It's the moment every PC owner dreads; having to transfer all your data and settings from the old computer to the new. Not only can you expect to spend hours or even days on the job, but there's also the worry that files or applications may be forgotten or incomplete, and that deleted material on the old computer might still be recoverable to hackers.

It's for this reason that Nova Development came up with the idea for this handy piece of transfer software that includes an effective data erasing element plus backup for the new computer.

You're given three methods of carrying out the transfer task; via USB cable, parallel cable (both supplied) or through a network connection, provided you use your own Ethernet cable or wireless settings.

If you have a slightly older operating system on the machine you're replacing, then as long as you have Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000 or Windows XP you should be fine.

For our test we transferred data from an old Dell Dimension 8200 desktop to an Acer Aspire 1800 laptop using the USB cable, which has its own embedded microchip to make things move along faster.

Once the IntelliMover software is loaded on the old machine, you can then choose which folders to move or automatically transfer all your settings and data. Applications themselves are not transferred (presumably to avoid licence infringements) so you'll have to make sure all your Word, Excel, Web browser, Outlook and other programs are installed on the new machine.

Once you've sorted that part and installed the IntelliMover software on the new machine, you're then instructed to attach the cable and sit back while it does its stuff. We transferred just over 3GB of material, including Word and Excel documents, JPEGs, video files and contacts lists. The whole move took about an hour and a half and was, on the whole, painless.

Once completed, SecureClean was installed on the old computer to make sure info like passwords, bank details, deleted files and cookies were securely and permanently removed or overwritten. This too was effortless.

Should you only need to transfer a few folders from one computer to another, the File Transfer Utility allows you to do just that (although this doesn't work through a network connection). In addition, Simple Backup will protect the data now residing on your new computer by using built-in software compression to permit twice as much data to be added to a backup CD or DVD.

It's worth noting, however, that some customers have had problems when using network connections rather than cables, where files have gone missing, been placed in obscure folders or were incomplete. After a migration is complete, you can view or print a report which tells you everything that has been moved and where it has been moved to, so this should make it easier to track down any problems.

Verdict
An efficient, trouble-free and speedy method of moving your old data and settings from one PC to another, with clear instructions and useful backup and data erasing software. It won't move your applications, though; only your data.

Company: Avanquest

Contact: 01752 895100

Tags: universal serial bus dell dimension microsoft windows windows xp personal computer compact disc data backup