Nutshell summary: old Windows 7 PC no longer stays running for more than a few minutes, but the hard disk still works. We obtained a new Windows 7 PC, and I'm trying to move user files, settings and applications over to the new machine. I thought this would have an easy solution, and I searched around and examined many answers on SuperUser and elsewhere, but everything I've found seems to assume one of the following scenarios:
- the old PC still runs (e.g., to use Windows Easy Transfer [per this answer at SuperUser]), or
- I want to boot the old drive in the new PC as the new PC's drive, or
- I want to clone the old drive to the new drive.
None of these are my case: the old PC doesn't run long enough to use Windows Easy Transfer, I want to use the new disk in the new PC, and I "just" want to copy/transfer/migrate user files & applications (and associated registry settings and miscellaneous files and whatnot).
What is a good option to migrate the user settings, email, data, etc. from the old disk to the new one, preserving the new Windows copy on the new disk? Since I can install the old disk in the new machine, to have both available, and since both systems are running Windows 7, I hope this will be easier than in other situations. Yet I can't find a straightforward solution. I must be missing something obvious.
The old PC is not worth trying to repair. I don't want to use the old disk in the new computer because the disk is old enough that eventually it will fail too. If reinstalling all the software is necessary, then that's doable, but I'm not a Windows expert and don't know how to transfer the settings and other files that the various software packages might need – so I'd appreciate pointers in the right direction.