Copy files from hard drive windows 7

[Karol]

I would like to copy files from old broken computer. I removed hard drive and connected to new computer with Windows 11 Home.
I get message that "window/system code and system thread exception not handed" and computer restart. Can anybody help me how to do it.

 

[RogerOver]

Hi,
sorry, but could you give a bit more information !
Did you try to start from the WIN 7 disk (as you said computer restarts) ?
What's the boot order in your BIOS ?
If you start from WIN 11, can you "see" the other disk ?

Edit: In my BIOS there is also an option, where support for WIN 7 needs to be enabled; see attached picture, encercled in red (but I do not know for sure, never tried it, I have a WIN 11 / WIN 10 dual boot).

 

[Bighorn]

I do file copying from old to new using USB devices such as putting the old SATA drive in a Drive Dock and using cases made to hold the drive. Downside is the case for a 3.5" drive needs to be self-powered so as to provide both 5VDC and 12VDC while a case for a Notebook 2.5" drive usually gets its power from the USB port. Another possibility is an internal 3.5" drive may be accommodated by being the second drive which does not need to be bootable, just work as simple storage if the motherboard supports additional drives. The older PATA drives, both 3.5" and 2.5", require different devices/connections.

 

[Sir_George]

I would like to copy files from old broken computer. I removed hard drive and connected to new computer with Windows 11 Home.
I get message that "window/system code and system thread exception not handed" and computer restart. Can anybody help me how to do it.

The transfer from Windows 7 to Windows 11 is not a simple copy operation. Depending on the skill level of the user, it may be better to have a local computer store perform the task. With that being said, I have posted a link below for your review and you can make the decision as to how to proceed.

The "Free Download" mentioned in the link has limitations; Migrate 2 GB of data and 5 programs for free.

3 Ways to Transfer Files from Windows 7 to Windows 11

Are you planning to upgrade your computer from Windows 7 to Windows 11? Here are three easy ways to transfer your files from Windows 7 to Windows 11.

www.easeus.com

 

[Karol]

Thank you for your replay. I can see for a moment all files from old computer than I got this this wired massage. Like I said, I removed the hard drive from old computer with Windows 7 and connected with special cable as a external drive. Why Windows 11 doesn't recognize the external drive and give me this wired massage. I just want to recover some pictures from my old computer. Looks like this 2 systems Windows 7 and Windows 11 do not work together?

 

[Sir_George]

Thank you for your replay. I can see for a moment all files from old computer than I got this this wired massage. Like I said, I removed the hard drive from old computer with Windows 7 and connected with special cable as a external drive. Why Windows 11 doesn't recognize the external drive and give me this wired massage. I just want to recover some pictures from my old computer. Looks like this 2 systems Windows 7 and Windows 11 do not work together?

If the pictures are of importance to you, maybe it's time to get professional assistance.

 

[Bighorn]

Seems like a lot in copying files will be depend upon whether damage was done to the file system. As for working together, I've saved data from HDDs back to WinXP and even further back to Win95 ~20 years ago so compatibility is not a big issue. Getting old programs to run is something else. Right now I'm deciding when and how I'll be changing a Win10 computer to another, neither will run Win11.

 

[RogerOver]

There is one last thing you could try before doing was Sir_George said.
There is a special cmd-line tool with special priviledges in the Advanced Startup.

So please try the following:
(1) Remove the USB cable to the Windows 7 drive
(2) Boot Windows 11
(3) Go to the C:\ drive, rightclick and choose "New folder". Call it "WIN 7" for instance. The new folder should be directly in C:\. (If my proposal works, you need it later to copy your files from the other drive into it).
(4) Go to your Desktop, rightclick on it and this time choose "New shortcut". It wil ask your for a path.
(5) Copy the following path: %windir%\system32\shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00 and put into the "path" field.
(6) Then it will ask your for a name: call it "Advanced Startup" and finish.
(7) Rightclick on the newly created shortcut.
(8) Your computer will restart and open a window, called "Choose an option" or something, my PC is in French (see picture)



(9) Choose: "Troubehooting" or something similar in English ("Dépannage" in my case).
(10) A new Window will open, choose "Advanced options"
(11) Then choose "Command prompt" in the next window
(12) Finally you should see a black window, which should look like this:



Now comes the decisive moment; I do not know what will happen.

(13) Plug-in your external drive.
(14) If the computer crashes, go and look for professional help
(15) If the computer does not crash, you could continue

(16) The cmd prompt begins with an "X:\", now just type "C:" (without quotation marks, but with the colon) at the cmd prompt
(17) The cmd prompt should now show "C:\" at the beginning
(18) Now type "dir" at the C-prompt
(19) you should now see what's inside your Windows 11 C:\ drive

(20) Now you have to do the same thing (step 16 to 19) through the whole alphabet.
(21) If you are lucky you will find your WIN 7 drive for instance at "E:", but it also may appear at "M:" or "R:", this is pure hazard.

