Where to copy and paste saved docs to new HD

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Hi folks. I’ve just replaced my old HD with a new one. Paranoid of losing 10 years+ of data, beforehand I did a backup to an external HD using Win 10 File History method, and a second manual backup to another external HD.

This ‘manual backup’ was no doubt crude and unsophisticated. I created two folders on the Desktop, one for my data (Ross Everything) and one for my partner’s (J everything). We had our respective data saved in Documents under the computer user name, R&J. Again, her docs were in a folder in her name, mine in mine.

When doing a fresh install of Windows 10 Home with the new HD, I attempted to restore our data using File History. I realised after the restoration had been underway for a short time that it was restoring to OneDrive, not the C drive. I wanted to restore to the C drive, so stopped the process. Then I noticed that there was a new file on the ext HD to which I had saved the File History backup, named RossW. I don’t know where this came from. I suppose it was created by File History. I deleted it. However, I now find that the User Name for the computer is rossw. I did not choose that name at any time and don’t want it. I would rather have our old user name of R&J, but I guess I can live with rossw.

I have since tried restoring via File History again, and again found it was restoring to OneDrive. This time, I decided to let it finish. That was 1.5 days ago, and it has only transferred 2.5GB of 45.1GB. Unbearably slow. Seems backups to OneDrive can only practically be of relatively small volumes of data. Whatever, I still haven’t got our saved data on to the C drive.

Questions:

1. Since my manual backup under the Ross Everything and J Everything folders on the desktop was for data under the R&J User Name of the old HD, can I now still copy and paste the contents of the Ross Everything and J Everything folders to this new HD, despite it having a new UN of rossw?

2. I realise that saving everything that was in Documents on the old HD to two “Everything” folders on the desktop wasn’t ideal. Rather than saving these two “Everything” folders to the desktop now that I have installed a new HD, can I copy and paste them to Documents on the C drive?

3. When I open the Users Folder on the C drive, there are 3 User folders: Default, Public and rossw. Can I choose any of these to save our “Everything” folders and contents to? What would be best? Or is there no best?

Hope you can make sense of this tangled tale. One way or another I’d really like our data back on the C drive!

Cheers
Ross

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Do not use OneDrive as a store / backup. Use it to share a few files you need to have elsewhere and nothing else. Backup to an external USB hard disk that you store in a secure location away from your computer.

1. You can copy the files anywhere you want. Open “Documents” under “This PC” and paste them all there. This will get around the different user name.
2. See 1 above.
3. Use “Documents” and you will find the files end up in Users\rossw\Documents.

Then make a new image backup to external USB disk using one of the free backup apps (Aomei Backupper, EaseUs Todo, Macrium Reflect etc).

cheers, Paul

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[RossB]

Hi Paul, and thanks a lot for your response and clear directions.

Yeah, I’d just about reached that conclusion about OneDrive and you’ve confirmed it – only good for sharing a few small files and that’s about it. Thing is, the fact you get 1TB storage with Office 365 gives the impression you can store large volumes of docs there. Well, I suppose you can – if you are prepared to wait days/weeks/whatever for them to transfer to the cloud. I thought I must have been doing something wrong to make transferring so slow, but apparently not.

Just curious – what sort of data should be stored in the Default and Public folders under Users in the C drive?

Is there a way of changing the rossw user name to something else, or does that risk messing up the computer?

Cheers! Ross.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by RossB.

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Default is for things everyone gets, like Desktop icons.
Public is for shared files.

You can change the name, but it’s a hassle and not worth it IMO. It’s just a bit of text. Search the web if you really want to know how.

cheers, Paul

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Had enough hassles over the last week, so won’t bother with changing the rossw name. Thanks, Paul.

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The C:\Users\Default is used by the System in the creation of new User’s home folders. You should not make changes there.

The C:\Users\Public is used to share files between different ID’s that cannot access each other’s files. If you save a file to C:\Users\Public\Documents (for example) it is available to all User IDs. The folder structure is similar to each individual Users home folder structure.

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RossB

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I’ve had mixed results with GUI-based copy operations of large folder trees (e.g., copy/paste or drag or whatever via Explorer). You might get 25% into it and it will just stop, after having copied tens or hundreds of gigabytes. I’ve seen this happen on multiple well-setup Windows 10 systems. It’s an Explorer bug that’s been introduced in the past few years. Once it does that you have a mess of a partially completed copy that’s not easily restartable, at least not with File Explorer.

Fortunately in my case I have two very good tools on hand that DON’T stop like this, and will facilitate copying large trees of files, and even taking a copy up where it left off or was stopped:

Beyond Compare (a GUI tool for comparing files / folders) and

ROBOCOPY (a geeky command line tool with a million switches that can be arranged into “Mirror” or “Incremental Copy” operations between folder trees.

Good luck with your restoral.

