Transferring all files from desktop computer to new laptop Windows 11

rk911 said:

My file structure (apart from the C:\ drive) on my win10 desktop and my win11 laptop are identical. I have configured 6-partitions for various uses. Both PCs are on the same LAN via ethernet but I've been having a devil of a time getting them to talk to each other. I'm wondering if One-Drive is the answer to keep the files in these partitions synced.

- Will One-Drive allow me to pick which partitions are synced?
- Can the process be bi-directional? Files updated on either platform will be synced to the other?
- Can the process be automatic? Would this require me to remain logged into One-Drive or can I set it up, log out and forget it?
- I log into Windows locally...will that have to change?

Thanks.

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I've always had just one large C: drive. I've never used partitions as I prefer dynamic sizing using folders. I understand that using OneDrive with multiple partitions can get quite convoluted and messy. Someone else will have to advise you there.

I have a Microsoft Account and have a Microsoft 365 subscription which gives me all of Microsoft Office and 1 Terabyte of cloud OneDrive. Each of my computers, my tablets, and my Android phone all use OneDrive and log in to the same Microsoft Account. All my data and photos are available on all my devices in real-time.

On any computer, tablet, or phone, if I add a file, modify a file, or delete a file, the changes instantly occur on all devices in real-time. Everything is always totally in sync everywhere. That's the beauty of OneDrive.

To use OneDrive and to get 1TB of OneDrive on Microsoft 365 a Microsoft Account is required. If you don't want a Microsoft account, you cannot use OneDrive.

spapakons said:

You reminded me of Windows Briefcase, a special folder in Windows 95 & 98 that you would copy files you wanted to sync with a mobile device (aka PDA or Pocket PC) or another computer.

Briefcase (Microsoft Windows) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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You know that you can still do exactly the same in Windows 10 Pro and Windows 11 Pro by setting up Offline files?

How do I bring back the Briefcase feature on Windows 10? - Windows 10 Help Forums post #5

rk911 said:

My file structure (apart from the C:\ drive) on my win10 desktop and my win11 laptop are identical. I have configured 6-partitions for various uses. Both PCs are on the same LAN via ethernet but I've been having a devil of a time getting them to talk to each other. I'm wondering if One-Drive is the answer to keep the files in these partitions synced.

- Will One-Drive allow me to pick which partitions are synced?
- Can the process be bi-directional? Files updated on either platform will be synced to the other?
- Can the process be automatic? Would this require me to remain logged into One-Drive or can I set it up, log out and forget it?
- I log into Windows locally...will that have to change?

Thanks.

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Came across a few nuisances, transferred a large folder with essential building information in it from my desktop, when i viewed on my laptop there were 10 files empty with around 100 documents. This was my first back up so thought everything should have been married across but not the case. Although my main drive is a scattered mess, I will need to get this sorted with multiple folders off each folder and double check that all has been populated

Bree said:

You know that you can still do exactly the same in Windows 10 Pro and Windows 11 Pro by setting up Offline files?

How do I bring back the Briefcase feature on Windows 10? - Windows 10 Help Forums post #5

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Thanks, I never used Briefcase. I prefer to manually copy the files I want.

Well after using One Drive, I must say this is badly done. I'm probably too fussy in how i expected this to work.
On my main document folder, I decided to make my own subtitled files after a work injury to go on One drive and a heading is inserted in Thai as pictured below. I don't know how this got there, I can't speak or type Thai so unsure how this got typed in, or if someone got access, ?????

1, All of my folders from the document main folder are allocated to One Drive.
2, All of the folders in the main document folder seem to be updating all of the time as I get a response " still syncing" under status of the documents in each folder. Document folders cannot be viewed as they are syncing all the time. Will need to turn off auto syncing until One drive needs to be updated as this is a pain.
3. New folders made up with documents entered are now empty. Don't know where they have gone but documents have disappeared. I will need to be vigilant that all of the folders have got the documents placed in there
4. Viewing documents from my other laptop separate from my main desktop. When viewing documents from my other laptop the One drive (external server) you cannot view the documents, each one has to be downloaded to view which does not take long as it is not instantons.
Thought that this One drive will be more user friendly, but it is not acting like a good external server.
5. I have a backup hard drive which i have more faith in, but One drive is more suitable in case the house burns down and i lose my external backup hard drive which means everything is gone.
6. Not particularly happy with the arrangement or configuration with one drive.

Are you sure you saved the files on OneDrive? What if you save in your documents folder first and you manually copy-paste in OneDrive? Does this make any difference? I haven't used OneDrive for a while, but I am pretty sure it syncs properly when I copy-paste from local folders.

spapakons said:

Are you sure you saved the files on OneDrive? What if you save in your documents folder first and you manually copy-paste in OneDrive? Does this make any difference? I haven't used OneDrive for a while, but I am pretty sure it syncs properly when I copy-paste from local folders.

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All of the files on my drive are automatically transferred to One Drive, no copy and paste required. In 2 minds to delete One drive and start again as this is a mess but unsure if i delete One drive will bin all of my documents as they are all in One drive. Presently getting all files copied to a folder which is not allocated to One Drive.

gregq said:

All of the files on my drive are automatically transferred to One Drive, no copy and paste required. In 2 minds to delete One drive and start again as this is a mess but unsure if i delete One drive will bin all of my documents as they are all in One drive. Presently getting all files copied to a folder which is not allocated to One Drive.

