Getting info off old computer onto new

[Tdbo]

The wife's 2007 Gateway desktop computer running Window Vista Home Premium started to take a dump. Of course, there is info on the hard drive that she needs (and did not back up.)

Of course in my wife's mind, it has become incumbent upon me to do something about it. With some manipulating, I can pull up the info on the old computer, so I thought I would do what I did when we were faced with this issue when we bought the Gateway. Took the HD out of the Gateway and put in an HD enclosure. When I pull it up on the new computer (A Toshiba Laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium) it comes up as what I would call gibberish. I'm assuming that there is difference between the two operating systems.

As my computer knowledge is basic at best, is it possible to pull the info from the new external hard drive and put on the laptop and how would I go about doing this. Thanks in advance.

 

[Eddie]

I copy my personel files to a thumb drive or as some call it a travel drive. I just plug the thumb drive into the USB port and copy my files to it.

 

[demarpaint]

Thumb Drive, or an External Hard drive. Copy the files from the old computer and paste onto the new computer. You can even leave a copy of the files on the Thumb or External drive and have a backup copy of the files.

 

[mount]

You're not trying to boot off the external HD enclosure are you? I would imagine you would be able to access the drive from your laptop and see folders with which to dig through.

 

[PandaBear]

In case your computer / laptop has the ability to boot off USB, you should plug in your drive after it is fully booted.

 

[tommygunn]

Or just use the old gateway drive as an external hdd...using a usb powered enclosure...BUT...note usb2.0 will make it very slow....so i wouldnt siggest using it as a boot device....but itll let you grab docs, mp3s, etc off of it at least over usb....bt itll be slow to boot if u try booting with it.