XP "Easy Tarnsfer" to Vista

[SPOFF]

Got a NEW computer coming. Specs Below:

DELL Studio XPS 435T
Intel Core i7-920 (8MB L3 Cache 2.66 GHz)
6GB DDR3 SDRAM @ 1066MHz
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
750 GB Serial ATA HD @ 7200 RPM
Vista SP1 Home Premium (64 Bit)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium

My OLD Computer Specs:

DELL 8300 P4 3.0 Ghz 800 Mhz FSB/HT (2004)
Windows XP Pro (SP2)
EVGA (Nvidia) 7600 GS 256 Mb (5/08)
PC Power & Cooling [Dell Upgrade] 410W PSU (4/08)
Corsair 1.0 Gb x 2: PC 3200 400Mhz Dual Ch DDr SDRAM
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer, Altec Lansing 2.1
One 120 Gb Sata HD

I am an amature: SO: I have been looking at "Easy Transfer Cable and Transfer Software" to move my Data from the OLD XP computer to the NEW Vista 64. The "Easy Transfer..." comes with the software on a CD AND a USB CABLE. After reading some STUFF...I get the inpression that I realy DON'T want to use an "Ordinary" USB cable to do this..............and combine it with the FREE download software from MS.

So is the USB Cable that is required...... SPECIAL? Does this SPECIAL cable have Diodes imbedded to prevent data..or whatever.. that is transfered..from reverting to the OLD computer?

NOTE: I know just enough stuff to get me into trouble. SPOFF

[angels355]

Hi spoff,

Congratulations on your new computer, it looks like it really paid off to wait for a new system, that I7 should last you a long time. Your data transfer situation is a common one and there are several ways to do it. How much data do you need to transfer? If it's a small amount of data then the best method is to use the USB thumb drive, or DVD burner. The USB thumb drive method is a no brainer. Using a DVD burner has the advantage that you have a copy of your data on a disk for future reference. The DVD option has a limit of about 4.5 GB per disk, the USB thumb drives can get as large as 40 GB perhaps larger. If we're talking really large amounts of data, you can get a USB external hard drive which really comes in handy in the future for backing up vital data, and they're not that expensive.

If we're talking about a large amount of data, and you don't want to use the USB thumb drive or external USB hard drive, there are two options, a computer friend of mine insists that it is extremely easy to network two computers together. I haven't done any networking however I should for the experience. The USB Data transfer cable is an updated version of the null parallel cable idea. I have a USB Data transfer cable that's like new but designed in the days of windows 98, I tried using it and it didn't want to work at all, so I know even less about that method.

An extremely technical method I use frequently for very large data transfers which I do not recommend to you because I don't think you have the technical experience to do it. What I have done often is unplug the original hard drive and plug it into the second computer as a slave drive then transfer the data directly from the old hard drive to the new hard drive.

Let's say for example you have 20 GB to transfer, the easiest method would be to buy a USB thumb drive that is 25 to 40 GB in size, transferring the data that way is extremely easy. The only thing you have to watch out for is in the lower right hand corner of the bottom task bar when you plug in the USB thumb drive there's a little USB icon, before you unplug the USB drive you right click on the USB icon and select unplug, a window will pop up and you want to select to stop that drive, then a note will pop up saying it's OK to unplug the USB drive. Perhaps an easier way to unplug the USB drive is to go, Start, Computer, then find the USB drive, right click on it and select Eject, the USB drive will disappear now it's OK to unplug it. Plugging the USB drive in is a no brainer, you just plug it in and that's it, windows already has the drivers for it.

Usually what you want to save from the old computer are the bookmarks, you go into Internet explorer or fire fox and select export favorites or html. Then you want to save the files you created yourself in My Documents, then if you download your e-mail directly to the hard drive with Outlook or Windows Mail, then you go into either of those programs and Export your mail. One alternative is that you can keep your old computer as an Internet computer for mail and Internet, the downside to that is it's a Pentium four which uses a lot of electricity. Then what ever other data you have to transfer is up to you you would know what you want to transfer. With regards to FSX, I would probably reinstall it from scratch. If you have a lot of downloaded add ons for flight simulator it's easiest to transfer them to a USB thumb drive or external USB hard drive.

Keep us posted.

[SPOFF]

Greetings ..355. I had to look up "Thunb Drive" vs. "Flash Drive". I think they may be the same thing.. YES? I considered the Flash Drive option. I have one that is 1GB. I would have to buy a bigger one. My biggest file to transfer is "My Downloads" folder which is 1.35 GB...mostly addon airplanes for FS9 and a bunch of other stuff that I don't need but would be too tedious to figure out what they are, ..and delete. The rest of the stuff is Nit Picky stuff that I could probably do individually. NO Videos, NO Music, maybe 200 still pictures...

I bought a "Transfer Cable w/Software" yesterday for $30 from Best Buy.. Staples had a similar package by BELKIN for $42. I will return it if I don't open the package. I also downloaded the FREE MS "Easy Transfer" Software today.

I'm thinking:....Hoping..The Fancy Software will take the files I pick from XP, and put them in the CORRECT..Corresponding folders in Vista, even though they might have a different name. I have been told this might not be Quite the case. I will see.

