Quixdraw Loc: x

Had no choice, the old one was on its last legs. Several hours in and have reached basic functionality. A serious PITA, and more hours ahead, not to be taken lightly.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I sympathize....
I HATE replacing computers!
So much to migrate.

Once I bought a KVM switch to make things simpler, one monitor, two computers.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

"I feel your pain."

NMGal Loc: NE NM

Ugh!

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Yep. PITA.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Been there, done that, have the T-Shirt. It will be worth it in the end. For me Irish Whiskey helped

jdtonkinson Loc: Red Wing, MN

Good luck with the migratoon QD. I used to work in I T. But it's still a Pita. Windows 11?

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

My sympathies, QD. A lot of time and manual labor involved. We have an old PC needing replacement, and I've been avoiding it like the plague.

FWIW, I just recently replaced my MacBook pro. Using Migration Assistant, the process was painless and easy. The only thing that did not transfer well, and needed tweaking, was Windows which I run under Parallels. (I have two essential programs that unfortunately don't have Apple versions.) Pity that Microsoft has not seen fit to provide a similar app for migration.

joanloy Loc: St. Louis, MO

I used Zinstall when I bought a new PC. The only issue I had was that I had 2 internal hard drives, and I could not specify what should be moved to each drive. I had a few issues to fix after the system ran. Another one that is supposed to be good is PCMover.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

My sincere sympathy, but just think, all new, all better and worth all the time and work!

alexol

Just made the change, and a couple of days later still picking up some of the pieces! What a PITA!

Fairly regularly I run Belarc Advisor which will give you a list of all software on your machine and most of their key codes which can be useful to remind you of what you may have missed reinstalling, as well as giving you a statement of the tech specs of your computer.

On the rare occasions when I've had to have the local PC place look at it, the resulting doc has been useful.

I've also found it useful to preserve my desktop by having it synced with a laptop via Dropbox - this makes duplicating some settings easy and well as preserving your menu system.

Personally, I prefer to have 100% identical desktops on laptop and PC. It's a bit of a fiddle to set up, but once done, it makes things very easy.

I don't necessarily have 100% identitical software on both machines but I've never had an issue with the system complaining of a shortcut that works on one machine not working on the other because the program isn't present. A pop up asks if I want to delete that link and I just click no, but 99% of the time it's not an issue as I know which machine is used for what purpose.

Office is on both, Fusion 360 etc is on the desktop, as is any photo processing software, and there's some security programs on the laptop but not the desktop. Visio and Project are laptop only, etc.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Thanks for the tips!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I haven't been able to get a KVM switch that works, so I've given up on the idea. My previous computer setup used a KVM, and it worked fine.

When I get a new computer, I remove the D (data) drive from the current one and put it into the new one. I occasionally buy a new HDD to replace the one that's been used for several years. Then I have to install programs again. The real nuisance is those that require deactivating (Adobe) before installing on another machine.

alexol

One last note, perhaps useful perhaps not: I used to have a bad habit of just reinstalling whatever software on the old machine onto the new one. It works better if you just install the software you know you absolutely 100% definitely will use, and add other software later as you need it. You'll perhaps find that there are things you don't really need, and for just about any operating system, less is definitely better.

I'm lucky enough to have plenty of spare drive space, so I have a folder (containing many folders) specifically to store currently uninstalled programs along with a PDF of any receipts, key codes etc for that program.
This is only for programs that I have installed at some point in the past, and may need again. It's just easier than storing CDs and or DVDs along with paper receipts etc.

I have a few programs that haven't been installed, so the media and key codes are kept elsewhere.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Here's an area where Apple really shines. It's easy-peasy to migrate! Best of luck.