Transferring Data From old XP PC to new Vista PC

[Petef56]

Everone,
I'm just reading up on the various ways to transfer data and various program
and Windows settings from a WinXP PC to a Vista PC. Typical scenario is
where someone buys a new Vista PC and wants things transferred from the
old system to the new one.

I found a pretty good article on using the Easy Transfer
application that comes with windows. See below...

How To: Transfer Your Data from XP to Vista
By Chris Nickson
March 5th, 2007
http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/print_guide79.html


I also found XP to Vista Easy-Sync Suite software that sells for $29.99.
See below...

XP to Vista Easy-Sync Suite (by Migo Software Co.)
Effortlessly Migrate From XP to Windows Vista
Be immediately productive on your new Vista PC! Migo's XP to Vista Easy-Sync
Suite allows you to move all your personal data, settings and preferences to
your new Window Vista environment. It is fast, foolproof and easy. Best of all,
it will save you lots of time and eliminate the frustration associated with getting
your new PC up and running. Migrate with ease:

* All of your personal documents, emails, photos, MP3's
* Your email, contacts, calendar and account settings
* Bookmarks, Instant Messenger settings and much more

The Migo XP to Vista Easy-Sync Suite also includes Migo DriveWasher,
an application that allows you to safely pass on your old computer by
permanently erasing all hard drive data.
http://www.migosoftware.com/store/xptovista.html

With WinXP the File & Transfer Wizard built onto WinXP was less
than reliable so I always felt safer by manually transferring data.
I'm wondering how things have changed with Vista.

---pete---

[EzyStvy]

From Vista's help file:

Easy Transfer Cable
What you'll need: An Easy Transfer Cable and a USB port on each computer.

An Easy Transfer Cable is a specially designed USB cable that can connect two computers and be used with Windows Easy Transfer. It's one of the simplest ways to transfer files and settings to your new computer and works with Microsoft Windows 2000 (files only), Windows XP, and Windows Vista.

Where to get one: If you don't have an Easy Transfer Cable, you can order one online or from your computer manufacturer, or get one at an electronics store.

Note
A standard USB cable cannot be used to transfer files and settings between computers.

[Statica]

Vista has an easy transfer companion (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...ytransfer.mspx) that does it just as efficiently without the $ for a 3rd party software.

[Petef56]

Originally Posted by Statica Vista has an easy transfer companion (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...ytransfer.mspx) that does it just as efficiently without the $ for a 3rd party software.

OK, I just downloaded the Easy Transfer Companion referenced above.
Now I'm confused. How is the "Windows Easy Transfer Companion" different from
the "Windows Easy Transfer" application that I was referring to in post#1 of this thread?
Or are they both the same thing?

---pete---

[Petef56]

Update:

Well folks, I tried the Windows Easy Transfer program using a Belkin Easy
Transfer cable between the XP and Vista PCs. The short story is that it
was easy to setup and get running but it failed 1/3 of the way through
the process so I abanodoned it and simply used an external USB HD to
copy selected files from the old XP PC to the new Vista PC.

Now here's the long story...

The Belkin Easy Transfer USB cable came with a CD that included both
the Windows Easy Transfer and 3rd party software called EasySync.
The instructions and software were quite lame because upon installing
to the XP PC it installed the Windows Easy Transfer and then encouraged
you to install a trial version of EasySync, but it failed to tell you what
the limitatons of the trial version were and therefore I had to reject the
offer to use EasySync. It was not even clear how the two programs
worked together or if they both needed to be run.

As a side note, I'm beginning the hate Belkin products due to their lousy
documentation and sub-standard tech support. Personally, I'll only buy
Belkn products such as cables or connectors that don't require instructions
to operate or tech support.

Anyway, setting up the Windows Easy Transfer program was simple, but you
had to be careful to only plug in the Easy Transfer USB cable between the
2 PCs when the program was ready for it. Basically you run the Windows
Easy Transfer program on both PCs to get both programs to the screen
where they are waiting to automatically detect the USB cable. Then you
plug in the cable, wait a minute or so, and it automatically detects the
cable and continues the process.

In this particular case, we had about 9GB of data to transfer, mostly
picture files and word document files under My Documents on just one
user account. The user interface was simple enough to operate where
you can customize what gets transferred by simply checking boxes. All
was looking good, the transfer proceeded just fine, but I came back
to check about 45 minutes later and there was a "tansfer failed" error
on the screen of the Vista PC. Something about a particular picture
file that could not be transferred due to being in use by another
application. This made no sense becasue no other apps were running.
The progress bar indicted we were 1/3 of the way done. It allowed me
to get past the error but it never proceeeded to complete the transfer
and offered no feedback or messages as to what was happening or what
was wrong. At that point I had to do an.. CTRL+ALT+DEL to end task
on the Windows Easy Transfer application.

Botom line, I don't recommend using the Microsoft Windows Easy Transfer
application unless you have plenty of time to play around with it and
research problems if they crop up. Instead just use conventional means
to copy seletected files from the old XP PC to the new Vista PC.

Some things never change. Before Vista, the Transfer Files and Settings
application in WinXP was also less than reliable, and I'm finding the same
with Vista's Easy Transfer application. My biggest complaint is that the
program is poorly designed becasue if a program fails it ought to at least
give you some error mesages to indicate what went wrong and how to
fix it.

---pete---