Best way to transfer folders between Windows computers

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Rikkitic

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#281589 27-Feb-2021 18:58

Local networking, especially with Windows, is definitely not my strong suit. Now I need to transfer some data folders between Win 7 and Win 10. What is the most straightforward way to do this without getting tangled up in Windows sharing mysteries? I just want to copy folders from one computer to another.

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nzkc

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#2663431 27-Feb-2021 19:11

One off event or are you wanting to sync them continuously?

One off event it's easiest to set up a public share and browse to it.

Regular syncing is a very different beast. How much your syncing would be important here.

Mehrts

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#2663432 27-Feb-2021 19:13

If it's just a one-off file transfer, then the easiest would be via a USB 3.0 (at least) external hard drive.

For a more permanent setup, then you should only have to enable shared folders and give read/write access to everyone to save headaches with permissions, especially if you're only dealing with one or two users.

For a more robust setup, a Network Attached Storage solution would be ideal. Either you spend the money on a ready-to-go solution (minus hard drives) such as Synology or QNAP offerings, or you can build your own with a spare computer, Raspberry Pi 4B etc. But this is getting a bit more involved with the config setup.

By the way, file transfer speeds will be bottlenecked either by the HDD write capacity, or the 1Gbps network. They both tend to cap out around the same point (roughly 100MegaBytes per second). Unless you're dealing with solid state drives and 10Gpbs networking.

Rikkitic

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#2663433 27-Feb-2021 19:16

I just want to move the data folders from one computer to the other. Nothing ongoing and nothing complicated. I could do it with a USB drive but then everything has to be copied twice. I am hoping there is a simpler solution.

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timmmay

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#2663438 27-Feb-2021 19:42

USB drive is easiest and probably fastest. Resilio sync is better for ongoing need. I use SyncThing for syncing folders between multiple computers.

Mehrts

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#2663543 27-Feb-2021 23:09

Rikkitic:

I just want to move the data folders from one computer to the other. Nothing ongoing and nothing complicated. I could do it with a USB drive but then everything has to be copied twice. I am hoping there is a simpler solution.

USB drive is the simplest option. Drag & drop at each end with no prior config required. Networking setup only takes a couple of minutes, but it's not as quite as simple.

How many GB are you needing to move?

Rikkitic

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#2663627 28-Feb-2021 08:30

Mehrts:

How many GB are you needing to move?

Not sure. Maybe a few hundred. I have decided to go with copy and paste. I have a spare drive I can use for this. I guess it was expecting too much of Windows to think I could just click something and have this happen.

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SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2663629 28-Feb-2021 08:45

Rikkitic:

Now I need to transfer some data folders between Win 7 and Win 10. What is the most straightforward way to do this without getting tangled up in Windows sharing mysteries?

Everyone seems to be assuming you don't want to use Windows networking at all. My interpretation is you just don't want to have to worry about the details.

You should be able to just right click on the folder and enable sharing, then browse to the share from the other computer using the IP address. Enter the IP in the format \\192.168.1.x in Explorer and with any luck it will just work and you can copy the files as normal. There are reasons it may not, and sharing/file permissions which may trip you up, but at its most basic, that's all you need to do.

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Rikkitic

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#2663632 28-Feb-2021 08:54

Thanks I tried that but couldn't get it to work. I will just use a USB drive.

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