How to migrate your data to a new external hard drive

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: How to migrate your data to a new external hard drive. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Common Causes

Upgrading to a larger or faster external hard drive is a common requirement for growing businesses. To ensure your data remains intact during the transition, it is essential to follow a structured migration process that avoids accidental deletion or file corruption. This guide will walk you through the safest method to transfer your archives and files from an old drive to a new one.

Preparation

Before beginning the transfer, ensure you have the following ready:

• Your existing external hard drive containing the data.
• Your new external hard drive.
• A computer with enough available USB ports to connect both drives simultaneously.
• A stable power supply (ensure laptops are plugged into mains power to prevent shutdown during transfer).

Detailed Instructions

Step 1: Connect and Initialise the New Drive

1. Plug your new external hard drive into a USB port.
2. If the drive is brand new, your operating system may prompt you to initialise it.
   • Windows: If a window appears stating "You need to format the disk", select Format disk. Choose NTFS for Windows-only use or exFAT if you need the drive to work on both Mac and PC.
   • macOS: Open Disk Utility, select the new drive, and click Erase. Choose APFS for modern Macs or exFAT for cross-platform compatibility.
3. Rename the drive (e.g., Business_Backup_2024) to avoid confusion with the old drive.

Step 2: Connect the Old Drive

1. Plug your old external hard drive into a second USB port.
2. Open your file explorer (File Explorer on Windows or Finder on macOS).
3. Verify that both drives are visible in the sidebar under This PC or Locations.

Step 3: Transferring the Data

For the most reliable transfer, we recommend the "Copy and Paste" method rather than "Cut and Paste" to ensure the original files remain safe if the transfer is interrupted.

1. Open the old external drive window.
2. Select the files and folders you wish to migrate. To select everything, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A (Windows) or Cmd + A (macOS).
3. Right-click the selected items and select Copy (or use Ctrl + C / Cmd + C).
4. Open the window for the new external drive.
5. Right-click in the empty space and select Paste (or use Ctrl + V / Cmd + V).
6. A progress bar will appear. Depending on the volume of data, this may take several hours. Do not disconnect either drive or put the computer to sleep during this process.

Step 4: Verifying the Migration

1. Once the transfer is complete, right-click the folder on the old drive and select Properties (Windows) or Get Info (macOS). Note the total size and number of files.
2. Perform the same action on the new drive.
3. Compare the two. The file count and total size should be identical.
4. Open a few random files (documents, PDFs, or images) from the new drive to ensure they open correctly and are not corrupted.

Troubleshooting

The transfer is extremely slow

• Check the Port: Ensure both drives are plugged into USB 3.0 ports (usually blue inside) rather than USB 2.0 ports.
• Avoid Hubs: Connect drives directly to the computer rather than through an unpowered USB hub, as this can bottleneck data speeds.

"File too large for destination file system" error

This typically happens if your new drive is formatted as FAT32, which cannot handle individual files larger than 4GB. To fix this:

1. Ensure the new drive is empty.
2. Re-format the drive to NTFS (Windows) or exFAT (Cross-platform).
3. Restart the transfer process.

Drive disconnects during transfer

• Check that all cables are firmly seated.
• Disable "USB selective suspend" in the Windows Power Options menu to prevent the system from cutting power to the ports.

If you encounter persistent errors or suspect your old drive is failing (clicking sounds or disappearing folders), please Open a Ticket immediately so our technicians can assist with data recovery.

Still Having Issues?