setting up the new Dell

I started setting up my new Dell XPS 8900 last night. I have it hooked up on my kitchen table right now, using an old monitor that has been sitting on my floor since 2010. (Surprisingly, it still worked, after cleaning it up a bit.)

Initial setup was quick and easy. I then got a few essential programs installed via Ninite — Firefox, Evernote, and some others. Then, I set up PCMover Express and started transferring stuff from my old HP desktop. I have almost 750GB to transfer. Overnight, it got about halfway through, so I’m expecting it to finish up at some point tonight. I have both machines connected to my router via wired Ethernet. I probably should have pulled the drive from the old computer, mounted it in the new one, and copied stuff that way, but I was too lazy to do that. And I think it’s safer this way. Opening up a computer and removing the drive always comes with some risk of damaging the drive, which is a lesson I learned the hard way once, a long time ago, and haven’t forgotten!

I wasn’t sure about using the Laplink PCMover Express software, but it seems to be working well. Sometimes “express” software like this is dumbed down too much, and doesn’t let you adjust what’s being copied, but this program lets you pick and choose which folders to copy, without having to jump through too many hoops.

I could also have cut down that 750 GB to about 500 GB if I’d really wanted to. And I should probably delete a bunch of the stuff that I’m copying over later, since I really have a lot of stuff on my drive that I don’t need. I probably have some old ISOs for software that I’m never going to need again, like old versions of Ubuntu or stuff from back when I had an MSDN subscription.

And I have a lot of video files in iTunes that I don’t really need. It used to be that Apple would only let you download purchases once, and wasn’t set up for streaming video at all. Now, you can download old purchases whenever you want, and you can stream video to Apple TV without ever having downloaded it at all. So I could really afford to delete all those old Castle and NCIS episodes. (Yes, I was on an NCIS kick at one point and bought several old seasons from iTunes.)

So anyway, at the rate things are going, I should be able to do some more software installs on the new computer tomorrow. I’m hoping I can get far enough with it that I’ll be able to unplug my old computer by the end of the day tomorrow, and move the new one over to my desk. Then I can clean up the mess on my kitchen table and use it for breakfast on Monday morning.

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