Transfer Files from PC to PC: 4 Smart Solutions That Anyone Can Try

Axel Nash

Written By Axel Nash |

“Which is the fastest way to transfer files from PC to PC? I have got a new Windows PC and would like to move my data from my old computer.”

If you have also got a new Windows PC, then you can have a similar query in mind. When we move from one computer to another, the first thing that we do is the transfer of our important data. After all, you don’t want to lose your important files while doing the PC to PC transfer. To make things easier for you, I have come up with different ways to transfer files from PC to PC. Without much ado, let’s get to know the fastest way to transfer files from PC to PC right here.

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Method 1: Transfer Files from PC to PC with an External Hard Drive

The easiest way to do PC to PC data transfer is by using an external hard drive. That is, you can first connect your external hard drive to your source PC and copy your data on it. Later, you can connect the hard drive to your new computer and import data from it to your Windows PC.

Before you connect your hard drive to your old computer, make sure it has enough space to accommodate all files. You can view the connected drive icon from This PC/My Computer in Windows Explorer.

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Now, you can just go to any location on your PC, copy your files from here, and paste them to your external hard drive. You can also directly send them to your drive from here. Later, you can connect it on your new PC and manually copy your data from the drive to your Windows PC instead.

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Method 2: How to Transfer Files from PC to PC with OneDrive

If you have been using Microsoft products already, then you might be familiar with OneDrive. It is a cloud-based service offered by Microsoft that lets us back up our data and make it available on different devices simultaneously. Though, you should know that only 5 GB of space is allocated for free on every OneDrive account. Therefore, if you have a lot of files to transfer, then you can consider buying more space. To learn how to transfer files from PC to PC with OneDrive, the following steps can be taken.

Step 1: Move data from old PC to OneDrive

If you aren’t using OneDrive on your PC, then just complete its setup first. Now, you can go to Windows Explorer and view a dedicated OneDrive folder on the sidebar. You can now drag and drop your files from the Explorer to the OneDrive folder to save them.

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Alternatively, you can also go to the website of OneDrive and log-in to your account. From its home, you can click on the Upload option and choose to import multiple files from your PC to your OneDrive account.

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Step 2: Download OneDrive files to your computer

After saving all your data on your OneDrive account, you can get them on your new PC as well. For this, you can just launch the OneDrive installer and make sure that you log-in to the same Microsoft account where your data is saved.

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Once you have completed the OneDrive setup, you can go to the Explorer > One Drive folder and can see your data there. Just make sure you have an active internet connection and wait for a while as your files would appear automatically.

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Besides that, you can also go to the official website of OneDrive, select your files, and click on the “Download” button to save them on your system’s local storage.

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Method 3: How to Transfer Files from PC to PC with a USB Cable

If you are looking for the fastest way to transfer files from PC to PC, then you can also use USB cables. Since the standard cables won’t work in this scenario, you would need to get a USB to USB adapter to make it work. Once you would connect your systems to do PC to PC data transfer, you will have to install the software of the USB adapter on them.

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That’s it! Now you can view your connected systems by using its tool and can just copy-and-paste your files. Although the overall interface for the software of the USB adapter might be different, the core principle of doing the PC to PC transfer will be the same. This would be an ideal method to do PC to PC file transfer software without internet as well.

Method 4: Transfer Files from PC to PC via a LAN Cable

Lastly, you can also take the assistance of Ethernet (LAN) to do PC to PC data transfer in less time. Since this would directly transfer files from PC to PC, you don’t need to use any third-party service (like a hard drive or OneDrive) to store your data. While the process is a bit tedious, it is also one of the fastest ways to transfer files from PC to PC that you can undertake in the following way.

Step 1: Connect both the computers

At first, you can take a compatible LAN cable and connect your old and the new PC with it. Make sure that the port of the LAN cable would be supported by both the systems.

Now, you need to make some changes to both the systems. Go to the Start Menu > Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center and visit the Advanced Sharing Settings.

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From the Advanced Settings on both the systems, turn on the network discovery feature. Also, enable the network sharing feature so that you can read/write files on both the systems. You also have to turn off the password protected sharing feature on your computers for this to work.

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Step 2: Set up a local network on your systems

Once you have met these prerequisites, you can set up a local network to connect both the systems. For this, go to the Network and Sharing settings again, select your Ethernet connection, and go to its properties.

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Now, go to the Networking tab, select the TCP/IPv4 model, and visit its Properties again. On your source computer, you can configure the network by entering the following values:

  • IP Address: 192.168.1.1
  • Subnet mask: 225.225.225.0
  • Default gateway: 192.168.1.2

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Kindly do the same on your new PC, but the configuration values for various network parameters would be the following instead:

  • IP address: 192.168.1.2
  • Subnet mask: 225.225.225.0
  • Default gateway: 192.168.1.1

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Step 3: Transfer files from PC to PC via Ethernet

Great! You are almost there. Once you have connected both the systems, you can go to the Network folder and view the connected PCs here.

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Now, you can just select any folder you wish to transfer, right-click, and choose to share it with specific people (give access to specific users).

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Once the File Sharing window will open, you can select the other PC or everyone and click on the “Add” button.

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When you have granted your new PC the access, you can just go to the Network folder on it and browse to the location of the shared folder. In the end, you can just copy this content and paste it to any other secure location on your new PC.

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This brings us to the end of this extensive post on how to do PC to PC transfer like a pro. As you can see, I have listed 4 different ways to transfer files from PC to PC wirelessly or using a wired connection. You can further explore them on your own and pick the fastest way to transfer files from PC to PC without any issue.

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Axel Nash

Axel Nash

staff Editor