How can I connect my Windows 8.1 PC to my new Windows 10 PC, via WIFI?

There's a huge difference between disk imaging - of entire partitions- your O/S - and selected backups. These are complementary strategies.

Imagine you have given away your Win 8 laptop- and forgot to back up some data- which you now don't have. A disk image is everything - so you can always go back to it and get more.

If you don't yet use disk imaging- do think how you would recover from major issues and avoid a clean install.

dalchina said:

There's a huge difference between disk imaging - of entire partitions- your O/S - and selected backups. These are complementary strategies.

Imagine you have given away your Win 8 laptop- and forgot to back up some data- which you now don't have. A disk image is everything - so you can always go back to it and get more.

If you don't yet use disk imaging- do think how you would recover from major issues and avoid a clean install.

I understand that, but the OS of the Windows 8.1 disk is partly damaged and cant do backups.

Actually though, I can keep this drive, and throw in a used drive from years ago.

Well, if you had been using disk imaging, this wouldn't be an issue.

Plus, had you state this at the beginning, you would probably have got a more relevant reply.

You CAN image some failed/corrupt disks, provided they are not utterly unreadable.
This is called a 'forensic' image.

The advantage of doing that is that you then read from a good disk and the data isn't further degraded.

Whilst you could just stick a large enough external disk in and see what you can copy off it, then you would still be relying on using a duff disk to boot your O/S (presumably) and which might fail further as you use it, losing more and more of your data.

Good luck!

dalchina said:

You would need a 'crossover' cable..
How to Connect Two Computers Using a LAN Cable in Windows 10 - Make Tech Easier

I have the ethernet cable connected between them now, but the instructions above do not seem to translate with what I have here.

- - - Updated - - -

dalchina said:

Well, if you had been using disk imaging, this wouldn't be an issue.

Plus, had you state this at the beginning, you would probably have got a more relevant reply.

You CAN image some failed/corrupt disks, provided they are not utterly unreadable.
This is called a 'forensic' image.

The advantage of doing that is that you then read from a good disk and the data isn't further degraded.

Whilst you could just stick a large enough external disk in and see what you can copy off it, then you would still be relying on using a duff disk to boot your O/S (presumably) and which might fail further as you use it, losing more and more of your data.

Good luck!

This has got me all confused now. I just need to use ethernet to copy data files from the Windows 8.1 PC to the new Windows 10 PC, then install fresh programs on the Windows 10 PC to run them.

I have the ethernet connected - just don't know how to get it to work. I've tried a few of these online instruction pages and nothing works.