Use PCMover to transfer programs and files to new PC?

[smithcorp]

Hi all

I bought a new PC finally, a cleanskin rather than hardware upgrades. I'm tempted for convenience sake to use PCMover to transfer the stuff I want to keep, all the setup I've done over the past 5+ years, from the old PC to the new one. I understand I'll need to get new hardware drivers and stuff, and register some programs, but it seems like a better option than installing from scratch or copying different things across using portable hard drives.

Any risks in this?

[Sarsippius]

Personally I'd be a bit wary about transferring anything more than just data files, in my opinion it's not a bad idea to start fresh every now and then. I don't have any personal experience with that software but yeah it's not something I would do.

Last time I upgraded my SSD a few years ago, I went to the trouble of imaging my current windows install so I could load it in a virtual machine if I needed to check some specific application settings or something, but I didn't even really use it. I just load up and install stuff as I need it and I assume you'll have the old pc refer to if there's anything you really have trouble with.

[nutty]

Yeah I agree with Sarsippius, If you have both PC's then its way better to just reinstall what you need, copy over your files and move on!

[durbster]

If it helps, when I bought a completely new PC last year I simply took my SSD out of the old PC and put it in the new one. I switched it on and Windows did a bit of thinking, rebooted a couple of times and that was it. It's been running completely fine (since last May) so if you're worried about a Windows installation, it's definitely not like the old days!

I was braced to start from scratch. I had a Windows 10 installation USB stick ready to go but thankfully didn't need it.

[smithcorp]

Thanks for all the advice - I decided to go cleanskin. So far, so good. i even managed to download and install MSFS2020 overnight.

[pixelboy]

I think that's wise Smith.