Windows Files and Settings Transfer does not work. Help?

Question

I ran the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard on my laptop, saving to an external hard drive. It now contains a single file folder labelled USMT2.UNC (2.47Gb) with three files within it, IMG00001.DAT, IMG00002.DAT, and a 1kb STATUS file.

I have done a clean install of Windows XP Home on a new, larger hard drive.

I have followed all the steps, including installing the software to match my old setup. I run the wizard, identify that this is the new computer and then try to point the wizard to the external drive E:\USMT2.UNC. I click Next but it comes up with an error message: "The location that you specified does not contain stored information. Please type a valid folder path into the edit box. If you entered a path to a folder on a removable disk, the disk must be in the drive."

It doesn't matter whether I type the path in or use the Browse button. I get the same result. At this stage I am facing restoring my files manually, but it's the loss of email & settings that concerns me.

Answer 1

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I've heard of similar results with the built-in Windows utility for file and settings transfers.

Have you heard of LapLink's program? It has a much better reputation for this sort of thing and another is the SystemSuite7 program from Avanquest (version 8 no longer has the program transfer option, but version 7 still does and it works very well, speaking from personal experience).

Basically these programs let you transfer programs, files, settings, etc from one hard drive to another, or from one computer to another. There's a video at the link below and more info on both of these that I've found helpful.

Source(s):

http://www.rickysays.com/How-to-transfer…