My goal is to have my new computer, a Dell 7000 series laptop, look and function just like my old Dell Inspirion. The latter is only a year old and is also using Windows 10. I’m not trying to save money (IOW not looking for a free solution) or even time. I’m in the middle of a large graphic design project and my fantasy is to transfer everything and keep happily working on it. (Am I delusional?)
I have a backup of the data on my current computer, and the data amounts to about 1.5TB. I can certainly use that backup to restore all the data, and then, as I’ve done many times in the past, reinstall all programs. Moving email to a new computer is also a ginormous headache. I’d like to avoid having to do that.
Is there a proven method that you’ve used to transfer data and installed apps?
I came across the method listed below, which claims to be able to transfer data files, installed applications, settings, etc.:
The amazonreviews are both glowing and bitter. Note that the successful, positive reviewers say that the negative reviewers didn’t read/follow the directions. And apparently the free support isn’t free at all (or at least some of the unhappy customers said so).
Missed edit window. I don’t expect any transfer program to transfer MS Office so that it will actually function; I’ve bought a new version. Or to transfer Adobe Creative Suite–I’m going to succumb to Adobe CC. But I’d rather not have to reinstall all of the other apps I have.
As a backup, create an IMAGE of your current computer. This should be done with an external drive large enough to hold it. When you get your new computer, plug the external drive into a USB port and boot it up with the windows installation cd but, instead of choosing the standard cd installation, choose “restore from image”. You will then browse to the image file and restore that. Your new computer will, for all intents and purposes, be your old computer in a “new shell”, so to speak.
I get everything you’re saying in principle and know what a system image is, except spell this out explicitly: “boot it up with the windows installation cd.” The new computer will have Windows 10 on it, so when I turn it on, Windows 10 will come up. Don’t mean to be dense, but exactly how do I do this?
I have used a product called Macrium Reflect to take the environment of one entire PC and “redeploy” it to a different hardware — making necessary changes to allow it to boot in the new environment.
It doesn’t do a conventional “clone” backup where you can rummage around in the backup and snag a file from last Friday; the backup is a single snapshot file. But I used it to move my girlfriend’s Windows 7 / Acer tower environment to an entirely different box without having to reinstall either the OS or any of her programs, and all of her settings work. I think there were a few picky programs that demanded reauthentication of the installation code because the MAC Address was different.