Transferring data en masse

[AlphaOmega]

Hello all,

Please forgive my relative ignorance on IT matters.

I've just bought a new laptop and I need to copy all of my files from my old laptop across. They're mostly MS Office files (Word, Powerpoint etc) as well as my old emails (around 15,000 emails totalling around 7GB). In total I've probably got 10GB of files.

The reason I'm asking is that I think my old laptop might have some malware on it although my McAfee antivirus thinks it's clean as a whistle. The reason I think this is that I did some work for a client that required me to understand malware a little and how it works. This demonstrated to me that the antivirus I have isn't infallible (of course, what is?).

So I'm just being cautious. What is the most secure way / cleanest way of transferring the files? They're a little too big to put on the USB drives I have.

I won't necessarily need to have my old emails in my new inbox (as it were) but I do need to be able to search and rank them regularly (for key words, date, time, comments, who they're from etc). As for the folders of work, I'd like to copy them across en masse in the same format so they remain in the same structure and I can tell their age easily without clicking on them - will they all have to have the date that I copied them across (i.e. created on the new laptop) or can I ensure they all retain their original creation date from the old laptop?

Do excuse the basic nature of the query - I've tried to use the search function without much success.

Thanks for any comments. :)

[Glamdring]

Obviously you've run Safe Mode full scans with your anti-virus app, with system restore turned off? There is no point in tranferring files if you're not sure they're malware free.

That done then you can transfer over your home network - not all at once though; it doesn't like huge numbers of small files being transferred.

Or this: http://www.qvcuk.com/ukqic/qvcapp.aspx/ ... .UKEL~UK16

Or a 16GB pen drive. They're not that dear and can be used for other things afterwards.

[AlphaOmega]

Obviously you've run Safe Mode full scans with your anti-virus app, with system restore turned off? There is no point in tranferring files if you're not sure they're malware free.

That done then you can transfer over your home network - not all at once though; it doesn't like huge numbers of small files being transferred.

Or this: http://www.qvcuk.com/ukqic/qvcapp.aspx/ ... .UKEL~UK16

Or a 16GB pen drive. They're not that dear and can be used for other things afterwards.

Thanks 8) 8)

To enable Safe Mode full scans with system restore turned off would that be a laptop setting or an antivirus setting?

Edit: Found this online.

Disable System Restore (this feature is not available in Windows 2000):
Note: Disabling System Restore will remove all your restore points. You can enable System Restore again after this procedure and create a new restore point.
- on Windows XP: right-click on My computer -> choose Properties -> go to System restore tab and check "Turn off System restore..."
- on Windows Vista: right-click on My computer and select Properties -> click on System protection then on the System protection tab -> uncheck all drives under "Available disks" -> press "Turn system restore off" when dialog appears

2. Boot in Safe Mode:
- restart the computer
- at boot time, before Windows starts, quickly tap on the F8 key on your keyboard
- a menu should appear. Select "Safe Mode" and press ENTER.

3. Run a full system scan of all files:
- open AntiVir -> click on Configuration -> go to Scanner -> Scan -> select "All files" and click OK
- in the Status tab, click on "Scan system now", and for all infections found, choose "Move to Quarantine"

Thanks again.

[Glamdring]

Turn off system restore in Control Panel.

Open System by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking System.

In the left pane, click System Protection. Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

To turn off System Protection for a hard disk, uncheck the box next to the C: disk, and then click OK.

Be prepared for spending a long time and a surprising amount of memory backing up emails. It can take well over an hour. Lots of tiny files go to make up an email.
I suggest you back up your emails as a separate process to transferring your data.

[AlphaOmega]

Turn off system restore in Control Panel.

Open System by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking System.

In the left pane, click System Protection. Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

To turn off System Protection for a hard disk, uncheck the box next to the C: disk, and then click OK.

Be prepared for spending a long time and a surprising amount of memory backing up emails. It can take well over an hour. Lots of tiny files go to make up an email.
I suggest you back up your emails as a separate process to transferring your data.

Yes, it certainly sounds more involved than I first thought. Really appreciate the detailed response. :)

[amnesia]

Once you're sure your data is malware free just set up a P2P wireless connection and leave it transferring overnight.

[MrLion]

16GB USB stick £17 on ebay

[ceejbee]

Just bagged a few USB sticks from mymemory.com around £12 delivered, used the site lots before, great deals and pretty good prices.

Cliff

[AlphaOmega]

Thanks for the tips chaps.