I engaged "Dave's Computer" to build a new custom build Windows 11 computer as replacement for the Windows 10 machine. I presented my thoughts and needs to Dave about the new unit and he asked some basic questions as to my needs and want for the new unit. We touched on cost for the unit and I left...
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Data Transfer · Dave's Computers, Somerville NJ
Old PC to New PC Data Transfer Service in New Jersey
You bought a new desktop and the old one still holds fifteen years of photos, tax returns, Outlook mail and a QuickBooks file. My computer data transfer service moves all of it, verifies the file counts match, and sets the new PC up so it feels like yours on the first boot. It's part of my desktop computer repair service in New Jersey, done at my drop-off shop in Somerville, NJ, and the old drive stays untouched until you've confirmed everything made it.
⭐ 4.8 Stars · 430+ Google Reviews
🏆 On the Bench Since 2011
📍 Somerville, NJ · Drop-Off Shop
🔧 Flat Quote at Drop-Off
📞 Call (908) 428-9558
🚗 Directions to the Shop
In this guide
What Moves, What Needs a Reinstall, What Needs Your Login
The single most useful thing to understand before you move data to a new PC.
Anything that exists as a file copies cleanly from one Windows machine to another and opens on the new PC exactly as it did on the old one. Installed programs don't work that way. A Windows application is spread across its program folder, the registry and AppData, all tied to the machine it was installed on; copy the folder over and you get a shortcut that does nothing. So programs get reinstalled, I bring your data files across so each program finds them, and anything paid for or signed into on the old machine asks for that key or password again.
| Item | Moves as-is | Needs reinstall | Needs your login or key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Documents, Desktop, Downloads, Pictures, Videos, Music | Yes | No | No |
| Browser bookmarks and saved passwords (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) | Yes, from the profile | The browser, if needed | Browser sign-in also syncs them |
| Outlook PST and OST data files | Yes, the file copies | Outlook / Microsoft 365 | Email account password |
| QuickBooks company file (.QBW) | Yes, the file copies | QuickBooks Desktop | Intuit account and license |
| Game saves and launcher libraries | Saves, yes; games re-download | Steam, Epic, Battle.net and the games | Launcher account |
| Microsoft Office | No | Yes | Microsoft account or product key |
| Adobe, tax software, antivirus, other paid programs | No | Yes | Vendor account or license key |
| Printers and scanners | Where possible | Driver, sometimes | No |
| Wi-Fi passwords, Windows settings, wallpaper | Partly, via Windows Backup and your Microsoft account | No | Microsoft account |
Mac to PC and PC to Mac moves of the file categories above are fine too.
Bring your passwords and keys. What stalls a transfer is rarely the copy; it's an email password nobody remembers or the Microsoft account tied to Office. Write them down or bring the phone with the authenticator app. My guide to PST and OST files explains why Outlook's two data file types behave differently in a move.
How the Transfer Works
Copy, verify, set up, and leave the old drive alone until you say so.
1
Bring both towers, or just the old drive
The cleanest job is both desktops on my counter. If the old PC is dead, bring it anyway; as long as the drive still reads, I pull it and work from it directly. A bare drive is fine too. A drive that clicks, isn't detected or throws read errors goes to data recovery first, then the transfer.
If the new machine is a laptop the same process applies, but this series is written around desktop towers. Not sure how to transport one? See how to bring a desktop to the shop.
2
We walk through where things live
Most data sits in the standard user folders, but every fourth PC has a work folder on the C: root or a photo archive on a second drive. I'd rather find that at the counter than after you've taken the new PC home.
3
Copy and verify
I copy the user profile and any extra locations onto the new PC, then compare file counts and sizes folder by folder against the source. A copy that quietly stops on a bad sector is what I'm guarding against, and the count check catches it. Browser profiles, Outlook data files and the QuickBooks file land where the reinstalled programs expect them.
4
Set up the new machine
Windows updated, your account created, the programs you use reinstalled and signed in, printer added, bookmarks and passwords in place, the bloatware that shipped on the new tower removed. That's my new computer setup service, built into the transfer.
5
The old drive stays intact until you confirm
Nothing on the old machine is erased or altered. Take the new PC home, live on it, open the spreadsheet you were worried about. Only after you've confirmed everything is there do we decide what to do with the old drive.
This is also the right moment to set up a real backup so you never do a manual transfer again: see my computer backup setup service.
What It Costs
Flat quote, not hourly.
I quote the job at drop-off once I've seen the machine and what's on it, and nothing is charged until you approve the number. The quote covers the copy, the verification and the new PC setup as one flat price. What moves the number is the amount of data, the health of the old drive, and how many programs need reinstalling.
