How to backup files from your old PC to Google Drive (Step-by-step TUTORIAL)

How to backup files from your old PC to Google Drive (Step-by-step TUTORIAL)

Backup your old files to Google Drive (TUTORIAL)


Step 1. Make sure Google Drive for desktop is enabled.
      - Press the Windows Key on your keyboard.
      - Type: "Google Drive". An Icon should pop up that looks like this:
 

      - To check to see if it's enabled, look at the bottom right of your main screen. You should see an "up" arrow. It will be on the left of the time. 
 
Click that and check if the Google Drive icon is in the box. It may ask you to sign in, which you do through Okta.




Step 2. Now it's time to create folders in Google Drive.
      - Click on your Windows File Explorer at the bottom middle of your screen (it looks like a folder)


      - After opening File Explorer, look for your Google Drive drive, or (G:). It can be found by clicking "This PC" on the left hand side.


      - From here, double click Google Drive, then double click "My Drive". If you use Google Drive often you will see folders/files that you've previously saved to your drive. Here, let's right click some blank space and select: "New" --> "Folder"


      - Let's name the folder: "Old Computer backup"


      - Double click on the folder "Old Computer Backup".

      - Now, on the left hand side of the File Explorer, you can see that there are many icons that are "pinned" to the left sidebar. We want to scroll up until we find the "pinned" tabs: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and Pictures.


      - Let's start with backing up our desktop. Press Shift (on your keyboard) and Right click the "Desktop" Icon and select "Copy" from the menu that pops up.



      - After clicking "Copy", we want to go into the "Old Computer Backup" folder that we had already opened in our Google Drive and paste there. So Shift+Right click on the empty space in there. From the drop-down menu, click "Paste".

      - If all the steps were followed properly, you should see a folder called "Desktop" populate in the folder "Old Computer Backup". You should also see a loading bar that looks like this:


      - You've now successfully backed up your Desktop to Google Drive. Since you are uploading this to the Cloud, it may take a couple minutes, to an hour for all files to successfully upload.

All you have to do now is follow the above steps for the 3 other folders. These folders usually contain all the data that you would need to backup. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, so you may need to backup more folders, or less folders, depending on the type of work you do.

On your new computer, follow Step 1 to enable Google Drive and follow the given path to your backup folders. You should be able to open any of your old files with ease on your new computer now.

If you need more help, please submit a ticket at: helpdesk@crossco.com



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