Thanks. I had not heard of the transfer to new computer before. I had a friend that recovered some files for me on a old “dead” computer and put them on a disc. He’s not here now though, so I’m hoping to find someone I can trust to give me a disc or something.
I don’t necessarily need all the files to be on my new computer, just some of them.
The 'usb' device could be a thumb drive or an 'SD' card. I know the frustration of an older 'puter breaking down and needing to rescue files.
I keep a large capacity SD card plugged in to the usb slot 24/7. I am a compulsive archivist - especially with the Trump coup attempt - and every file that I save to my hard drive I also save to the SD card. Some would say that is awkward and time consuming but I do it dozens of times a day so it becomes second nature.
In 2001 I had about 60,000 files on the Clinton years and the early achievements of Free Republic. The hard drive went bad but I had backed it up on a CD; the CD went bad too! :( I was able to recover perhaps 40% of the archived material.
I hope with the SD card I have a sure backup. Every year or so I copy all of it to thumb drives and date and keep one for myself and offer the rest to good FReepers to keep for posterity.
Silicon Valley offers to let you keep all that in the cloud but since they hate the sort of material we FReepers like, I don't trust them.
The computer sees the SD card as a separate drive; I like it because there is nothing mechanical to fail. It just sits there in one of the usb slots on the front of the 'puter and makes no noise. :)