Question Easiest way to move files off a laptop?

[DrewSG3]

I want to copy an entire hard drive and browse it on my computer. What's the easiest way? ISO maker? back up? It's been awhile since I did anything like this

 

[solidsnake1298]

If you use the Windows backup utility, one of the files it will output is a VHD/VHDX file. In the computer management disk utility you can mount VHD files in read only.

 

[DrewSG3]

oh my god, why is sharing files so redacted hard on windows?

I connected both with a CAT 5e cable. I set the IP configuration... They can both ping each other, but they don't see each other in Network even though every permission in public

Profanity is not allowed in the tech subforums.

AT Mod Usandthem

 

[solidsnake1298]

Are they connected directly to each other? Or are both connect to your router? If they are connected to your router, follow the directions below. They are probably not "discoverable".

Go to the old style control panel and click on Network and Sharing Center.


Click on Change advanced sharing settings.


Turn on network discovery.


Do this on BOTH computers and they should appear when you click on Network in Windows Explorer.


You may also be able to manually type in the address into a Windows Explorer window.

 

[mxnerd]

oh my god, why is sharing files so redacted hard on windows?

I connected both with a CAT 5e cable. I set the IP configuration... They can both ping each other, but they don't see each other in Network even though every permission in public

If the network profile is set to Public (in a coffee shop, for example) that exactly mean that firewall is on.

You have to make PC network private and turn on File and Printer sharing to make PC to see each other.

 

[Steltek]

Back up the machine with software like Macrium Reflect or Acronis True Image. Install the backup software on your computer as well, mount the backup image as a file, and browse to your heart's content.

 

[aaahotdog]

I run into this question quite often. In my teaching others, I recommend that nothing should be left on a computer except for the OS and programs. Anything else goes to external storage i.e. flashdrive, portable hdd, nas, etc. Computer crashes, so what? Your data is secured externally. New computer, so what? Your files are all kept externally. You don't use a car to store groceries, you use the car to get groceries. Same with a computer, it is a vehicle to use, not to store.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I run into this question quite often. In my teaching others, I recommend that nothing should be left on a computer except for the OS and programs. Anything else goes to external storage i.e. flashdrive, portable hdd, nas, etc. Computer crashes, so what? Your data is secured externally. New computer, so what? Your files are all kept externally. You don't use a car to store groceries, you use the car to get groceries. Same with a computer, it is a vehicle to use, not to store.

That's one option.

I had an encounter with a high-school classmate (1965) today on the phone. I was explaining my own dilemma -- one desktop needing repair, all kinds of other things I had to do, a decision based on five years of inclination to buy a new laptop to give me double-backup for the ability to do my routine stuff, like pay the bills. I mentioned my Win 2012 R2 server upstairs. He doesn't think anybody "needs" a server. Of course they don't, but he has more than three desktops, and anyone can build "a server" with Windows 10 Pro. I didn't bother to ask why he hadn't connected those systems with a simple five-port ethernet switch and cabled them together. He seems to think I'm retrograde because I still have Win 7 systems -- upgrade deferred because I had working Win Media Center installations with SiliconDust tuners on my LAN feeding them with premium channels, but that's another story.

You can get yourself a little backup SSD or spinner with a USB interface -- or even an eSATA interface, and resolve your backup problem that way. You can install something like Macrium Reflect, and schedule backups to the external device. Or you can have some hot-swap bays, and do the same thing. Yes! You DO NOT need a server!

But it sure is nice to have. Mine is still backing up all the other PCs in the house -- every single night. My Stablebit Drivepool on the server is configured with file and folder duplication for the most important files. And the server backs up these files automatically to a 2.5" drive in a hot-swap bay -- every day at 10AM. I will never lose anything. Or the chances of it happening are seriously reduced.

For the average user? you need some sort of internal or external backup drive. You can benefit from a program like Macrium Reflect, or you can use the built-in Windows Backup feature of your OS.

And sure, you can cable two PCs together with twisted pair cable in some sort of peer-to-peer file-sharing arrangement. I would just think that doing it on the fly to solve an access problem is not nearly so good as having the systems connected with a router, switch, or router-switch on a more permanent basis. Those are $50 devices. Ethernet Cat-5 cables are cheap. The worst problem I can see is running the wires through the wall or around the floorboard. And most routers today are "wireless", offering both gigabit ethernet ports and Wi-Fi. For wireless, with a Wi-Fi router-switch, you'd just need to equip the systems with $50 wireless expansion cards. then -- no unsightly wires if routing them through your house is too daunting.

