PCmover Review

PCmover Professional Review

PCmover ReviewCompany: Laplink Version: 5.0.615

Operating Systems:Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Media, Center, Windows 2000

What It Does

Transfer all user profiles, data files, folders, photos, email, contacts,calendar as well as select programs

Install

To see the install in action watch out PCmover Install Video

The Install of PCmover is much like any program. You will need to install the program on both the computer you want to transfer files to and the computer you want to transfer files from.

When you launch the product you are immediately sent into a wizard which, after checking that you are using the latest product update, you are presented with 3 choices: Migration, Windows 7 Upgrade, and Image Assistant. In most cases you will be choosing Migration as you want to transfer files to a new computer.

Laplink PCmover Transfer Choices

During the install you may be asked to install the latest .NET FrameWork from Microsoft. This process can take a while. It may take several minutes to download the program online and another seven minutes to install. I found this a little annoying to have to do but it’s need to ensure a smooth data migration.

You may be required to re-boot your computer after the install of PCmover or the .Net FrameWork.

Again See our PCMover Install video for more insight.

PCmover Setup

Help full Hint: The first thing I recommend doing is writing down what you want to transfer. See both the What to Transfer Guide and the What Not to Transfer Guide

You can also check out our PCmover Setup Video that walks you through the setup of PCmover on Both the New on Old computer. I also cover transfer methods and my recommendation for what to transfer and how to move around.

The process to move data between two system is done when you create the main file to be moved, called a snapshot. The snapshot is saved and will be transferred to the new or destination computer. Go to the destination computer browse out to the location of the saved snapshot from the source computer. I used an usb drive to move the files, which I found quite handy if you have little data to be moved, granted my USB drive did have 32Gig’s of space on it. Other options include other external drive storage(CD, DVD, USB stick), a LapLink ethernet cable, network connections, or a parallel cable for older computers without USB drives.

The best method for most is to use a High Speed Data Transfer Cable ( IT’S FREE WHEN YOU PURCHASE PCMOVER PRO ONLINE ). These things sell for $30 bucks easy.

It’s now time for you to select what you want to transfer over to the new computer. You can transfer over just about everything. MORE NEEDED HERE

Once the snapshot is loaded, you again have some choices for file transfer: Full(which moves everything. files, programs and settings), or Trial move of only specific files types. I always recommend you only transfer over programs you absolutely need or ones that you no longer have the disc for. For instance any free programs like Skype, Firefox, Tool Bars as well as printer software should be downloaded and installed fresh for best results. You also don’t want to bogg down your new computer with a bunch of older programs that your never going to use. Many sites even for paid software like Quickbooks will provide you with a download link to the program so you can install it again.

PCmover Review

A transfer file with the following file name “yourPC’sname Snapshop.pcs” contains the snapshot of the system. When you open the file in the destination computer, you select which settings and data files from a specific computer account, which some households have one computer that family members share, so they would have multiple user accounts. Once you select the accounts, you can also choose whether that account should be a regular, guest or administrative user on the destination system.

PcMover Trasnfer Snapshot

The snapshot parses the file and extracts the required settings, applications or data files. This could be a lengthy process depending on the hard drive size of the originating system, the number of installed programs and stored data files. Afterwards you can select where this information should be placed in the new computer, whether in the local C drive, or an additional location.

PcMover Transfer in progress

If you make the choice to transfer files only(third option from the beginning menu choices) the option ” *******Do No Transfer This Drive” is shown, which might be applicable if you believe there is a virus*******. Sometimes a large computer may contain multiple partitions and this choice would be applicable in this instance. You can also exclude certain files and folders from the transfer and the system automatically senses system folders that should be excluded and marks them with a red X omission symbol(ex. Recycle Bin, System Volume Information, etc). In addition to excluding specific folders, you are also given the option to exclude various file types. The software suggest .TMP, >BAK. and other temp files ~$*.DOC, ~$*.PPT.

During the next stage of the transfer process. A moving journal file (*.pcv) is built, which contains all the files that will be moved to the new machine. I selected only my documents folder and two other data folders which were done rather quickly(3 minutes). The file size was just 782 megabytes, containing 427 files. The system will compress this when the actual file is migrated.