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OneDrive is Not a backup. OneDrive does only one thing and does it well. OneDrive synchronizes everything that is in your local OneDrive folder with cloud OneDrive. If all your data is in your OneDrive folder and you go to cloud OneDrive and delete everything, the result will be that you will synchronize that deletion with your local OneDrive folder. Net result, you will delete all your files both locally and in cloud OneDrive.

Even if you were to do that, understand that cloud OneDrive has its own cloud Recycle Bin. Whatever you delete will remain in the cloud Recycle Bin for 30 days and can be undeleted.

@gregq

OneDrive has two settings for something called "Files On Demand"
1. "Files On Demand" = ON (the default)
2. "Files On Demand" = OFF (what I always use)

What does this mean? With "Files On Demand" = ON, the only time your files will physically be local is if you demand or request to use them. Otherwise, files physically exist only in the cloud. The reason this is the default is because quite often a local SSD is not large enough to hold all the files in cloud OneDrive.

With "Files On Demand" = OFF, then all files are kept both locally and in the cloud, and are in total sync at all times. Since I have a 1TB SSD and I have 1TB of cloud OneDrive, I prefer to use OneDrive this way. Another reason is if you want to do a real image backup of your SSD and have the backup contain all your files, you must have "Files On Demand" = OFF so that all files are on your local SSD to be backed up.

Not understanding "Files On Demand" can cause a lot of misunderstanding of how OneDrive works.

Google Drive has a similar selection. Since I have relocated the Google Drive folder to a large HDD, I have set it to always copy the files locally so I can access them without internet if necessary.

TraderGary said:

@gregq

OneDrive has two settings for something called "Files On Demand"
1. "Files On Demand" = ON (the default)
2. "Files On Demand" = OFF (what I always use)

What does this mean? With "Files On Demand" = ON, the only time your files will physically be local is if you demand or request to use them. Otherwise, files physically exist only in the cloud. The reason this is the default is because quite often a local SSD is not large enough to hold all the files in cloud OneDrive.

With "Files On Demand" = OFF, then all files are kept both locally and in the cloud, and are in total sync at all times. Since I have a 1TB SSD and I have 1TB of cloud OneDrive, I prefer to use OneDrive this way. Another reason is if you want to do a real image backup of your SSD and have the backup contain all your files, you must have "Files On Demand" = OFF so that all files are on your local SSD to be backed up.

Not understanding "Files On Demand" can cause a lot of misunderstanding of how OneDrive works.

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Thanks for your concise reply, not enough information provided by Microsoft on how to utilize One Drive. Seems that you need to figure it out yourself.
In my case when i log in seems that my drives are syncing all the time, some folders cannot be opened as the syncing has not been completed.
Can the syncing be halted or put on delay so i can pick a time say in a few weeks and perform a sync then.
As to the screen shot below my drive has been allocated to One Drive where, would it be fair to assume that all the files have gone to One Drive cloud services, and they are not local to my computer, or are they shared between my SSD and One drive . Cheers

To sync all selected files from your source computer to another one, OneDrive is absolutely the correct one as it's pre-installed on Windows, and you can access all content on the other computer. Here is how to do so with Microsoft solution: Sync files with OneDrive in Windows - Microsoft Support.

If you are about to transfer everything, all personal files, documents, folders, and even installed programs, a reliable PC file transfer software can efficiently resolve this problem. I happened to use a tool and did so successfully. If you are interested, you can try this guide here.

There are utilities to transfer most files and applications, but if you transfer most of them it makes sense to do a full backup/restore of the disk or clone it to another disk. Use Macrium Reflect, Acronis or other tool to do a full disk backup of the old computer and then restore to the laptop. Windows should boot OK and install new drivers. You would only need to change the key to activate. All your data and programs will be there ready to use, except Office and some others that might need activation first.

gregq said:

Thanks for your concise reply, not enough information provided by Microsoft on how to utilize One Drive. Seems that you need to figure it out yourself.

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I agree.

gregq said:

In my case when i log in seems that my drives are syncing all the time, some folders cannot be opened as the syncing has not been completed.

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With a new computer or if you have reset your computer, resyncing everything can take a while, depending totally on the speed of your Internet connection. My data and photos in OneDrive total just under 200GB. My Wi-Fi Internet speed averages about 750 Mbps. It takes me about 3 hours to do a total resync of OneDrive.

gregq said:

Can the syncing be halted or put on delay so i can pick a time say in a few weeks and perform a sync then.

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If you right-click on the OneDrive cloud icon in the right side of your task bar, the last menu choice is "Pause Syncing".

gregq said:

As to the screen shot below my drive has been allocated to One Drive where, would it be fair to assume that all the files have gone to One Drive cloud services, and they are not local to my computer, or are they shared between my SSD and One drive . Cheers

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If you right-click on the OneDrive cloud icon in the right side of your task bar and choose "View online", you can see exactly what is in cloud OneDrive.

gregq said:

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