Transfer to a new HP: available options

So you’ve purchased a new HP computer and you want to have all your documents, settings, and apps transferred from your old PC. There are some solid options out there, allowing you to migrate to your new HP Pavilion, HP ENVY, HP Elite / EliteBook, HP Essentials, OMEN, Spectre, ProBook, HP Gaming and so on.

HP does not offer its own migration tool (software for transferring from one computer to another). However, there are several other options to transfer everything over – including one that allows to transfer everything completely automatically. With the right tool, you can even copy your programs and applications to the new HP – not just files.

To skip to the automatic transfer option immediately, click here for automatic transfer programs and files to your new HP.

How to transfer files to new HP – manually

There are several ways to manually transfer your files to a new HP laptop or desktop. They all share the same limitations:

You can only copy files – not programs, not profiles, not settings etc. (you can copy those with the automatic transfer option below)
You have to manually select each file / folder that you copy (which makes it likely that you will forget some of them)
It’s quite a lot of work

Of course, there is also the advantage: this option is free.

The two primary options for manual file transfer are:

USB drive

In this approach, you simply connect a USB drive to the old computer, and copy the files you want to it.

Then, move the drive to the new computer – and copy your files from the USB drive to the new computer.

To do that, you of course need a USB drive, with enough capacity to hold your files. Most USB external har d drives these days have at least 1TB of storage (usually more), and for most of us, this is more than enough. If you do not have a USB hard drive available, you can get them at Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy or any computer or electronics store.

As mentioned above, main limitations of this is that you only get files, and only those files that you managed to “hunt down”. This is a far cry from transferring everything, but it is certainly better than nothing.

Cloud sync software (OneDrive, Dropbox)

This approach is similar to the USB drive option in the sense that you have to manually find and copy your files, with all the limitations and drawbacks of that.

The difference is that instead of using a USB drive, you are using Cloud sync. There is no physical device connected to the computer. The downside is that you will likely have to pay for Cloud storage (free tiers are usually 20GB or less), and that this takes much longer than a USB drive transfer (e.g. days instead of hours).

Regardless of which option you choose, you will be able to transfer some of your files to the new HP.

Or, you could use a transfer software that transfers all files automatically, as well as everything else – really making your new HP feel like home. Like this:

How to transfer to a new HP – Automatically

A much simpler approach involves using dedicated transfer software, that automatically copies applications, profiles, settings, personalization, and all files, to your new HP – Zinstall WinWin.

It supports Windows 11, as well (including transfer from an old Windows 10 computer, to a new Windows 11 HP).

Here’s how:

Download and run Zinstall WinWin on your current computer (the one you are transferring to the new HP from).
Note: You can get Zinstall WinWin here.
Download and run Zinstall WinWin on the new computer
1. You don’t need to do any configurations for the computers to connect – it’s automatic
2. If the computers are already connect to same router, same Internet connection, or same wireless connection, you don’t need anything else
3. If the computers are not connected at all, connect them with a network / Ethernet cable
If you’d like to select which applications and files you want to transfer, press the Advanced menu. If you just want to transfer everything, you don’t need to go to the Advanced menu.
Press “Go” on the new computer to start the transfer

And that’s all there is! You have successfully transferred all of your files and programs to your new HP – documents, images, music, user settings, profiles, applications, accounts, Outlook, Office, plugins, registry entries, as well as any user files that are not part of standard user profile folders.

All of them are right where you wanted them – on your new HP computer so you can continue where you left off.

Ready to transfer to your new HP?

Get Zinstall WinWin here!