Tech note on EasyTransfer /// EDIT: Zinstall works beautifully after all......
My 2014 computer has been gradually failing for a while. I bought a newer one exactly a year ago and started transferring stuff, then got busy and left it aside. The main problem with the old one was in the USB connections and audio, which have been flaky all year. This week the sound gave up entirely, so it was time to finish the transfer.

Remembered that the EasyTransfer setup was tricky, so looked for possible better solutions. Zinstall promised fast and convenient transfer with any Ethernet cable, so I bought it.

Nope. Doesn't work. Zinstall requires BOTH computers to be connected to the Web AND connected to each other. Each computer has just one Ethernet plug, so the BOTH/AND is impossible. Also, Zinstall requires you to UNINSTALL your antivirus on both computers. I ain't gonna do that. Too much trouble.

After two hours of screwing around behind the desk, plugging and unplugging monitor and keyboard and mouse and Ethernet and Web, decided to try the old method after all.

Using a Belkin cable that I've had for many years, the regular Windows EasyTransfer finished the transfer in 15 minutes. Most of the job was already done last year. No web connection needed, no uninstall of antivirus.

Even if you had enough plugs to make the BOTH/AND work, the Zinstall program doesn't have any special advantages over the builtin EasyTransfer. Both have pretty much the same set of choices for transferring everything or just selected items.

= = = = =

UPDATE: I figured out a way to use Zinstall, and it worked splendidly. It copied EVERYTHING (150 GB) in about 1.5 hours, including all the settings and installations and registrations. All the programs that used registry settings or Users / Roaming etc were filled in smartly. They all work just the same as before, with no manual fiddling needed. The only thing that didn't cross over was AVG, and I was then able to download and register it from the web normally.

The connection trick is not described in Zinstall's online data, which implies that a direct Ethernet cable is the only way to go. I was stymied because each computer has only one Ethernet hole, so I couldn't connect both together AND both to the web. BUT: The cable modem has several Ethernet holes. I connected both computers to different holes in the modem, and that was all Zinstall needed.

More precisely: Ethernet cable from each computer to the modem, so that both can use the Web at the same time. Run Zinstall on both, tell it which is new and which is old, and GO. The rest is wonderfully automatic and INTELLIGENT. (I tried the 'selective transfer' but couldn't make it work. Turns out there was no reason to go that way; when the total takes 1.5 hours, the partial wouldn't save a meaningful amount of time or labor.

Labels: Nonzero problems, Zero Problems

  ¶ 3:23 PM