I'm essentially just juggling the costs..Cheap is good. SPOFF

PS: When the new computer gets here, I will have only ONE Monitor between the OLD and the NEW to get the transfer job done.

[loki]

You couls also just pull the the hard drive out of the old computer and install it in the new one. Copy off what you need and then move it back if you want to keep using the old computer. Or even just keep it installed in the new one as a secondary drive for extra storage. Just reformat the drive after you are sure you have copied everything you want.

[angels355]

Judging by your situation, and the relatively small amount of data you need to transfer, I would take the data transfer cable back right away and get your money back. And instead buy a large thumb drive, 25 to 40 GB, and just use that to transfer the files. A friend of mine is much like you, he tried and failed with that data transfer cable, then got a thumb drive, the transfer was so fast and easy he did it himself in a very short amount of time. He was very happy with the results. That's my suggestion.

[SPOFF]

Thanks guys. I installed the "Windows Easy Transfer" software to the old XP computer this morning. The Windows "Easy Transfer" website provided TWO versions (seperate downloads)of the transfer software. The first one is "tfrcable_x86.exe." The second version was "tfrcable_x64.exe."

Windows did NOT suggest which one was appropriate for what. A little Googling indicated that the _x86 version was intended for use with 32 Bit XP. The _x64 version is for use with the 64 Bit XP.

I installed the _x86 Version and opened it up to see waht it looked like. Looks pretty straight foreward....even to me. Many files and folders are presented, from which you can pick and choose any ....or ALL. The program will tell you How Big the Total of all files you selected is. In my case ALL = 4.14GB. So i'm off to get a 10 GB or so Flash Drive.

The Transfer Cable and accompanying software will be exchanged for the Flash drive. SPOFF

[loki]

One tip when moving to a new computer is to not reformat or toss out the old PC for a couple of weeks just to make sure you really did get everything.

Enjoy the new PC!

[SPOFF]

I'm back, The NEW VISTA 64 Computer is up and running. So why would that be a problem? It took at least 3 hours on the phone with DELL and MSN and you would not not beleive how much machinations it required... just to get ON LINE. When you dial the 800 Number you get the usual Automated program. The first voice you hear is in Spanish. THEN a new voice comes in English....still a machine: with a slight Spanish accent.

Keeping in mind, when you have to call one of these numbers, you are already FRUSTRATED. When you get to talk to someone..it doesn't take more than a minute or two for a real voice to come on...........You state your case and then it goes down hill from there. The Spanish speaking person..(who speaks very good English, has to listen to ignorant people ALL Day). The longer the conversation goes on..the more frustrated EACH person becomes. The Spanish speaking person reverts to more and more of an accent and the English speaking caller can understand LESS and Less of what is said....you can see where it's going.
-------------------------------------
OK: My first impression of Vista 64 compared to XP...is in the loading of the program. Vista 64 is VERY VERY SLOW. Totally SLOW. Why did we have to go here?

I see NO REASON why something that WORKS ...(XP) has to be changed...just for the sake of change.

RANT almost OVER: I'll get used to it. I have to. I just don't see the point. SPOFF

PS: I HAVN"T done an "Easy Transfer" yet. Don't know if I will. I've been reloading Programs from CDs that "Easy Transfer" doesnt do. The OLD XP computer is really on the skids and I don't even know if I can get IT UP again after the last shut down. This new computer came just in time.........I think I MAY... get happier over time. SPOFF

[angels355]

Hello, and thank you for waiting for.... 47 minutes, we appreciate your money. Just hold on and someone will be with you shortly. You are caller number 108, your expected wait time is.... 4 days 11 minutes. For your listening pleasure please select from the following music choices: 1 punk rock, 2 techno punk, 3 complete works of Mario Lanza, 4 song "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head"... Thank you for selecting.... 4....

Bonjour, nous avons regret pour les inconvénients, poussez le bouton un pour Russe....

Zdrastvitye comrad!

I'm kidding you! I set up someone's Vista laptop out of the box, doing all the updates adding programs and updating them using DSL, it took two days, 12 hours total. That laptop came with vista service pack 1, loki how important is it to add on on service pack 2? And should SPOFF do that?

SPOFF if you have dial up and want to get service pack 2 perhaps you should call Microsoft and ask them if they can mail you vista's service pack 2.

I'm sorry about your old computer, I thought it was kind of nice. Transferring the data over to your new computer should not take long.

I know what you mean about the long load times. Windows 2000 on this computer takes a very long time to load up, it's unbelievable. Windows seven seems to be faster to load than windows 2000, however once it is loaded windows 2000 appears to be a lot faster than windows seven, however I cannot do without the speech recognition program in windows seven (and vista has it also). This computer is dedicated to Internet use, however if I want to fly simulators on it I can either run them from windows seven or windows 2000, windows 2000 appears to do better.

Get yourself a good microphone and try out speech recognition, the computer has to learn your voice, and it's not perfect, however it is drastically better than typing it manually.

To end this call.... Press 8.... Thank you for selecting.... techno punk.... You are caller number 107, we appreciate your patience please stand by for the next available Russian customer service assistant. Your expected wait time is three months 12 days 47 minutes....

[angels355]

SPOFF,

Almost forgot, I hope you have a very good surge protector, one big electrical surge and that's the end of your investment.

Now we return you to .... techno punk.... press 7 to activate ejection seat!