One thing that was not entirely clear for me was that I had to setup on the new computer the same kind of transfer method first before the data could be moved. I do feel PCMover should of been a little more clear in it’s instructions. On your new computer you need to select the Migration method and create were the snapshot from the old computer will be put. Once you create the snapshot, enter the email address for the job complete notification, you will be shown the moving van screen, if you have chosen to move files only.

After the setup the file transfer begins and moments later my transfer for this initial review was completed.

The Transfer Process

Just like the above steps we have a video covering this as well. See the PCmover Setup Video for details.

The transfer process is rather straight forward after you have done the setup. You basically kick back and wait for the data to be moved. I once moved 300 Gigs of data for a business client. The transfer took close to 3 hours. In most cases the transfer will not take that long but for those of you with many files it may be over an hour to copy all that data to the new computer.

Technical Support

Thankfully a list of technical support options are offered. A Frequently Asked Question section, and a Knowledge base can be searched for installation and configuration issues. Quick Start Guides are provided for basic installation and operations. Chat with a company representative is offered for resale’s and customer service questions as well as technical support. Additionally LapLink offers the option to submit a help desk ticket via the website. If you like to speak directly to the troubleshooting staff, live support hours are from 9:30AM-8PM EST and Saturday support hours are from 11AM to 5PM. No support is provided on Sundays.

In most cases if you watch our videos you should find the answer to your questions.

License Model

Each pc that will transfer files will require PC Mover installed. One copy can be installed on both computers at the same time.

Extras

None. I highly recommend those that want to purchase this program purchase the retail PRO version online. This way you get the data transfer cable as well. The data transfer cable makes the transfer that much smoother. While you can transfer over a network, the direct computer to computer transfer is faster and simpler.

Conclusion

Overall this transfers programs, files, folders and system settings. It is also the only program I am aware of that will transfer over software programs from the old computer to the new one. Users may have a little difficulty setting this software up. The user interface while complete does not always seem to make it’s self clear to the end user. However you have out videos to help you out on that so be sure to watch them.

Our Videos: Helps walk you through the install setup and transfer of your files and programs

PCmover Install

PCmover Setup Video

What to do Now?

You can Purchase PCmover Here.

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11 Comments

  1. You mention the Laplink High Speed Data Transfer Cable. Is this the same as a standard firewire cable?

    1. No this is not a fire wire cable. It’s a Network cross over cable that plugs into the ethernet port on both computers. Not all PC’s have firewire. There is also a high speed USB cable.

  2. Can you please reply and let me know if I can transfer my files from my notebook computer to my desktop computer and still keep the files I transferred on my notebook. In other words, what I’m asking is more copying files/programs from my notebook to my desktop, meaning the files would end up being on BOTH computers.

    I need to get a product that enables me to keep both computers updated with eachother on a daily or weekly basis and I not see this mentioned in your data.

    Please reply

    1. I I understand you correctly you want to transfer over not just files but software programs / everything onto another computer. PCmover will do this for you and keep the original files on your older computer. To keep the computers in sync after the transfer I would use SugarSync. SugarSync allows you to select files and folders to keep in sync on all computers. It’s good stuff.

    1. Files will work 100% of the time. Software programs will transfer over but will not work 100% of the time. This is often because some programs are not compatible on Windows 7 and some software programs will require a new license for the software to work as you are moving it to a new operating system. Read the http://www.howtotransferfiles.com/choosing-what-to-transfer-to-a-new-computer for more insight on this.

      In most cases from the dozens of times I have used this software on client computers I was able to get the vast majority of programs to work. Some programs however will not work.

  3. Hi, I’m about to transfer from a XP 32 bit machine to a Windows 7 64 bit machine, however my XP hard drive is partitioned as one part had a virus on it, obviously I don’t want this part of the old C drive transferred, how do I leave this part behind, so to speak?

    1. I would use the program and manually select the files you want to transfer over. It’s always tricky when a virus is on a computer.

      If the virus is partitioned on another virtual drive and the operating system is not on that partition then it really does not matter and you can transfer normally.

  4. Thanks very much. When I turn on the XP computer & it goes through it’s start up process you quickly see on the black screen “XP infected” & also “Windows XP Home Edition”, it obviously always starts/boots to Windows XP home edition which makes me think that the infected part is completely out of the way & I can do a normal migration yes? Sorry for the technophobe questions 🙂

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