Copied is not the same as verified
A copy can finish without errors and still leave you with a damaged file — because of a flaky connection, a full disk, or a file that changed while it was being copied. You usually only find out months later when a photo won't open.
What verification means
Verification compares a “fingerprint” (a cryptographic hash) of each file before it leaves the old computer with a fingerprint of the file after it's written on the new one. If the fingerprints match, the file is identical, bit for bit.
Quick manual checks you can do
- Compare folder sizes: right-click a folder → Properties on both computers.
- Compare file counts in the same Properties window.
- Open a handful of your most important files — especially large videos and old photos.
Watch out for files that changed
If you edited a document on the old computer during the move, the copy on the new computer may be the older version. Close your files before you start.
Tip
OthTech Switch fingerprints every file on both sides, marks only exact matches as Verified, and flags files that changed during the move.