Vista - HELP w/Vista Folders&Files Transfer

HELP ! I had a new laption running Vista that went kaput. Before returning it for a replacement, I "Copied" the 11 "Personal User Folders" onto my external backup drive thinking all would be fine. I have lots and lots of files in these folders with mp3's movies, photos etc. as these folders are essentially the Vista version of "MyDocuments" which is in XP.

When I got my replacement laptop ( also running Vista ) I assumed I would just copy over all the personal folders onto the new laptop. But for some reason, everytime I have tried it ( 4 times now ) the new laptop freezes and I have had to do a complete "System Restore" to the original factory condition from the emergency partition backup.

Question 1.) Why do I see my user name TWICE.... once under "Desktop" and again under the C: drive under "Users" ?

Which one of these two should I be trying to copy the folders/files into ? One or both ?

In the process of copying the folders, it asks me if I want to merge/copy etc the "ini" files too, which I have answered yes to.

Would this work better if I just tried to copy the actual files out of my old folders into the new folder on the laptop of the same name instead of the entire folder ?

I thought the "ini" files were the preferences and would not be a problem to copy. I don't mind having to reset to preference again if that is what I need to do.

So... I am stuck.... I can't bear the thought of having to do another system restore ( which takes an hour ) to get my files onto the new laptop.

I know you all are muich smarter than I about these things.

Can you help a lost soul... please

Thanks, Tim