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RossB

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“Robocopy in Windows 10 & Microsoft Robocopy GUI” from TheWindowsClub

Download the Robocopy GUI from Microsoft.

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RossB

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You can rename your user profile.  You don’t like “rossw”; when I installed Windows at first, it assigned me, without the option, a username of the first five characters of the eMail address used for my M$ sign-in.  I WAS able to rename it, but, what a pain!

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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RossB

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ScotchJohn wrote:

You can rename your user profile.  You don’t like “rossw”; when I installed Windows at first, it assigned me, without the option, a username of the first five characters of the eMail address used for my M$ sign-in.  I WAS able to rename it, but, what a pain!

Ha! Now I see where ‘rossw’ comes from – the first 5 letters of my MS email address. Grrr.

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Noel Carboni wrote:

Fortunately in my case I have two very good tools on hand that DON’T stop like this, and will facilitate copying large trees of files, and even taking a copy up where it left off or was stopped: Beyond Compare (a GUI tool for comparing files / folders) and ROBOCOPY (a geeky command line tool with a million switches that can be arranged into “Mirror” or “Incremental Copy” operations between folder trees. Good luck with your restoral.

That word “geeky” scares me. So, ROBOCOPY is not easy for the non-geeky to figure out?

Must

Noel Carboni wrote:

I’ve had mixed results with GUI-based copy operations of large folder trees (e.g., copy/paste or drag or whatever via Explorer). You might get 25% into it and it will just stop, after having copied tens or hundreds of gigabytes. I’ve seen this happen on multiple well-setup Windows 10 systems.

Oh great. I fondly imagined copying and pasting manually like this would be the least complicated possible way of backing up all our docs. Now I’m bracing for catastrophe.

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So guys, since it seems I’ve messed up with my “manual” backup, what’s the best way to back up all personal docs in the future, do you think?

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How much data are you copying? 5GB? 500GB?

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RossB

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I have used (as well as @PKCano) a free utility that has been going for years, and is still maintained and tested.
https://www.karenware.com/powertools/karens-replicator-backup-utility
There is also a write-up on using it : over here
Yes, it works with Windows 10 also 🙂

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created IT- AE

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geekdom wrote:

How much data are you copying? 5GB? 500GB?

One folder has 231GB in it. The other has 38GB. So, total of 269GB.

 

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Microfix wrote:

I have used (as well as @PKCano) a free utility that has been going for years, and is still maintained and tested.
https://www.karenware.com/powertools/karens-replicator-backup-utility
There is also a write-up on using it : over here
Yes, it works with Windows 10 also 🙂

Thanks, Microfix. Will check it out.

 

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[RossB]

Just an addendum to clarify my situation. I became aware of Macrium Reflect through Woody prior to taking out my old HD and replacing it with the new one. I did attempt to back up the old HD with Macrium, but it wouldn’t do it due to the HD being damaged (I’d been receiving notifications on bootup for almost a year that it needed to be replaced).

When Macrium wouldn’t back up the old HD, I resorted to using Win 10 File History, and also did the ‘manual’ backup previously described above to be certain I had done all I could to save all our personal data – at least, that was my thinking.

I will try Macrium to do regular backups of the new HD from now on, and assume it will work this time.

However, I’m still interested in your view on the best way to back up our personal data. I want to keep at least 2 backups on different external HDs.

The last thing I should mention is that when I restored the File History backup I assumed it would be to the new HD, but it restored to OneDrive by default (I closed OneDrive after about 4GB had been restored because it was evident it would take days to do a complete restore). I haven’t tried restoring to the new HD via File History. The File History backup doesn’t include all our personal data anyway, since it comprises only 121GB and the total personal data I saved manually is 269GB.

Well, that’s more than enough. Hope it’s comprehensible.
Cheers

 

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by RossB.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by RossB.

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Elly

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Hey folks, one more question please. When I manually backed up all personal data on the old HD, the large folder trees incorporated the R&J profile. Will the fact that I now have a different profile (rossw) muck up the transfer of personal data to the new HD?

I’m thinking of using karens-replicator-backup-utility because it seems the easiest to understand.

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Link to Karen’s Replicator FAQs- How do I restore them on a new machine?

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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RossB

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Backup, IMO, is best done with a 3rd party utility, Macrium, Aomei, EaseUS etc. this gives you a compressed and optionally verified copy of all your data. I also use an image backup to allow easy recovery in the event of disk failure.

You can use multiple external disks with backup utilities, how many is up to you. You should verify your backup data regularly.

As your old disk is flakey I’d attempt to copy the data to a new location on your new disk using Robocopy and the MS GUI.
Set the Retry option to 2 and the Wait to 1. This will keep the copy running through disk errors.
Create a log and check the NFL and NDL options. This will give you a summary and errors only so you can see what is lost.
I have used this method for years to migrate files between servers during upgrades – it’s bulletproof.

cheers, Paul

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RossB

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Thanks, Paul. Problem is I don’t think I’m tech savvy enough to use Robocopy. I’ve checked out several tutorials and can’t make head or tail of it. Also, I keep coming across comments that the MS GUI is only appropriate for transferring small numbers of files and folders, and I have a sheisse-load.

