How to transfer all files from one drive to another

Have you ever wanted to transfer data from one hard drive to another? If you don’t know how to accomplish it properly and effectively, you can read this post. Here we will share 6 handy approaches with you.

Table of Contents Show

1. Just Copy Data
2. Windows Easy Transfer
3. Backup & Restore
4. Cloud Storage
5. Clone Original Drive
6. Third Party Tool
Author Introduction:
Microsoft Windows users
Windows command prompt
Using the copy command
Using the xcopy command
Other GUI (Graphical User Interface) methods
How do I move everything out of OneDrive?
How do I share my entire OneDrive to another?
How do I transfer multiple files from one harddrive to another?
How do I move files from OneDrive to another on OneDrive?

In many cases, you’ll need to transfer the data from one hard drive to another. For instance, when you want to upgrade your old hard drive to a new larger one, you need to transfer the data from old drive to the new. Or if you buy a new laptop, you may want to migrate all of your documents or other files from old computer. I have heard that a great amount of users have such a requirement but don’t know an exact and right method. Thus, here we will introduce 6 means in detail.

1. Just Copy Data

Undoubtedly, the most direct and simple method is simply copying data. You can connect the old hard drive to the computer with the new hard drive. Then, copy your data which you want and paste them to the new hard drive. This way is so easy that amateurs can perform it at will.

2. Windows Easy Transfer

If you are working on Windows, you can make use of “Windows Easy Transfer” too. First off, search “Windows Easy Transfer” in the “Start Menu”. Then run this program. Later, in its screen, select “An External Hard Disk or USB Flash Drive” as the target drive and follow the wizards to complete it.

3. Backup & Restore

Moreover, you can move data from the source drive to the target via backup and restore. It refers to that you can firstly make a data backup for the original drive. After that, you can restore data from backup to the target hard drive easily, such as to recover Outlook file from backups.

4. Cloud Storage

Besides, you can utilize cloud storage as well. For instance, you upload your data on the original hard drive to the cloud storage. And later, you can download them from the cloud to the new hard drive. However, this means depends on network. If the network speed is too slow, this process will take a pretty long time.

5. Clone Original Drive

In addition, if you want to transfer not only the data but also the system and all kinds of settings, you can directly clone this drive. You should connect the target hard drive to the computer with source drive. Then use a cloning tool to clone the source one to the new one.

6. Third Party Tool

Of course, it is also a good option to apply a third party tool. Since so many users have the urgent and frequent needs to transfer data between drives, there are a plenty of relevant utilities in today’s market. Thereby, you can opt for a reliable one to have a try.

Author Introduction:

Shirley Zhang is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including sql recovery and outlook repair software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com

Updated: 04/12/2021 by

When working with multiple disk drives, you may need to copy files from one drive to another drive. Or, you might need to download or transfer files from a usb drive or memory stick to a drive on your computer. Follow the steps below to copy and move files between drives.

Microsoft Windows users

To copy files from one drive to another internal or external drive in Windows, perform the same actions you would use to copy a file in Windows. For example, if you wanted to copy photos from a USB flash drive to the HDD (hard drive) in your computer, follow these steps. Open the USB drive in File Explorer, locate the photos or the folder containing the pictures, and press Ctrl+C. Then, in File Explorer, go to the location you want to copy the pictures (e.g, Pictures on the left to open your Pictures folder), and paste them by pressing Ctrl+V.

Tip

There are other ways to copy files, and you can use whichever you prefer. For more information, see: How to copy files.

Windows command prompt

The following examples use the Windows command prompt to copy files from one drive to another. For general information about using the command line (cmd), see: How to use the Windows command line (DOS).

Using the copy command

You can use the copy command from the command line to copy files.

copy c:\myfile.txt d:

The above command would copy the file "myfile.txt" on the C: drive to the D: drive.

copy *.txt e:

The above command uses a wildcard to copy all text files in the current directory to the E: drive.

copy f:\example.xls

The above command would copy the file "example.xls" on the F: drive to the current directory. Notice that we did not specify a destination; if the destination is not specified, the current directory is used by default.

For example, if your command prompt says C:\>, you are in the root of the C:\ drive. So, the command above would copy F:\example.xls to the destination C:\example.xls.

Tip

If you need to switch between drives, type the letter of the drive followed by a colon at the command line. For example, to switch to the 'I' drive, type "i:". If done correctly, it should change your prompt to "I:\>".

See the copy command for further information and help with this command.

Using the xcopy command

Using the xcopy command, you can copy the all the files from one drive to another drive. Example:

xcopy /h /c /k /e /r /y c:\ d:\

The above command copies all of the files on the C:\ drive to the D:\ drive. There are many options specified here (the letters with a slash before them). Here's what they do:

Option	Meaning
/h	Copy hidden and system files. Normally xcopy skips these files, but if you specify this option, they are copied.
/c	Continue copying, even if an error is encountered. This command is helpful when you need to step away from the computer and you know you won't need to stop the copy operation.
/k	Keep read-only attribute. If you specify this option, read-only files will retain the read-only file attribute when they are copied.
/e	Copy empty directories. Normally, empty directories are not copied. If this option is specified, xcopy will copy all directories, even if they are empty.
/r	Overwrite read-only files in destination. Normally, if read-only files exist in your destination which would be overwritten by the copy, xcopy stops and tell you "Access denied." If this option is specified, it will overwrite them and continue copying.
/y	Assume yes to all overwrites. Normally, if a file would be overwritten by the copy, xcopy asks you to confirm before it overwrites. If this option is specified, it will overwrite them without asking you.

See the xcopy command for a description of all options, and more example commands.

Other GUI (Graphical User Interface) methods

All modern GUI operating systems let you use the familiar copy and paste functions to copy files and other objects. To copy files from one drive to another, follow the steps below.

Browse to the location of your files you want to copy.
Select the files you want to copy and then right-click and select Copy in the pop-up menu. You can also use the Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut to copy the selected files.
Once the files are copied, move to where you want to copy the files, right-click and select Paste to copy the files to that location. You can also use the Ctrl+P keyboard shortcut to paste the copied files.

How do I move everything out of OneDrive?

Here's how..

Right click the OneDrive taskbar icon and select Settings..

Click the Unlink OneDrive button under the Account tab. ... .

Launch File Explorer..

Navigate to and select the OneDrive folder. ... .

Click the Move to button on the Home tab..

Select Choose location..

Select the new location and click Move..

You can allow other people to have owner-level permissions over a file or folder in your OneDrive account..

Enter the name or email address of your collaborator..

Click Show Options, then from the Select a permission level drop-down menu, select Full Control to share ownership..

How do I transfer multiple files from one harddrive to another?

Select the files you want to copy and then right-click and select Copy in the pop-up menu. You can also use the Ctrl + C keyboard shortcut to copy the selected files. Once the files are copied, move to where you want to copy the files, right-click and select Paste to copy the files to that location.

How do I move files from OneDrive to another on OneDrive?

Move OneDrive files to your synced OneDrive for work or school folder. To move your OneDrive files to OneDrive for work or school, drag them from your synced OneDrive folder to your synced OneDrive for work or school folder.