid and does not offer a trial version, so we will have to take a risk and pay for it if we want to use it.
We can buy and download this program from its website .
Zinstall WinWin
Zinstall WinWin is another program designed to help us transfer all the data from our old computer to a new computer. This software will take care of copying all the files (photos, music, documents, emails, etc.), as well as the programs that we have installed and their configurations and from Windows itself to the new computer so that, without having to do nothing, let’s have our new PC identical to how the old one was.
This software is fully automatic and intuitive, so even if we don’t have much knowledge, we can migrate all the data without difficulty. Unlike other similar programs, which “move” the data, this one transfers all the media to the new PC, making sure that all the data is on the new PC and reducing the likelihood of something going wrong.
We can download this program from the following link . The price of this program is $ 119.
FastMove
Another similar program to transfer files and programs from an old PC to a new one is FastMove. This program is characterized by speeding up the migration of data to the new computer as much as possible. It allows us to move both personal files (photos, documents, etc.) and the programs that we have installed on our computer. Even synchronize folders, useful in case we keep using the old computer for a while longer and we want all the new data to be automatically reflected in the new one.
We can buy a license of this program for a PC from its main website .
CloneApp
While the above alternatives are paid, CloneApp ranks as one of the best free programs to pass data from one PC to another. This program is completely free and portable, so we can run it on any computer without installing it.
It is also true that its operation is somewhat different from previous programs. CloneApp is mainly focused on making a backup copy of all the programs and their data so that we can easily restore them on another computer, or after formatting the computer. It does not specialize in copying personal files, but it will allow us to take all the programs (or only the ones we select) from our old PC to the new one, saving us from having to install them again.
We can download this program from the main CloneApp website .
OneDrive, Google Drive or other cloud servers
If we do not want to be depending on programs to ensure that our data passes from one computer to another, another of the simplest ways of doing this is to trust the cloud. Today, cloud storage servers, such as OneDrive, Google Drive or Mega, allow us to keep a copy of the data on our computer so that, if we have to access them from outside the home, or they are lost, we can recover them without problems.
For this reason, the cloud is often an excellent alternative to transfer data from an old PC to a new one.
