In this article, we will learn how to transfer programs, settings, accounts and all files from one computer to another using a USB drive. A USB drive is faster than network and cables, and is much easier to use for a transfer.

Of course, just copying files to a USB drive would not do us too much good, since that does not work for transferring programs or their settings – just for raw files. Instead of that, we’ll be using a special software (Zinstall Migration Kit Pro) that can use the USB drive to transfer programs, profile, settings, documents, pictures, music, movies, favorites, wallpaper and everything else to your new computer.
You can even do this from one Windows to another, and across different hardware. For example, transferring from a Windows 7 or Windows 10 32bit HP to a Windows 11 64bit Lenovo is fully supported.

The transfer is done in two steps. Step 1 is to capture everything from your old computer to the USB drive. Step 2 is to deploy everything from the USB drive to your new computer.

Video tutorial – How to copy programs and files to new computer using a USB external drive

How to copy programs and files from computer to a USB drive

Download and run Zinstall Migration Kit Pro on your old computer.

Use its 3rd option, “Moving from Machine to Container”.
Select the C: drive on the Source selection screen
On Target selection, browse to your USB hard drive, and give the backup container a name that you’ll remember.
Start the capture process. This should take a long while, and you will see a message confirming that the backup container has been created successfully.

Your stuff is now safely stored on the USB drive.

Copy files and programs from USB drive to new PC

Once everything is on the USB drive, it is time to restore your programs, settings and files to your new computer. To do that:

Run Zinstall Migration Kit Pro on the new computer, and use the 4th option, “Moving from Container to Machine”.

Point it to the backup container you’ve created in the first section, and it will restore everything, including programs, settings and files, to the new computer.
If you don’t want to restore everything, you can also exclude some programs / folders you don’t want to recover.

That’s it – you have copied your programs, settings, profiles and data to your new computer using the USB hard drive, and it’s ready for use!

Ready to go?

Ready to transfer programs and files using a USB external hard drive?

Get Zinstall Migration Kit Pro here