PC data transfer

[sandcracker21]

Well soon I will have a new rig running windows vista, and my old computer running xp has many games and files on it that I would like to keep. What is the best way to transfer files from one to the other....

I have heard of laplink and I have heard that it does not work well with vista, I have also heard of Windows Easy Transfer and heard that it works well since it is made by Microsoft.

What would ya all recommend that would work with vista?

[mjc]

Even easier than laplink is to install the hard drive into the new machine...as a secondary or slave drive. You will need to reinstall the actual games from the original media, but after that, you'll be able to transfer the saves and other data over...

When done, you can leave the drive for additional storage or put it back into the original machine.

[kaze]

is there any free partition on your hard disk.
or you may installed a new hard disk and install vista so
there will be dual boot os in your system.

thanks

[Paul Komski]

Laplink cables are just one way to make the transfer of data from one PC to another one possible after the installation software has been installed on both PCs. PC's can also be networked with network interface cards using wires or wireless. Data can also be simply copied to all sorts of storage media and the media moved from one PC to the other. Which is best for any individual depends on the amount of data and which ports are available on both PCs.

Moving programs nearly always involves reinstallation rather than simple copying of programs/program folders across and reinstallation would always be the most trouble free method. PCMover Software (http://www.laplink.com/pcmover/) claims to move programs in a functional way using laplink or other networking. It's cost is not trivial and I would wonder just how reliable it is.

If you add the old drive as a slave as mjc suggested, you may also be able to boot to it and run a repair installation (http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm) so that you can run WinXP from the new PC. If the old PC has OEM WinXP software on it you would need to purchase either a new OEM edition or a Retail edition of the same version (home or pro) to allow the software to be activated on the new PC.