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[Paul T]

Here is the required command line for you. Open a Command Prompt and paste. You can run this as often as you want, after fixing errors. It will only copy missed / changed files each time.

Change the source and target folder names as required. e.g.
source = E:\Users\R&J
target = C:\Users\rossw

robocopy SOURCE TARGET /S /A /NDL /NFL /NP /COPY:DAT /TEE /R:2 /W:1 /log+:%tmp%\Robocopy.log

Use this command line to view the log file after Robocopy finishes. Ask if you need help interpreting the log.
notepad %tmp%\Robocopy.log

cheers, Paul

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Paul T.

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RossB

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Amazing, Paul! Thanks so much. I’ll now download Robocopy and see if I can figure out/google  how to open a Command Prompt and follow your directions!

Cheers!
Ross

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Paul, would u mind taking a look at this snapshot of the Command Prompt window?

I opened Command Prompt, copied and pasted the command as per your direction then hit enter. That’s as far as I could get.

I attempted to change the source and destination folder names but couldn’t. The text that’s there refused to be replaced. (I have the external HD connected containing the data saved from the old hard drive).

No doubt I’ve misinterpreted your directions. Can u put me right based on the attached snapshot, pls?

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After watching some YouTube videos on the use of robocopy I tried again, but again no joy. I think maybe this was closer. The source was D:\Ross everything 2019. The destination was C:\Users\rossw

I’ve attached a snapshot of the CMD screen.

Could the spaces in the title of the source folder be the problem?

Sorry Paul, this must be getting to be a pain. If you have had enough, fair enough. I have to be close though, surely?

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Copy the command to Notepad to edit it.
Your second version is correct except you need to quote paths with spaces in. Try this:
robocopy "D:\Ross everything 2019" C:\Users\rossw /S /A /NDL /NFL /NP /COPY:DAT /TEE /R:2 /W:1 /log+:%tmp%\Robocopy.log

cheers, Paul

p.s. Robocopy is built-in, nothing to download – as you’ve probably discovered.

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[RossB]

Success! Thanks a lot, Paul – again – for your invaluable advice and instruction. Seems the transfer was just about faultless, with only 1 skipped file (screenshot attached).

Only thing is, I assumed the source folder itself, “Ross everything 2019” would appear under C:\Users\rossw. However, it is nowhere to be found, with only its contents appearing directly under rossw.

My partner and I want to keep our personal data separate, so when I transfer her data (currently saved in a folder titled “J Everything”), in order to have it accessible within a single folder under rossw, would I first create a folder under rossw like “Jani Stuff” and have Robocopy transfer “J Everything” contents to “Jani Stuff” as the Destination folder?

Would the following achieve that?
robocopy “D:\Jani Everything” C:\Users\rossw\”Jani Stuff” /S /A /NDL /NFL /NP /COPY:DAT /TEE /R:2 /W:1 /log+:%tmp%\Robocopy.log

Cheers

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by RossB.

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The quotes need to surround the entire path. Windows uses spaces to separate parameters so we need to use quotes to tell it to keep this space(s) together as one parameter.

I would create the new folder before running the command, just to be sure.

robocopy "D:\Jani Everything" "C:\Users\rossw\Jani Stuff" /S /A /NDL /NFL /NP /COPY:DAT /TEE /R:2 /W:1 /log+:%tmp%\Robocopy.log

cheers, Paul

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RossB

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Fabbo! Indebted.

Final question, and I imagine the answer will be a simple “no”. If I create a “Ross stuff” folder under rossw (ie: C:\Users\rossw\Ross stuff) is there a simple and quick way using Robocopy of transferring all the data I migrated from “Ross everthing 2019” earlier today into “Ross stuff”, rather than manually moving it all? Now that I’ve got a sniff of what’s possible, I might be turning into a Robocopy freak – see what you’ve created, Paul?

Like, would the following work?
robocopy C:\Users\rossw “C:\Users\rossw\Ross stuff” /S /A /NDL /NFL /NP /COPY:DAT /TEE /R:2 /W:1 /log+:%tmp%\Robocopy.log

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In a word…

Robocopy has no way of knowing what files it copied earlier. Moving in Explorer will actually be quicker anyway as Robocopy is a copy then delete utility and Explorer just modifies the folder pointer.

cheers, Paul

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RossB

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Yeah, suspected something like that. Really appreciate all your help, Paul. Thanks especially to you, and to all others who responded – was on the point of giving up and seeking out paid help before this thread. Like many folk, not sailing all that well financially in this unsettled time, so glad to have been able to resolve the data migration problems thanks to this great site and the generous contributors here.

Best all, stay safe.
Ross

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