transfer PC to PC

[Racket_Man]

Mu grandchild managed to get my last PC running a couple of days ago. I have a WiFi router with both PCs physically attached to said router. how can I access my old PC through the WiFi router and move files to my new PC?

[RealUnimportant]

Well that all depends on what operating systems they have. With default MacOS settings they probably already share the right IP range, with Windows they almost certainly don't (I've never seen a Windows install pick a sensible default IP), and with Linux, I just don't know but i would presume it'll be similar to MacOS as they're both *nix under the hood.

You'll need to check online for your own flavours of OS as stated, but the general overview is:
Make sure both computers can see the router and get online. 99 times out of 100, this will fix anything from the above section where they're not a: in a sensible range, and b: not in the same range as each other. Then, you'll need to enable file sharing on the old PC at least - this is OS version-specific so rely on your online guides here. You need to enable sharing of files and folders, and unless you are planning to leave this PC connected to the internet after moving the files, you don't need to worry too much about password protecting access to the share, which will save you a step or two. Once that's done you should be able to go onto the new computer and access the old one as if it's just another hard drive through whatever local area networking interface it offers - this again is OS version-specific, so check the guides again.

If all that seems like too much hard work, you could always use a USB drive instead; often that can also be quicker!

[csquared]

If you don't know how to send the data over the network, it probably isn't worth the learning curve.

Use a USB drive.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I have always installed the old hard drive in the new computer and transferred the files form the old hard drive to the new hard drive. Assuming the old hard drive is compatible with the new computer.

Another thought is to use an Internet cloud site to transfer the files. I've never done that.

The USB transfer sounds like the easiest if both computers have USB ports.

[RealUnimportant]

Cloud site is simple enough but a lot of time if it's a lot of files. Physically moving the drive is definitely a timesaver if it's compatible, and would be the best option if you know how to do it.

[Seanette]

Last time I switched computers, I found a USB drive the easiest and fastest solution. I don't have the hardware skills to crack into laptops to remove/add drives (even if room exists for adding), and cloud uploads/downloads were slow enough to drive me up the wall.

[Racket_Man]

The old one is Win 7 and my new on Win 10 near 1T of data and old PC is now an active machine again

[KuariKaydrith]

Back when I was doing techy stuff on the regular, I'd just put all the important files from the old computer onto an external drive that I would then hook up to the new computer. I could have set up an ad hoc network to move things that way, but it's just easier in the long run. These days I have a lot of stuff backed up to the cloud and can access it from pretty much anywhere, and anything saved locally still gets moved with an external drive or a USB stick.

[Nunavut Pants]

1 TB thumb drives are pretty cheap now; about $30 will get you one from Amazon. Might be worth splurging for a name brand one, as I've had issues with some (smaller) no-name USB drives before.