(22) If you found it, let's say at "E:" and you see your files inside (having used the "dir" prompt), then type at the E:\ cmd prompt:
(23) "Copy E:\Users C:\WIN 7" (without quotation marks; if you gave the folder created at the beginning another name you need to adapt it)
(24) This should copy all the "Users" folders from the WIN 7 disk to the folder you created on your WIN 11 disk. ... It will take time.
(25) If you want to finetune whats's copied (less volume and time) you could type for instance:
(26) "Copy E:\Users\YOUR USERNAME\Documents C:\WIN 7" ==> Repace "YOUR USERNAME" by the Username on the Windows 7 disk. This will only copy the documents folder.
(27) You could also replace "Documents" by "Pictures" to only copy the "Pictures" folder.

Hope this works for you
Good luck

 

[davehc]

I am following this thread with interest and curiosity.

I have two hard disks from xp days (Or maybe earlier. As well as what was partially on them originally, I also use them for my macrium backups etc.
Little to foffer from me, but, before you gate into too big a tangle, have you tried booting up in safe mode before proceeding? It has worked for me from time to time with icompatibility problems.

 

[Karol]

There is one last thing you could try before doing was Sir_George said.
There is a special cmd-line tool with special priviledges in the Advanced Startup.

So please try the following:
(1) Remove the USB cable to the Windows 7 drive
(2) Boot Windows 11
(3) Go to the C:\ drive, rightclick and choose "New folder". Call it "WIN 7" for instance. The new folder should be directly in C:\. (If my proposal works, you need it later to copy your files from the other drive into it).
(4) Go to your Desktop, rightclick on it and this time choose "New shortcut". It wil ask your for a path.
(5) Copy the following path: %windir%\system32\shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00 and put into the "path" field.
(6) Then it will ask your for a name: call it "Advanced Startup" and finish.
(7) Rightclick on the newly created shortcut.
(8) Your computer will restart and open a window, called "Choose an option" or something, my PC is in French (see picture)

View attachment 979

(9) Choose: "Troubehooting" or something similar in English ("Dépannage" in my case).
(10) A new Window will open, choose "Advanced options"
(11) Then choose "Command prompt" in the next window
(12) Finally you should see a black window, which should look like this:

View attachment 980

Now comes the decisive moment; I do not know what will happen.

(13) Plug-in your external drive.
(14) If the computer crashes, go and look for professional help
(15) If the computer does not crash, you could continue

(16) The cmd prompt begins with an "X:\", now just type "C:" (without quotation marks, but with the colon) at the cmd prompt
(17) The cmd prompt should now show "C:\" at the beginning
(18) Now type "dir" at the C-prompt
(19) you should now see what's inside your Windows 11 C:\ drive

(20) Now you have to do the same thing (step 16 to 19) through the whole alphabet.
(21) If you are lucky you will find your WIN 7 drive for instance at "E:", but it also may appear at "M:" or "R:", this is pure hazard.

(22) If you found it, let's say at "E:" and you see your files inside (having used the "dir" prompt), then type at the E:\ cmd prompt:
(23) "Copy E:\Users C:\WIN 7" (without quotation marks; if you gave the folder created at the beginning another name you need to adapt it)
(24) This should copy all the "Users" folders from the WIN 7 disk to the folder you created on your WIN 11 disk. ... It will take time.
(25) If you want to finetune whats's copied (less volume and time) you could type for instance:
(26) "Copy E:\Users\YOUR USERNAME\Documents C:\WIN 7" ==> Repace "YOUR USERNAME" by the Username on the Windows 7 disk. This will only copy the documents folder.
(27) You could also replace "Documents" by "Pictures" to only copy the "Pictures" folder.

Hope this works for you
Good luck

Thank you for the tip. I think I will tray my friend who has a computer with Windows 7. Should be easy to copy. If not I will try your version more complicated.

 

[RogerOver]

Yeah your're right. It's much easier !

I do not know, but I think there is a "quantum leap" between WIN 11 and WIN 7.

It's "(U)EFI / GPT vs MBR"

As far as I understand it: EFI or UEFI on one hand and MBR on the other are two different small programs that govern the boot process.
GPT is another "geometry" of the partition (than the former one) on which Windows is installed.

Windows 8 and Windows 10 still could do both UEFI/GPT and MBR. But I think (I am not a 100% sure), WIN 11 can't do MBR at all anymore !

 

[Bighorn]

Windows 8 and Windows 10 still could do both UEFI/GPT and MBR. But I think (I am not a 100% sure), WIN 11 can't do MBR at all anymore !

Since UEFI and MBR mostly involve bootable drives there shouldn't be an issue with using External drives in a USB environment as they don't need to be bootable, I'm doing one now. The size of the drive could be an issue maybe 2TB or 4TB and larger. The only real issue I've noted with Win11 is it's not available for x86/32-bit CPUs, also noted by the AMD and Intel listings of supported CPUs.