Belkin Easy Transfer Cable for Windows Vista 

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Belkin Easy Transfer Cable
only £14.97 from Amazon
Belkin Easy Transfer Cable
DABs price £17.02

So what is in the packaging? A 2.4metre USB cable with a clever dongle in the centre and a mini (8cm) CD as well as a few leaflets. Both the copy of the instructions on the CD and the paper version go to four small sides.

My normal rant about Belkin packaging applies. You need a large strong pair of scissors and a strong pair of gloves if you are not going to suffer nasty cuts from the plastic as you try to detach the cable and CD from the packaging.

At the time of the Vista launch a friend of mine who is always an innovator told me that this tool was an essential to enable you to migrate from XP to Vista. At that point I asked to see one. In theory you could attach both PC's to a network and transfer the files that way however the old backup problem raises it's head that you cannot backup an open file. Over the years certain packages have managed to overcome this and that would be your first problem.

See also: USB

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If you are trying to transfer data then of course the program that uses it must be installed on both PC's. Far more likely is that you want to transfer the look and feel of your old PC to the new one. Often you have taken years to get the interface just the way you like it and often how you achieved it may have been forgotten.

The Windows things are what really gives the problems as this is often a one time tool and it could have been done two or three years ago. Things like User Accounts, they may be easy to recreate and maybe not. Folders and Files again if you have stuck to the Windows ideal probably easy to remember, possibly easy to recreate. However if you have your own ideas how will the new PC know? Internet settings and Favourites again the latter is stored in a folder not that difficult to locate but your settings are not normally seen so do you know what they are and how you changed them? E-Mail settings contacts and messages. Anyone who has moved messages and contacts will know that every version of Windows puts these in different places and they all seem to be buried numerous levels deep. Finally and perhaps the hardest to change - as most do not know where they are located - are your program settings. All this can be handled by the Belkin Easy Transfer Cable for Windows Vista.

Once you have installed the software on both PC's you are ready to transfer the information. Assuming both have USB 2 then the transfer time should be only in minutes from start to finish. In fact because it is so quick you may feel that it has not done the job.

It certainly works Windows XP to Vista but I can see no reason why in years (or months to come) why it should not work from Vista to Vista certainly looking at the Belkin site (2^nd link below) it seems to suggest that Vista to Vista is possible.

Certainly it makes the transfer quicker - far quicker - as USB2 has a technical transfer rate of 480mbps. But perhaps having your new PC behave in a similar way to your old one - it's the way you know - is an even more compelling reason. Eventually all PC's die hopefully you upgrade before they die but that way you had of doing something will probably bug you the most and having the settings just the way they were is probably the most important thing to you.

Apart from settings there is also a file moving utility included in the package so this also moves your data as well, so no burning CD's just use the USB cable supplied.

Doing my Internet searches found the Belkin Easy Transfer Cable for Windows Vista at a best price of £14.97 including shipping from the first link below.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000MW7H3Y

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=300314