9 App migration
While PCTrans doesn’t place an artificial limit on the number
of applications you can transfer using the free edition of its app,
the applications themselves are perfectly capable of refusing to
budge. Programs such as Adobe Creative Cloud and Microsoft
Office are on the compatibility list, however, along with Google
Chrome, QuickBooks and even iTunes.
7
Use EaseUS ToDo PCTrans
Similarly featured, and available as a free trial, is PCTrans. To
do a PC-to-PC transfer, you install PCTrans on each PC, and make
sure they’re connected to the same network. Set the app on the
old PC to find the app on the new one, confirm the direction of
transfer, input the account password and click OK. You’ll wait a
while for the transfer to take place, so make yourself a cup of tea.
5
Clone entire drive
If it’s an entire drive you want to transfer intact, you can
clone it to either an external drive or an internal drive connected
via an adapter, ready to be plumbed into the inside of your new
PC. This method is handy if you want to transfer your OS and apps
as well as your files across, useful with home-built PCs. Check out
Macrium Reflect’s free edition (www.macrium.com/reflectfree).
10 Reinstall your apps
Moving apps isn’t always possible thanks to the way they
register and integrate themselves with Windows. Ninite (https://
ninite.com/) is a useful program that downloads, installs and
updates loads of useful apps automatically, saving you time.
Some of its offerings are a little out of date, but it still offers
useful apps such as Chrome, Filezilla, Malwarebytes and 7-Zip. Q8
Drive image transfer
PCTrans can also create a drive image, so you can create a
new PC that’s as close as possible to the old one. This is useful if
you don’t have the two PCs in the same room, as the image file
can sit on an external drive until you’re ready. PCTrans can extract
files and user accounts from the image, but doesn’t clone it to the
new PC’s drive in the same way that Macrium Reflect does.6 Laplink PCMover
Microsoft’s recommended app for moving data across is
Laplink PCMover (https://pcmover-10.laplink.com/). It’s not free,
however, and comes in two forms: the cheaper Express (£21) and
the more fully-featured Professional (£32). Despite the fact that
the Express version doesn’t transfer apps, and the Professional
version only ‘selected’ ones, it’s a very impressive application.44 |^ |^ June 2019