New Computer? How to Move Everything Across Without Losing a Thing

A new computer is exciting for about an hour — right up until you face moving your life across: years of photos, documents, email accounts, saved passwords, the printer that took a weekend to set up last time. Done haphazardly, things go missing and turn up (or don't) months later. At Real IT Consulting we do new-computer migrations weekly for customers around Broadbeach, Helensvale, Burleigh Heads and the Gold Coast. Here's what a proper move involves — whether you DIY it or hand it to us.

Before touching the new machine: inventory the old one

The migrations that go wrong skip this step. Walk through the old computer and list what actually matters: document and photo locations (Desktop and Downloads hide more than people think), email accounts and how they're set up, browser bookmarks and saved passwords, software you paid for (and its licence keys), and the quiet essentials — tax records, the accounting file, that folder of scanned certificates. Phones synced to the computer and backup drives count too.

The transfer itself

• Files: the modern path is cloud — OneDrive or similar syncs everything up from the old machine and down to the new one, and leaves you with automatic backup as a permanent bonus. For big photo/video libraries, a direct drive-to-drive copy is faster; we often do both.
• Email: Microsoft 365, Gmail and other modern accounts simply sign in on the new machine and re-sync — nothing to "move." Old POP-style setups (where mail lives only on the old computer) need genuine care: that mail must be exported and imported, or it dies with the old machine.
• Passwords and bookmarks: browser sync or a password manager carries these across in minutes — and if you've never set a password manager up, migration day is the perfect moment.
• Programs: software installs fresh (copying program folders doesn't work); licences transfer with keys or account sign-ins. This is where the inventory pays off.
• Printers, scanners and the extras: reconnected and tested — including scan-to-computer, which everyone forgets until they need it.

Set up the new machine properly while it's clean

Day one is the best day the computer will ever have — lock in the good state: updates completed, bloatware and trial antivirus removed, automatic backup configured, security sensible (PIN/fingerprint, MFA on the Microsoft account), and a restore point of everything working. Ten extra minutes now prevents most of next year's problems.

And the old computer?

Two jobs remain: keep it accessible (but untouched) for a few weeks as a safety net, then wipe it properly before selling, gifting or recycling — a factory reset done wrong leaves your files recoverable. (Our secure disposal guide covers this; we also do trade-in assessments on machines worth refurbishing.)

Or make it a one-visit job

We do the whole thing — inventory, transfer, setup, printer wrangling, old-machine wipe — typically in a single booking, with nothing missing and the new machine configured the way we set up our own. Bought the laptop from us? Migration comes as part of the conversation.

Real IT Consulting handles new computer setups and data transfers across Broadbeach, Helensvale, Burleigh Heads, Southport, Robina, Coomera and the entire Gold Coast, plus Brisbane.

New computer in a box and dreading the move? Contact Real IT Consulting — we'll have you at home on it by dinner.