 

[bigboxes]

I run into this question quite often. In my teaching others, I recommend that nothing should be left on a computer except for the OS and programs. Anything else goes to external storage i.e. flashdrive, portable hdd, nas, etc. Computer crashes, so what? Your data is secured externally. New computer, so what? Your files are all kept externally. You don't use a car to store groceries, you use the car to get groceries. Same with a computer, it is a vehicle to use, not to store.

That makes no sense. You ever had a flash drive fail? I have. You ever have an external hard drive fail? I have. All external drives fail just like the ones inside of PCs. Backups are essential to that eventuality.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

That makes no sense. You ever had a flash drive fail? I have. You ever have an external hard drive fail? I have. All external drives fail just like the ones inside of PCs. Backups are essential to that eventuality.

When I build my systems now, I have a boot-system disk or volume, and I add a separate "data" drive -- maybe an SATA SSD. The boot drive is NVME; other drives may be SATA SSDs or spinners, because they are cached to a smaller NVME anyway, and then cached to RAM. In other discussions, I've never experienced loss or problems using PrimoCache. It's very resilient.

Mostly -- "installed" software may be resident on the boot C: drive, but I'd added "Program Files" directories to the "data" drive for less essential programs like games. Everything is backed up using Macrium. But since my sig system is down for repair (hopefully just a PSU replacement), I realize that local backups aren't enough, and I'd reported in my post above on my 2012 R2 server. I'm going to modify my backup strategy after this, and I believe that Macrium will back up to a server folder. The remaining WIN 7 systems in the house are auto-backed up nightly with 2012 R2's client backup feature. Overdue, perhaps, but I recently checked how these backups are going, and there are no problems -- they're current.

An old PC veteran and techie going back to 1983, I've been reticent in the last decade or longer about new developments like "The Cloud". A lot of veterans here had their own misgivings: "You want all your sheee-it . . . . stored out on some "cloud" . . . . where they might get hacked? [or some other worry]"

Eventually Windows 10 got me to click on something I'd deferred before, and the machine (currently down) was backing stuff up to the Cloud. I'm still vague about how it works. There's some cloud folder on the local machine with shortcuts.

So, somewhere on another thread I started, I explained how I purchased an LG gram 17 laptop more than a week ago. I went through some hoops and panics upgrading the Home version to Pro, but all is wonderful. The damn LG! Went out and grabbed my "stuff" from the down-for-repair desktop cloud storage, and synced with it! OK! So i'm using two "cloud" services: Microsoft's and Google's -- since I have Android tablets which also sync together.

See, I'm uncomfortable when I'm using something and don't fully understand what's going on with it. But now -- I see the LIGHT! The LIGHT coming through the CLOUD!

Does this mean I'm going to jettison my local backups and my server? Hell, no, I won't!

With this latest crisis over my sig desktop waiting for some hardware swaps, well, it's not much of a crisis. I'll attend to it in the next couple days once I've tested out my Moms' new thousand-pound wheel-chair trolley. [We have other things to do, ya know, besides computer things].

So I've made a new mini-project for myself. I must have rock-solid resiliency and backup for the accounting system I use for our household -- talking about (for two persons and a third who pays part of the bills) six checking accounts, four saving accounts, three IRA accounts . . . .the list goes on. I'm a Quicken user going back to 1995. I don't like their subscription software model now, from the outfit that bought Quicken from Intuit. I've stuck to Quicken Home and Business 2017 licenses, and I have three of them -- on each of three different systems. This allows me the fallback when some desktop (like my Skylake/Kaby system) goes down. The automatic backup files for Quicken are stored on my 2012 R2 server.

Knowing how the Quicken software works (without their "cloud" or link-to-bank features -- which I don't use for my own reasons -- I now realize that I shouldn't be backing up to the server. I should have a common working Quicken file on the server, and do backups to the local machines. That way, if the server fails and i need to pay Donald Trump's bills all of a sudden, I can load the local backup. And -- why not!? -- why not also back up my quicken files to another server directory on a routine basis? Well -- they are, anyway -- through the server backup and now the Macrium backups I'll resurrect or be reconfiguring. This will allow me to jump from one machine to another -- with the PRECAUTION that the main working Quicken accounting file must not be "open" on two machines at once. It's not "Quick Books" which allows simultaneous file access. It's just Quicken.

Am I retrograde? Am i a Luddite? I don't know. But I'm prepared for almost anything to the limit of the Apocalypse. If WE burn because California burns, I just need to remember to grab my LG laptop and two hot-swap drives from the server and a local machine before we jump in the Trooper and flee the flames.

Any thoughts or comments about my Quicken reconfiguration -- comments, etc. -- are very welcome, but this is someone else's thread. I didn't mean to hijack it.