Easily Do PC Data Transfer for Windows PC

Doing PC data transfer is a quite common task in our study and working life. When you have a new PC or when you need to use files on another PC, transferring data from PC to PC is a must-do step.

So, in this article, we’ll show detailed steps of 6 ways to help you transfer data from PC to PC. You can choose the most suitable one to easily and safely transfer your data to the target device.

How to transfer files from PC to PC

In general, the methods of data transferring between PCs have 2 options: using the Internet and using tools. Here we’ll show how to transfer data via Cloud storage, WiFi, cables, and cloning software to do this job.

Method 1. Do PC data transfer via an external storage device

Using external storage devices to transfer data may be the simplest option for all users. You only need to connect a USB or an external disk to your PC and copy and paste the files you need onto it. Then, connect this drive to the target computer, and copy and paste files again. This way is very convenient if the target files are not large. You just need to make sure your external storage device has enough space to carry all the needed files and that it works normally.

However, you can’t transfer the programs installed on your PC and their files to another computer.

Method 2. Transfer files from PC to PC via cloud storage service

The second way to do data transfer is to download your files from cloud storage. On the Windows system, users can upload the local files to OneDrive, then download them from OneDrive to local storage on another PC.

Step 1. Open OneDrive or visit the OneDrive website, right-click the blank, and select “Upload”, and “Files” to upload the files you want to add to this cloud storage tool.

Or you can also upload files directly right-click your files and choose “Share” to move them to OneDrive.

Step 2. Sign in to your account in the OneDrive app or website on the target PC.

Step 3. Then download them from OneDrive to the destination place on this PC.

Method 3. Using a USB cable to transfer data

You can also transmit data via a USB connection. Typically, it has created software for the Microsoft operating system that allows data to be transferred from one machine to another. The most essential aspect is that it is usually much faster than external media. On PCs with USB 3.0 ports, USB connections often transfer data more quickly. When you connect the PCs, the supplied software will guide you through the process of transferring your data, settings, user accounts, folders, and so on.

Step 1. Use this USB transfer cable to connect both your old computer and your new Windows computer. Insert one end of the transfer cable into the old PC and the other end into the new PC. After the two computers recognize the USB cable, it will start an installation wizard.

Step 2. Click USB Super link adapter -> click Mode menu and choose High-Speed Data Bridge -> press Windows + R key on the keyboard, and enter devmgmt.msc -> click System Devices to find Hi-Speed USB Bridge Cable.

Step 3. Insert the installation disk that was packaged with the USB cable into your CD/DVD-ROM drive.

Step 4. Follow the guided prompts to install the data transfer software. Repeat this step for the other computer to install the same software.

Step 5. Launch the program on both computers. You should see a two-sided window. On its left side, it will show your computer and on its right side, it will show the new computer to where you want to transfer the data.

Step 6. You can select the files or folders from partitions on the old PC, then drag and drop them to the destination of the new computer.

Method 4. Using LAN cable to transfer PC data

Besides the USB cable, another cable you can use to transfer PC data is the LAN cable, also called the Ethernet cable. You can easily get an Ethernet cable CAT5/6 on the market. Then connect both computers with your LAN cable, then we can start.

Step 1. Connect both PCs with an Ethernet cable or a LAN cable. Both of them use the same port and do the same thing.

Step 2. Right-click the Start button and choose "Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center". You will see the active network or Ethernet.

Step 3. Click "Ethernet > Properties > Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) > Properties".

Step 4. Select "Use the following IP address" and type the IP address and subnet mask. The IP you enter can be different from the example, as long as they are in the same range.

set the PC1:
Ip Address 192.168.1.2
Subnet mask 225.225.225.0

Set the PC2:
Ip Address 192.168.1.3
Subnet mask 225.225.225.0

After assigning the IP addresses successfully, you will see the two computer names in the Networks settings.

Step 5. Go to "Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Change advanced sharing settings". Choose these options and click "Save changes":

• Turn on network discovery
• Turn on file and printer sharing
• Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files in the Public folders

Step 6. Click "Turn off password protected sharing". In this way, you don't need to type in your password each time when you are trying to access it from another computer. But you need to turn on password protection when the file transfer finishes.

Now you can start to transfer files.

Step 7. Select the file or folder you want to transfer, right-click it and click "Share with > specific people".

Step 8. On the File Sharing window, click the drop-down menu and click "Everyone > Add > Share". Then, the file will be transferred from one PC to another. You can check the shared files on the target PC.

Method 5. Using clone software to do Windows easy transfer

If you only wish to transfer some data files, the above 4 methods are enough for you. However, some users may wish to transfer all data from one PC to another, and if it’s available, transfer the whole system to quickly set up a new computer. For this purpose, you can choose to clone your hard disk.

To clone the disk, we suggest you use the disk cloning tool AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. It is a disk and drives management tool for Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7/XP system. Users can use the "Disk Clone Wizard" function to generate a full replica of the original disk on another safely and conveniently. Following the cloning, the target PC will run your customized system, as well as all installed apps and files.

Tip: Connect the new disk on your new computer to your old computer. If the old OS is on a laptop, you need to prepare a SATA-USB adapter.

Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant, and then click "Clone" in the main interface, and select "Clone Disk".

Step 2. Choose the hard disk that you need to clone as the source disk and click "Next".

Step 3. Select another drive as the destination disk, and then click "Next".

Step 4. Then, you can check the source and destination disk in the next window or change to "Sector to Sector clone", and click the "Confirm" button to continue if there is no problem.

Here, you can also click the "Settings" button to adjust the partition size on the destination disk or tick "4k alignment" to improve the reading and writing speed of the SSD. 

Step 5. After returning to the main interface, check the pending operation and click "Apply" and "Proceed" to commit the operation.

Tip: You can also choose “Migrate OS to SSD” to only transfer OS to another PC.

After the cloning, please install the target disk back to the target PC, then you can enjoy your data on another PC.

Method 6. Transfer data to another PC via Wi-Fi

For Windows 10 users, you can use the “Nearby sharing” feature to transfer data to nearby devices by using Wi-Fi.

Step 1. Right-click on your Windows 10 computer screen and click “Settings”. Then click “Shared experiences”, and turn on “Nearby sharing”.

Step 2. After that, choose "I can share or receive content" from “Everyone nearby” or “My devices only”.

Step 3. Click This PC on your computer to open File Explorer, right-click the file you want to share, and click the Share option.

Step 4. Select the target Windows 10 computer from the device list.

Note: The target PC should also run on Windows 10 version 1803 or newer and is within the Bluetooth or same WiFi/network range.

Step 5. After it transfers the file to the new Windows 10 PC, the new PC will receive a notification to accept or decline the transferring file. You can click Save to receive the file.

Ending lines

If you don’t know how to safely do PC data transfer, now you don’t need to worry. This post almost shows you all common solutions for data transferring for different cases. Hope one of them can help you fix the problem. AOMEI Partition Assistant is better to do Windows easy transfer if you want to keep all data and settings on another device.

Besides the cloning function, it can also move installed apps, convert a disk to MBR/GPT without data loss, readjust partitions size, etc. And it has the Server Edition to manage disks and drives in Windows Server 2025/2022/2019/2016/2012(R2)/2008(R2)/2003.