Need recommendation for data migration software

[tcorelli]

I just purchased a new laptop and would like to find a good software proggram that can help me transfer everything from my old laptop to my new one.  I prefer not to use the windows utility for this.  Does anyone know of a good software program that can do this?  I love this site and am a charter member, but unlike most of you, I'm not a computer guru!

Thanks in advance for your help!
Todd

[mouser]

I'm looking forward to hearing the answers to this one.
In general, laptops have their own special drivers, so you usually dont want to CLONE your main hard drive, but rather you usually just want to copy your data files.
In this case, if the source laptop has a DVD RECORDER (many new ones do), it's a matter of simply locating your data files and burning them to dvd and then putting the dvd into the new laptop and copying them to the new machine.

If the source laptop does *not* have a dvd recorder, you have some other options:
network lan copy, special software and usb connection, or what i use, an external usb hard drive.

The nice thing about using an external usb hard drive is that it's very useful for general backup functions.  So you'd connect it to source laptop, copy all your files to it.  then connect to your new laptop, and copy from it to the new laptop.

[zridling]

I get asked this question a lot. My answer is PCMover from LapLink. There are other apps that will do the same thing, but PCMover has no learning curve since I'm rarely going to use it, and it works. It not only moves your programs, but updates your registry (saving the original, of course) and system folders so that when you turn on the new computer, your old programs actually work.

That's all I want!

[mouser]

pcmover sounds good - BUT, unless it's a super hassle to reinstall software on a new machine, you are probably almost always better reinstalling programs than moving them.