You can connect an external hard drive, SD card, or thumb drive to your old PC, copy your files to it, then eject that device from the old computer, plug it into the new PC and copy the files to that new PC. Direct file transfer via an external drive There are several methods to transfer files locally from an old computer to a new Windows PC, and most work whether you’re moving from a Windows PC to a Windows PC or from a Mac to a Windows PC. This story includes methods for migrating files and apps, as well as browser bookmarks one method can transfer some system settings as well. And you might want to transfer more than just files from your old computer to your new one.