Files and Settings Transfer Wizard

Hi

I am sorry you feel that way. I am not a Microsoft Employee but have used the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard many times for clients.

Firstly it is not obvious that you are going to remove the external and put it on the other PC permanently. I have clients who have 2 PCs and have used the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard to copy files and settings from one PC to the other so that both PCs "look and feel" the same. The external drive they had stayed on the original PC and was not transfered to the other. Although it was used for the purposes of transferring the data/settings.

Secondly the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard is customizable, you can select what to backup and which drives to leave out.

And lastly - it is just a simple program that searches your WHOLE PC for data and settings you might want to transfer. It does not "know" or "assume to know" what you want transferred. That is why it is up to the user to customize the settings giving the user options.

Here is some more info on the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard:

http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/fast.php

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/winxp/migrate.mspx

I'd have a look at FASTConv.  Here are two links for info: One at Neeper's Blogspot, and the other at BleepingComputer.  Neeper's seems the best of the two.

And if you have issues with EasyTransfer, there is MigRecover.  I've had to use that one myself, haven't needed to use FASTConv yet.....keeping fingers crossed.

Oh, and in the future, get the free version of Macrium Reflect for doing images or backups.  I swear by it, it works GREAT.  And you can create an image of the drive and explore it in Reflect if you just want to restore individual files or folders rather than restoring the whole image.  I've never had it fail me, it's fast and reliable.  Also has the ability to make a bootable USB stick for restoration for when your computer is toast and won't boot.

My (sister's) backup file was 50 GB.  After I "successfully" backed up my sister's machine, I went to restore the data on the same machine.  I was unable to do that.  Is 50 GB too large a file for FAST to accommodate?  She's plenty disappointed in my skills at this point.  She has since disposed of her machine, but is there a way to extract files from the backup file?  I'm sure she could still use them, even a couple years later.

The original post was a bit harsh and not conducive to getting help, but it is a legitimate problem, and I'm also looking for the solution.  In your answer you say that you can select which drives to leave out, but I can't find out how to do that anywhere.

Like the original poster, I have a large external USB hard drive that I want to use to store the files and settings from a notebook, so that I can reinstall Windows.  The problem is the Files and settings wizard wants to not only back up files on the notebook's C: drive, but also files on the external USB D: drive.  I do NOT want to back up files on my D: drive, it's just being used to store the files from Drive C:

So how in the heck do I tell it to ignore files on the D: drive.  I can see where I can customize additional folders to include in the backup, but don't see anywhere to exclude drives or folders.

Edit:  Actually in reading one of the links you provided, it states: You cannot exclude a drive or drives from the selection process.  So, unless you know something they don't, your answer was incorrect.  This seems to be a serious shortcoming with the program, now I'm beginning to understand a little of the original poster's aggravation.  It is a serious shortcoming, and not very well thought out.

EDIT #2  (SOLUTION)  Just in case anyone still looks at this stuff, here's how I was able to work around the limitations of Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.   I used the free home edition of Easus Partition Manager and shrunk the C: drive on the notebook, and created a D: Partition on the same drive.  Then I did the Files and Settings Transfer to back up the stuff on C: and saved it to a directory on the new D: drive I created.  (Make sure you disconnect the external USB drive, or it will back it up too)  When it was done, I copied that directory over to my external USB drive.  Not elegant, but it worked.  Sure beats it backing up all the files on my external drive.