Bob Davis
06-11-2010, 12:45 PM
Recently I made a decision to update the laser computers from XP to Windows 7 (and update to X5 and wireless network while I was at it).
I'm not a complete stranger to upgrading and updating computers so I expected the process (for 2 computers) to take a day at max, and arranged the workflow to suit.
The Microsoft info. on upgrading assured me that the Windows Easy Transfer (WET) procedure would make the whole process quick and simple, and all I needed was a largish thumb drive.
After buying software I was ready to go. The WET file on comp 1 was 7 gig (!) and I started the transfer. Unfortunately the time required for the transfer to the thumb drive was calculated to be 7 and a half hours... This has rather blown my schedule. Comp 2 indicated 8.2 gig and 8 hours. A trip to a computer shop was undertaken and another drive obtained so that at least they could both be transferring at the same time. When I left work both drives were still transferring merrily (both are USB2 by the way) and had finished when I arrived the next morning.
It's now time to load software and the whole process went quite well. Updates downloaded (huge), Corel and Photoshop etc, printer drivers, email programs, registrations - time consuming, but all good.
The only problem was that WET failed miserably on both comps. A Google search indicated that this is not uncommon, and pointed to a couple of unofficial (and unsupported) MS workarounds that are amazingly complicated and have only a limited chance of success. Fortunately I had separate backups of around 10,000 Corel and Photoshop files, but more recent files were missing and emails and settings just disappeared. I really didn't think that I needed to bother doing a further backup because WET would take care of it.
If anybody here is thinking of upgrading to Windows 7 I would strongly recommend a full backup of everything, as well as totally ignoring the WET option.
I'm not a complete stranger to upgrading and updating computers so I expected the process (for 2 computers) to take a day at max, and arranged the workflow to suit.
The Microsoft info. on upgrading assured me that the Windows Easy Transfer (WET) procedure would make the whole process quick and simple, and all I needed was a largish thumb drive.
After buying software I was ready to go. The WET file on comp 1 was 7 gig (!) and I started the transfer. Unfortunately the time required for the transfer to the thumb drive was calculated to be 7 and a half hours... This has rather blown my schedule. Comp 2 indicated 8.2 gig and 8 hours. A trip to a computer shop was undertaken and another drive obtained so that at least they could both be transferring at the same time. When I left work both drives were still transferring merrily (both are USB2 by the way) and had finished when I arrived the next morning.
It's now time to load software and the whole process went quite well. Updates downloaded (huge), Corel and Photoshop etc, printer drivers, email programs, registrations - time consuming, but all good.
The only problem was that WET failed miserably on both comps. A Google search indicated that this is not uncommon, and pointed to a couple of unofficial (and unsupported) MS workarounds that are amazingly complicated and have only a limited chance of success. Fortunately I had separate backups of around 10,000 Corel and Photoshop files, but more recent files were missing and emails and settings just disappeared. I really didn't think that I needed to bother doing a further backup because WET would take care of it.
If anybody here is thinking of upgrading to Windows 7 I would strongly recommend a full backup of everything, as well as totally ignoring the WET option.