Transfer Of Files Etc To New Pc

[MichaelZZ]

The motherboard on my 7 year old desktop PC has expired and I have decided to buy a new PC rather than just replace the motherboard.
I have most of my files backed up on an external hard drive but there are still some recent ones that are not backed up. Obviously I would like to transfer these files to my new PC which will have Win7 on it. (The old one had Vista).
My question is, how do I transfer files from one (dead) PC to the new one. Is the easiest way to put the old sata hdd into a usb caddy and drag and drop the files that I want or is there a simpler way?

[Old_Geezer]

A caddy would be the way I'd go. When I upgrade any PC I tend to connect the old drives that way anyway. Uses up a little resource but nice to have the old stuff available in the unlikely event I need something. Make sure the caddy you buy has the right (in your case SATA) connectors.

With a dead motherboard I don't know how else you are going to read the drive, so no, no simpler way.

[VHG]

Most desktop PCs have room inside the case for two hard disks.

If you are happy opening up the case of your new PC then it is easy to fit a second hard disk in there. You can then copy the files across.

Note however this may invalidate the guarantee on your new PC, also if it also has an operating system on it then the PC may get confused if it finds 2 hard disks both with operating systems in them.

It is probably easiest to buy a SATA caddy and stick the hard disk from the old PC in there then copy the files across.

You can format the old hard disk and maybe put it in your new desktop PC as a second hard disk. You could use this as a "backup" disk and backup your files to it though if the old PC was 7 years old it may be fairly small.

[VHG]

Note that Windows 10 is coming out at the end of this month.

So you could either wait till the end of the month and buy a PC with Windows 10 already on it.

Or wait till the end of the month and find a Windows 8 PC that is being sold off cheaply after W10 comes out.

Microsoft are offering a free upgrade to Windows 10 from Window 7 and 8 so if you bought a Windows 8 PC you could upgrade it to Windows 10 for nothing.

However it may be "safer" to buy a PC with Windows 10 already on it as I assume the PC maker will have tested their PC with Windows 10 whereas an upgrade from 8 to 10 could go horribly wrong.

[Khandro]

This isn't my area at all, but it is important no only to protect and move your files, but programmes too. When I had someone upgrade me from XP to W7 he managed to loose the entire Photoshop programme, which costs more than the computer.

[MichaelZZ]

Thanks,OG and VHG. You have confirmed my thoughts so I shall go down the caddy route.
The place where I'm getting the new PC from has no hang ups about customers opening up the case and I have done this on earlier computers to install extra dvd writers, memory modules etc.
Also as I mentioned the new PC all have Win7 installed, along with the free Win 10 upgrade included.
Regarding Khandro's comment, I take the point about programs and I have the original discsfor the programs that I need and things like OpenOffice I'll download from t'interweb.
Thanks again to you all for your quick replies.