Program and data transfer to new pc

[mooncat]

Hello,

Wondering what you all use if a client wants you transfer both data and programs/apps from an older pc to a new pc? I have a client requesting this going from XP on the old to 7 on the new. Apparently she has quit a bit of graphical and business data; not sure on total gigs yet.

Any rec's for software used? I looked at PC mover and MoveMe, but not sure if there is another option or an open source program out there.

Thanks!

[4ycr]

There has been a few recent posts about this, have a search and you should find them

[silvano]

Laplink PC mover is the only one that comes to mind atm.

[Dark]

Maybe I need to research this more myself but I was under the impression you couldn't migrate the applications from one computer to the next.
For example: You can migrate all your emails and email settings, signatures, etc, from outlooks express but you can't migrate outlook express itself. You have to have the program disk and re-install the software then import your migrated settings, emails, and so on.
If I'm mistaken in this I'd certainly like to know.

[Dark]

I swear I learn something new every day. I looked at the laplink and from it's homepage it claims to do what you're asking.

Back in the day you could just copy the program folder and go but from XP on (and some programs in 98) I was under the impression that they spider webbed parts of their programs throughout several areas of the OS making such a move extremely difficult.

XP and Windows 7 are so different that I, being an old guy with the 'back in the day' mentality, would be hesitant to use a program like laplink out of fear of instability issues.

[0ldfart]

Originally Posted by Dark

XP and Windows 7 are so different that I, being an old guy with the 'back in the day' mentality, would be hesitant to use a program like laplink out of fear of instability issues.

Laplink has a good rep, but I have to say that I agree with you. I would use this as a 'last resort' only after a lengthy conversation with the customer that a clean install would be a far preferable option (which Im sure you would have done already!). I guess if there's no other option, you have advised of the possible pitfalls, and the customer wants to go ahead anyway, then there's really nothing else to do.

Let us know how you get on?

[IAMPC]

I always tell customers that there is no way to move applications from one PC to another. I will not bother with any application that claims it can do it either. Not worth the headache.

[mooncat]

Thanks all for the replies. Turns out there were only a couple programs she really needed, so recommended it was best to just transfer the data over to the new pc and reinstall the programs.

However, research does show that laplink has a fairly good reputation, and I actually signed up as a partner for the heck of it and got 1 free business version license to test out. They are running a deal ending September 30th that gives you 10 full business licenses for pc-pc transfers for $99 (1 license is good for 1 transfer). Their Pro version runs between $59-$69, so that seems like a good deal if the need presents itself.

I might try out the free license on a couple VM's to test it's viability.

[res-q-techs]

i have used there data transfer cable and it seems to work for me some times maybe im trying to transfer to much data

[brokenmachine]

Instead of trying to find software to move the data and programs, you could try a different approach. Start by making a copy of the clients old hard drive to have as a backup. Then you can clone the original drive to the new system. Once copied to the new system perform a repair installation of Windows XP using an XP cd. Once you have the system booted into XP on the new system, you could give them and yourself an out by offering to let them stick with XP (which many prefer in my experience) or you can continue. In situations of dire necessity, I have had success performing an upgrade from XP to Vista (same version as the destination windows 7) and then upgrade from Vista to 7. This works almost every time, the catch is that some older software isn't designed to run on Windows 7 which make all of the effort pointless.

It's usually a best practise when dealing with XP to Windows 7 upgrades to get the client to dig out those long lost or never existent disks. This process is also time consuming so it isn't something that I would offer to every single client, naturally nobody "wants" to have to reinstall and reconfigure their software but, usually it all ends up working out in the end.

Sorry if that seemed OT but that's how I do it.... Sometimes.

Brokenmachine

damn, didn't intend to reply to a post from Aug... I should've looked at the date first...