Good morning/day TLP! DH just ordered the parts to my brand new scrapping computer for Christmas. I'm gonna have a fancy new desktop. but what do I need to do to prepare for the move? I already know to cleanup my downloads folder, back up my stash... but what else? what would be super helpful in moving to a new computer? It's been so long since I had to do this... LOL
AAAAAAAaaaaaaaah! I get that I am gonna puke feeling thinking about this! Take notes and give us what you did that worked...see you on the other side!
I put together a spreadsheet that I've used for my last few builds/hard drive replacements. It has a list of all my programs that I need to install, what disk or where to download them, products keys, any special settings that I will want to change again, etc. Since you are moving onto a new computer while the old one is still working, it's a little bit easier since you can just refer to the old machine to check things. My list includes anti-virus, Office/email, browsers, peripheral drivers/software (scanner, tablet, printer, mouse), miscellaneous apps (7-zip, my FTP program, iTunes including various libraries, Quicken and its data files, CrashPlan, etc.), and of course Photoshop and all of its settings (keyboard shortcuts, actions, preferences, brushes, workspaces, old PS and plug-ins I have that aren't compatible with CC). And don't forget your fonts! Hope that helps. New computers are a lot of work to get going, but it's so fun to have that shiny new machine at the end!
Like Kim said, don't forget your brushes and styles from the old computer. I did and it was obnoxious to redo them at first. I make a list of what programs are on the old computer and then cross off any I haven't used lately. I keep the list so I can refer back if I go which program did that one thing? In 6 months. But usually I end up dropping some programs while I'm at it. I do the same for fonts. I drop them into a folder on a USB so I don't clutter the new computer up with fonts I'm not really using.
great list, Kim! thank you! I started a onenote list of what I currently use, program and folder wise. Some changes I want to implement, such as a script I use for PSE that saves to a folder... that folder is currently called "Postscriptinstall419" or something obnoxious. That's definitely getting fixed. I have shortcuts to my PSE brushes and styles folders on my desktop currently, and for a long while, each time I bought a new brush or style set, I immediately copied them to that folder, so when I was ready to use them in PSE, I just had to load it from the folder. But... somewhere I stopped doing that, and I'm sure I have a ton more brushes and styles not in the correct folder. I will definitely be limiting my fonts next go around, as you suggested Courtney. I have so many...
Although your current machine is still working, make sure any online back up has actually been backing up your stuff especially if that’s your only backup
I second what Kim shared - especially the custom workspace and preferences in Photoshop. If you have Lightroom, make sure that is backed up and saved as well. Yay for a new computer!
I just got a new one too! It took awhile, but I finally got almost everything copied over. I think I am going to save the EHD as a secondary backup since it has everything on it. The only thing I have not moved yet is my photos. They are in an software database that I want to dump and move into Light Room. That will be a project, so I am thinking after MOC, in February when it is "quiet". My old machine is still working so I have awhile. I am not a cloud user in general, however, I did put all my fonts in the Windows cloud. That was great because I used the same id on both computers I could access the same cloud space on both laptops. I am keeping them there as a backup.
Agree with all the advice given especially making sure any backups whether online on an EHD backup have actually been doing their job. My computer died in May after being zapped when the power went out during a tornado warning. A techie friend took the EHD out to see if we could pull things over to the new computer. Unfortunately, it was encoded and he could crack it but it would take a few days to do it and he would have had to take it with him to do. I did have Backblaze and also had an EHD backup set up. Turns out the EHD backup had quit working a month earlier and the Backblaze backup was a couple days old so had a couple things missing. If you have anything on the desktop, save it as well. I lost some things (sticky notes) that I had had for ages. Make note of any program setups for other programs besides your scrapping programs. If you have any exe install files, make sure to have them in a couple places. That is what saved me for my beloved Picasa since it is no longer available. It took me several months to get the new computer set up and I still find things that I didn't know were missing.
YAY for your new computer! I'll be watching this thread too, because on Cyber Monday I ordered a new dell laptop for myself for Christmas. Hubby's sad that he won't be able to surprise me with it for Christmas, but I don't really like surprises and he didn't know what to buy in a laptop that would fit my needs. When you're spending that much you gotta get what you really want... right!
what @KimJ said! Make sure all of your passwords are written down, etc. We do so much that just works because the URLs and ID/passwords are kept by the computer. Some programs will come pre-loaded as "trial" versions and you may need to unload to get your desired copies & IDs to work. If you have files or software on CDs, you may not have a CD reader in your new computer.
Renne (ForeverJoy) has a post about her computer crashing on her blog, and some of the tips would work for a new computer. https://foreverjoydesigns.com/2018/06/4785.html
I don't even remember what it was like getting a new computer. The last time was May 2011. Have fun setting it up!
I just had to move to a new machine because my old one crashed and died. Luckily almost everything important was on an external hard drive so I'm good for photos, scrap supplies, etc. One thing that made the transition easier was having Chrome Syncing so that when I installed Chrome on my new machine and logged in, I automatically got all my bookmarks. I had also saved my favs from IE to a file on my EHD, so as soon as I installed IE, I imported my favs from that. One thing that I did lose and it is still quick painful is all my actions in Photoshop. Make sure you have those backed up to an external location so you can access them easily from your new machine. Good luck!
Yeah, passwords. Important. I keep mine on a spreadsheet. I also keep a copy of this spreadsheet in dropbox with a name that doesn't indicate it is for my passwords. That way I can get to them from my laptop, phone or ipad if needed. And, by being a spreadsheet it is in my documents folder which is on both the Backblaze backup and my EHD backup.
The other thing that I did was to save a "Karen's Styles" version of all the styles I have installed and use frequently because then I could load them all back in together and they stayed in the same locations. I know that sorta an extra thing, but I know where my favorite drop shadows are in the list and if they move around I'm constantly hunting for them. That's SO exciting that you're getting a new computer for Christmas too! It's a pain to set up the new one and get all the programs loaded again, but that's temporary and so awesome when it's all ready to go!
