Trying to copy files from old HDD to new SSD

My dad and I have been trying to get my mom's (RIP) super slow laptop upgraded with a new SSD. We thought we made a backup of the old HDD to an external drive before installing the new SSD, but for some reason the backup didn't work. So now I'm trying to copy files from the old drive to the new.

I hooked up both drives to my desktop PC using SATA cables on the motherboard. Both drives showed up in my Win10 Explorer, but they had yellow triangles on them. Yet I could still access the files on both. After a bit of waiting to gain access to the user folders on each drive (dad's username on the new drive, mom's username on the old drive), I proceeded to copy over the contents of Documents, Pics, Music etc. After copying everything, I put the new SSD back into the laptop and booted up. Once I was in, I went to Windows Explorer on the laptop with the new SSD, and nothing is there! Nothing that I just copied shows up at all. There should be thousands of files and folders but nothing shows up except the folders that were there previously.

Looking at the drive properties, it's about 1/4 full, which is about the same as the old drive (both 500GB), so the files must be there, but Explorer won't show them. I even went into Powershell and went to the directories in question, and none of the copied files or folders would show up there, either.

*edit* both the laptop and my PC are running the latest Win10 version.

What can I do to get these (very important) files copied over? A large USB drive perhaps?

Hi,

As long as you have your unaltered original disk... Nothing is lost.

Since you look to have a part of the problem solved, The first step Is to create your Mom's account log to it and then copy the files directly to their new emplacement.

If you cant seems to find where the files are located, You can check your source, Pick a special file with a recognizable name, And use a third party search tool to locate the file on your new drive. it should give you the location of the rest. Then move them to the new document folder.

I was trying to copy the files from my mom's username on the old disk, to my dad's username on the new disk. Is that not possible?

Mom is no longer with us so we would rather have the files under dad's username on the new disk, if possible.

Hello, best way, I think to do that is to purchase a USB to 2.5 inch SATA drive connector. That way, you can connect the old drive via USB to the laptop with the new drive and copy like it's a USB drive / external drive.

Like this -> USB 3.0 To SATA 22 Pin 2.5 Inch Hard Disk Drive SSD Adapter Connector Lead Cable SATA III By Multibao : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

p.s. Works only with the 2.5" laptop drives, won't work with 3.5" desktop drives. Seems you're using the laptop drives but wanted to point that out.

Samuria said:

You will have no access to the old files as they will be owned by the SID from the other pc so you will have to take ownership of the folders first

I did it last week to a laptop, the user folder opened just fine, the first time it took some time but it automatically did the permissions thing (had to enter credentials of previous user account). I would just check that Bitlocker wasn't enabled.

PatrickGSR94 said:

I was trying to copy the files from my mom's username on the old disk, to my dad's username on the new disk. Is that not possible?

Mom is no longer with us so we would rather have the files under dad's username on the new disk, if possible.

Yes it is, How did you proceed to copy your files ? Normally once connected to your dad's account with the old drive connected as secondary, You should be able to take ownership of the files and copy them where you want.

Don't copy the whole User Profile. Just copy pictures to pictures Video to Video etc...

MaloK said:

Yes it is, How did you proceed to copy your files ? Normally once connected to your dad's account with the old drive connected as secondary, You should be able to take ownership of the files and copy them where you want.

Don't copy the whole User Profile. Just copy pictures to pictures Video to Video etc...

I wasn't using the laptop at all. I had both drives attached to my desktop PC, with both drives showing as E and F drives. I was merely copying the contents of each folder: Documents, Downloads, Pics etc. to the corresponding folder on the other drive. Then I put the SSD back into the laptop and booted up, but couldn't see any of the copied files.

PatrickGSR94 said:

I hooked up both drives to my desktop PC using SATA cables on the motherboard. Both drives showed up in my Win10 Explorer, but they had yellow triangles on them.

First thing to find out is why you have Yellow triangles on the drives. Normally it means that there are missing drivers. Open device manager. Is there any yellow alerts of missing drivers.

Instead of copying all files from the HDD to the SSD, I suggest you clone the HDD into the SSD using your computer. It will be fast and all programs and settings will be preserved.
I recommend you use Macrium Reflect Free.
On the "Backup at Home"select "Reflect 7 Free - Download
On the window that opens, select "I need a personal free license" skip enter email and continue. Run the downloaded file to download and install Macrium Reflect Free

ugh no I don't want to clone the old drive. The new drive has already been set up with a fresh Win10 install. I just need mom's files and folders moved over. We don't even want all the old programs. Only the data files.