Add-ons are stated up front. Wiping the old drive is $25 per drive. If the old drive won't read and needs recovery first, that's a separate quote from $199, and you'll hear it before anything is opened. If the new PC would benefit from an SSD upgrade before your data goes on it, I'll say so and wait for your approval.
Most transfers are done in 24-48 hours; same-day rush is available. Most of my work carries a 30-90 day warranty on labor.
Who This Is For
If any of these sound like your week, this is the service.
| Situation | What I do |
|---|---|
| New desktop is still in the box and the old one is running fine | Full transfer and setup, old drive kept as-is until you confirm |
| Old PC died and you bought a replacement | Pull the old drive, transfer from it directly. If it doesn't read, data recovery first |
| Old desktop can't run Windows 11 and you're replacing it | Transfer to the new machine, then wipe or recycle the old one; see your options for a desktop that can't take Windows 11 |
| Small business moving QuickBooks, Outlook and a shared folder to a new tower | Company file, PST and working folders moved, programs reinstalled and signed in |
| Reinstalling Windows on the same PC and want your data back afterward | Same copy-and-verify process, paired with my Windows reinstall and Windows 11 upgrade service |
What to Do With the Old Computer
Three options, and you don't have to decide at drop-off.
Keep it. Plenty of customers take the old tower home as a spare or hand it to a kid, with everything still on it.
Wipe it. $25 per drive, flat, whether the drive stays in the tower or comes out bare. The wipe follows the NIST SP 800-88 media sanitization guideline, and the drive comes back to you or goes into recycling, your call. Details on my hard drive wipe page.
Recycle it. My computer recycling drop-off takes the old desktop, and the $25 per computer covers the wipe so nothing personal leaves with it.
Don't donate or curb the old tower with the drive still in it. Deleting files does not remove them.
What I'll Tell You If It Isn't Worth It
Some transfers I'll talk you out of, or steer somewhere else.
If the old drive is failing, I stop and tell you. Every read pass on a dying hard drive is a chance for it to get worse, so that drive goes to data recovery, where it's imaged before anything is pulled off it.
If everything you care about already lives in Microsoft 365, Google Drive or iCloud and the old PC has nothing local, a full transfer isn't needed. I'll set up the new machine to sign in instead and quote the smaller job.
And if the old desktop is only three or four years old and got replaced because it was slow, I'll ask before I copy anything. A drive upgrade or a clean Windows install on the existing tower is sometimes the better buy; my page on repair versus buying new lays out the math.
What I See on the Bench in New Jersey
Composite examples, built from the kinds of jobs that come across my Somerville counter.
A Bridgewater customer's Dell tower and its replacement. The old Dell wouldn't run Windows 11, so she bought a new desktop and brought both in. Her scanner had been saving twenty years of receipts into a folder on the C: root that no automatic tool would have grabbed. Found it at the counter, copied it with everything else, verified the counts, reinstalled Office and her printer. She kept the old tower as a spare.
A Hillsborough bookkeeper's dead office PC. Power but no display, and QuickBooks had to be running on the new machine by Monday. I pulled the drive, confirmed it read cleanly, copied the company file and the Outlook PST, reinstalled QuickBooks Desktop and attached both. She brought her email password and Intuit login, so it went out same day. The old drive was wiped a week later, once she'd closed a month on the new PC.
A Piscataway family's gaming desktop. New custom-built tower, old prebuilt full of game saves and a teenager's video projects. Saves and projects copied and verified; the game libraries re-downloaded through the launchers once signed in, which beats copying a terabyte of installs. The old prebuilt went to recycling after the wipe.
Bring both towers, or the old drive, to my Somerville counter. I'll quote the transfer at drop-off once I've seen what's on the machine, and nothing is charged until you approve it.
📞 Call (908) 428-9558Drop-off shop at 75 N Bridge St, Somerville NJ · Mon-Fri 10-5, Sat 9-2
Directions to Dave's Computers in Somerville, NJ
Downtown Somerville, one block off Main Street, behind Bank of America.
Dave's Computers, 75 N Bridge St, Somerville, NJ 08876Drop-off shop, Mon-Fri 10-5 and Sat 9-2. Street and municipal-lot parking around Main Street.
Directions to the ShopFrom Bridgewater
3 miles · about 10 minutes
Route 22 or Route 202/206 to the Somerville Circle, then Route 28 east (West Main Street) into downtown. Left onto N Bridge St.
Open in Google MapsFrom Hillsborough
5 miles · about 12 minutes
Route 206 north into Somerville, right onto West Main Street, then left onto N Bridge St.
