Moving to a new computer

[powerplayer75]

Im moving to a new computer that I built and Im wondering how I would get all my files and programs to my new one? Cloning doesn't work because of different hardware. 

[powerplayer75]

Plug and Play doesnt work because its different hardware and Windows is configured for that hardware only (CPU and Motherboard). So I cannot clone but Im wondering if there is an easy way for me to get all of my files from my old hard drive and copy it over to the new hard drive once it is done because manually copying every single one of my files over is tedious.

[LabRat]

when your new machine is built and all software is installed you can hot swap the old drive. do a reboot. when you are at the desktop you can pull stuff off the old drive onto the new one ( click and drag .

you can also stop on the reboot in the BIOS and check the boot order ( but don't think it will be a problem ) so the machine doesn't try and boot off the old HD.

[Mira Yurizaki]

If you have two different machines, you could try setting up a network share like Homegroups. This may take a while though if you have a lot to copy and you're doing this over WiFi or something.

 

If that's too much of a bother, take out the drive in the old machine, put it in the new one, make sure the new machine boots on its drive and not the old computer's drive, then copy and paste files over.

[powerplayer75]

Ok I understand that, but is there a way for me to copy all my files at once instead of going through every section of my hard drive/user profile to copy and paste? Also, how do I install all of my programs back? Would I have to manually do it for every one or is there a mass installer program?