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My current Gateway desktop computer is six years old and, although I like it very much, it's starting to show its age. So I'm in the market for a new Gateway.
One of my biggest dreads is the hassle of setting up a new computer with all the fonts, sizes, colors, etc that I have on my current one.
I came across another Gateway in which you can apparently just remove the hard drive from your old computer and slide it into one of the front-facing hard-drive bays of the new computer.
If I do that, wont all my bookmarks, emails and my page setups migrate to the new computer without my having to do anything else? Someone please say yes! Thanks so much!
And here's the review that gave me the idea (and, yes, my old computer has a SATA drive):
This machine is the fastest PC I've ever owned. The front-facing hard-drive bays make it easy to migrate your old PC, as long as you have SATA drives. Just pull the hard drive out of your old PC and slap 'em in the new one, right through the front panel of the case. Easiest hard-drive swap you'll ever do, and all your files are there.
If the new system is identical to the old system then yes, just install the new drive and it should boot up...
I kinda doubt that's what you're saying though. What OS is your old system?
You can export your email to a file and bookmarks to a file and import them to the new system and copy your data files from the old disk to the new one (if you know where all your data files are)...
The monitor on the old system is also 8 years old? Reason I ask is I see the new system doesn't come with a monitor.
My current OS is Windows XP. The new one would be Windows 7.
My monitor is a fairly new wide screen Gateway. I originally bought a Samsung monitor which recently died an ugly, lingering death.
I know I can export my emails and bookmarks to a file -- but my biggest concern is the page setups. It took me a week to set the various fonts the way I want them -- different fonts, different sizes for different areas of the page. Maybe that sounds silly but, since my stroke i 2006, I have trouble seeing parts of the screen and I now have it set up perfectly (for me).
So would transferring the hard drive also transfer the page setups?
You can't just stick your old drive into a new PC, especially with WinXP. Windows will blue screen when it tries to boot up on totally different hardware. Even if you were able to get past that, good luck getting XP drivers for a new Win7 Gateway. Your best bet is to leave the old machine up and running while you get the new one configured how you like it.
Edited to add: It's not that I'm too lazy to do the font/color setup -- it's just that computer language is so difficult to decipher. For example, Firefox has a wonderful All-in-One-Sidebar (the main reason I havent switched to Chrome). To change the AIOS font, I have to find the "Message Box" and change the font there. That's the only one I can remember. I'll have to find the others through trial-and-error.
I realize that could be qualified as an exception because it's a Firefox add-on. But the descriptions for all other areas of the screen are just as convoluted (to my blonde brain, anyway).
I realize that could be qualified as an exception because it's a Firefox add-on. But the descriptions for all other areas of the screen are just as convoluted (to my blonde brain, anyway).
By no means is your brain addled, trying to understand why developers set up menus in software packages the way they do is only understood by Umbly of The Seven Moons....
If you use Firefox there is an add-on called MozBackup. It allows you to backup and restore bookmarks, mail, contacts, history, extensions, passwords, cache etc.
Check out Windows Easy Transfer. It is built into Windows 7 and is a quick download and install for XP. It should transfer the files in your XP profile. It will also transfer windows settings. Not sure if it will transfer all of your personalized settings.
Check out Windows Easy Transfer. It is built into Windows 7 and is a quick download and install for XP. It should transfer the files in your XP profile. It will also transfer windows settings. Not sure if it will transfer all of your personalized settings.
It's not perfect, but it does transfer so much that it is worth the effort.
OMG, thank you SO much, Sepulgeek and mensaguy!! You're awesome!
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