Open in Google MapsFrom Bound Brook
4 miles · about 12 minutes
Route 28 west straight into downtown Somerville. Right onto N Bridge St.
Open in Google MapsFrom Piscataway
10 miles · about 20 minutes
I-287 north to Exit 17 (Route 202/206 south), then Route 28 east into downtown Somerville.
Open in Google MapsFrom Flemington
15 miles · about 25 minutes
Route 202 north to the Somerville Circle, then Route 28 east into downtown. Left onto N Bridge St.
Open in Google MapsFrom Princeton
18 miles · about 30 minutes
Route 206 north through Montgomery and Hillsborough into Somerville. Right onto West Main Street, then left onto N Bridge St.
Open in Google MapsTimes are typical drives outside rush hour. Call 908-428-9558 before a long drive if you want to confirm I'm at the counter.
Google Reviews
What Customers Say on Google
Live from the Dave's Computers Google listing. Tap any review to read it on Google Maps.
4.8
★★★★★★★★★★Based on 434 Google reviews
I have been going to Dave's Computers for years because he always fixes my problems. I also use his anti-virus and it is as good as any, if not better, than others that I would have to pay much more for. If you're having problems, go to Dave's. He doesn't break the bank and he solves the problems.
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Over the last decade or so, whenever I had a computer problem, I went to Dave. I recently had a very worrisome crash; the system failed to boot up. (I hadn't needed to use him for about 3 years.) I paid the "rush fee" on Saturday when dropping the machine off with the weekend agent. By Monday...
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"As a Broker of over 40 years in New Jersey I rely on my computer help", which is the artery to my success and business. Thank goodness Dave's is here for me with the messes I get into with scammers, land grabbers and just uneccesary things that I pick up. The most effective virus program have ever...
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I had previously tried to build my own PC to no success. Even though right now it is really tough to get a PC built due to the price increases with RAM’s, GPU’s and other parts because of AI, I still really wanted to get one for myself. I came across Dave’s Computers online and went in for a...
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PC Data Transfer Questions From New Jersey Customers
The things people ask at the counter before handing over two towers.
What does a computer data transfer service actually move?
Everything that exists as a file: documents, photos, videos, the desktop and downloads folders, browser bookmarks and saved passwords, Outlook PST data, QuickBooks company files, game saves and any folder you point me to. Installed programs don't move as files; they get reinstalled, and anything tied to a license or login needs your key or password.
How much does it cost to transfer files from an old computer to a new one in NJ?
I quote the job at drop-off once I've seen the machine and what's on it, and nothing is charged until you approve the number. The quote is flat, not hourly, and covers the copy, the verification and the new PC setup. Wiping the old drive afterward is $25 per drive on top.
Do I need to bring both computers?
Both towers is the simplest path, since I can copy, verify and set up the new machine in one visit. If the old PC is dead, bring it anyway and I'll pull the drive, or bring the bare drive on its own. Either works as long as the drive still reads; one that doesn't goes to data recovery instead.
Can you transfer my programs too?
Programs get reinstalled, not copied. Windows applications are wired into the registry of the PC they were installed on, so a copied program folder won't launch. I reinstall the ones you use, bring your data files across so they open where you expect, and you sign in or enter your license key where the software asks.
Will my Outlook email and contacts come across?
For accounts that store mail in a PST file, yes: I copy the PST and attach it in Outlook on the new PC, so your folders, contacts and calendar appear. For Microsoft 365, Exchange and most IMAP accounts the mail lives on the server and reappears once you sign in, though local-only folders still need moving. Bring your email password.
What happens to my old computer after the transfer?
Your choice. Keep it as a spare with everything still on it, have me wipe the drive for $25 per drive so nothing personal is left, or leave it for recycling through my drop-off program. Either way I don't touch the old drive until you've had the new PC home and confirmed everything is there.
Sources and further reading
- Microsoft Support, Back up your Windows PC: what the built-in Windows Backup app carries to a new PC through a Microsoft account (folders, settings and app lists), and what it doesn't.
- Microsoft Support, Export or backup email, contacts, and calendar to an Outlook .pst file: Microsoft's own procedure for getting Outlook mail, contacts and calendar into a PST file for a move between computers.
Bring Both Towers to Somerville, New Jersey
Drop off both desktops, or just the old drive, with your email and account passwords handy. I'll quote the transfer flat at drop-off, copy and verify everything, set up the new PC, and leave the old drive untouched until you've confirmed it all made it. It's one piece of my desktop computer repair service for New Jersey.
📞 (908) 428-9558Mon-Fri 10am-5pm · Sat 9am-2pm · 75 N Bridge St, Somerville NJ · Drop-Offs Welcome