How Easy Is It To Copy An Existing Laptop To A Higher Version One ?

[Old_Geezer]

Ok, something which, when younger I'd be advising others on but these days I feel I'm no longer as knowledgeable as I once was. (That's retirement and stagnation for you.)

 

My woman has an old laptop which struggles due to present day common specs now being far higher than they used to be. I am contemplating getting a Windows laptop replacement but would need to get all settings/data/etc. copied across automatically to the more recent Windows version.

 

How simple would that be to do, and what would be a good method to achieve it ?

 

TIA

[Buenchico]

You can theoretically clone your old hard drive (or SSD, as applicable) and load a copy of the clone onto the new drive:
https://www.techradar.com/best/best-disk-cloning-software

However 
(a) if, say, you're copying from a Windows 10 laptop to a Windows 11 one, you risk over-writing the newer operating system with the older one, leaving you with a second Windows 10 laptop ; and
(b) the settings on the old disk might relate to hardware that's only available on the original laptop, rendering them incompatible with the newer one.

My preferred method is always to accept that I'm in for many hours of hard graft and to get on with installing all of the same software onto the new computer that I was using on the old one.  Then I simply copy all of my data files (such as documents, spreadsheets, images, videos, etc) from the old computer onto a USB drive and use that to copy them onto the new computer.  There are other methods though, such as using a direct cable connection:
https://www.computerworld.com/article/1638368/how-to-migrate-to-a-new-windows-pc.html

Remember that (as mentioned in the above link), you'll also need to copy all of your browser bookmarks between the two computers (unless you've got them 'synced' somewhere).  That simply involves exporting them to a file which can then be imported into the browser on your new computer.

My own experience of transferring data from one PC to another is that it can be incredibly tedious but certainly not difficult!

[Old_Geezer]

Thanks for the reply Chtris. Yes, it was the anticipated W10 to W11 that was of most concern. If I opted to buy a laptop for her now one may as well get the latest OS, unless price dictated otherwise. Having to do it all by hand is a bit of a deterrent. Especially as I'm never convinced that all data is where it might be expected to be.

 

Maybe the better solution is to copy the hard drive to an external pluggable one then when something needs to be used, add it to the new main drive as one goes along.

[Old_Geezer]

No, I have zero idea where that "t" came from. It certainly wasn't typed. Nor seen on reading.

[ToraToraTora]

Not withstanding chico's advice above, I always take the opportunity to start again with a new device. Just copy personal files to a thumb drive and copy to the new machine then as the need arises install what is needed on the new machine. Do not try and do it all at once. That way you'll get shot of a load of crud.

[barry1010]

I agree with TTT.  I don't want to transfer the accumulated rubbish to my new machine, just the documents, music, photos, ebooks etc. Log in to my browsers and they automatically synch. 

[Old_Geezer]

Seems an idea, my hesitation is that the laptop not only isn't mine, but was something given from her to her mother, who is no longer with us.  It may have been nice to have what seems the same thing, but at a spec that can cope better these days.