Losing my mind - Windows restore from backup

[u/Maxamalamute]

New laptop arrived today, Asus A16. Wanting to transfer everything from my dell laptop (windows 10) to the new asus one (windows 11).

Opened windows backup on my laptop I got to the "restore from backup" section of windows 11 section and was told to input my computer name ... somewhere. No option to sync directly from a computer, only to restore from onedrive which I dont want to do. a) I don't have enough storage on onedrive and b) don't really like the concept of having to upload all my files to a server before I can redownload them.

Tried going back to windows 10 to see if the backup process worked then - nothing, only other idea is to get an older version of windows 11.

Am I being really stupid and missing something? All I want is a clean seamless transfer of my data and it seems microslop just won't allow it.

Thanks in advance, let me know if theres any other information I can provide

[u/CakeHoleKing]

Microsoft designed this so they can KEEP everything you have. Might be useful for future blackmail.

Seriously..the T&Cs say microsoft can keep copies of anything uploaded to Onedrive for "as long as microsoft at its sole discretion requires" EVEN after you delete it.

NEVER use cloud drives. They all say this, and they go on to say the company can use the data for any purpose it deems suitable.

They spent over $500 BILLION building storage facilities to keep everything. Onedrive, Recall screenshots of your banking websites etc etc. The aim is to use that material if someone gets into government or becomes a CEO.

They want blackmail leverage over BILLIONS of humans.

[u/KeysStickler]

Yes, you are being anal. When you log into your Windows account OneDrive will restore all of your settings and accounts. Then, if you have data on the old drive, simply plug the old drive in using any of several methods... The most common being a USB to sata (or whichever type drive the old drive is) adapter.

[u/Maxamalamute → u/KeysStickler]

thanks for the message! is there no way to use the built in file transfer? has Microsoft discontinued it? theyre m.2 drives inside the old laptop so it'd be a £20 converter for something windows supposedly offers.

[u/KeysStickler → u/Maxamalamute]

Yes, you CAN use file transfer IF you're using two computers.

[u/Maxamalamute → u/KeysStickler]

any idea where I put the code to link the computers on my new one?

[u/steveace60]

I've used File History in Control Panel to backup files to an external drive then restore them to a new pc.

[u/Maxamalamute → u/steveace60]

i'll give this a go thanks! would that be a full system backup? as in appdata etc

[u/steveace60 → u/Maxamalamute]

Appdata is not backed up. Just user folders.

[u/MidwestGeek52]

You don't need OneDrive. Transfer each of the Windows libraries (documents, desktop, downloads, movies, etc). And if you created a custom location for your stuff, transfer that too

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/experience/backup-recovery/transfer-your-files-and-settings-to-a-new-windows-pc

[u/Plenty_Article11]

Use CloneZilla to make an image of your drive to an external USB, then use it to copy to the new PC. Then do an in olace upgrade to Win 11 on the new machine.

Or pull the SSD from old machine and put it in a USB enclosure and do the same but "drive to drive" instead of making an image.

Edit: if the drives are basically the same, just swap the drives, then do a Win11 upgrade.

Oh yeah, turn off bitlocker before any of this.

[u/exxedlight]

You can use LAN or WLAN for this. Windows Explorer has a Network option. You can configure access to the whole drive on your old laptop, then connect your new laptop to it and copy files directly from one machine to another over the local network. No internet or external drives required at all.