Laplink PCmover is

PC migration PC migration is the process of transferring the entire user environment (e.g. personal documents and settings) between two computer systems. The migration problem is often associated with the concept of total cost of ownership where the requirement ...

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

developed by

Laplink Software Laplink (stylized as ''LapLink'') was a proprietary piece of software developed by Mark Eppley and sold by Traveling Software, which is now LapLink Software, Inc. First available in 1983, LapLink was used to synchronize, copy, or move, files bet ...

. Introduced in 2005, as the successor to Laplink, PCmover comes in a variety of versions that provide the ability to move or restore all selected files, folders, settings, user profiles and programs from an old PC to a new one, an old operating system to a new one, or an old hard drive to a new one.

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

has partnered with Laplink on multiple occasions and recommends PCmover for automatically moving programs, files and profile setting to new Windows 10 PCs.

Versions

PCmover Enterprise

PCmover Enterprise transfers installed applications, settings, data and user accounts. PCmover Enterprise automates the migration process for in-place upgrades, PC refreshes and break-fix recovery scenarios. Enterprise can utilize policy files for controlling company-wide migrations. The product has been used by large enterprises to support over 100,000 migrations, for example, from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

PCmover Professional

PCmover Professional provides migration tools covering both old and new Windows operating systems and migration scenarios. It offers a

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

that walks users through the migration process. Old files, folders and settings from the source are integrated directly with the new target system.

PCmover Profile Migrator (PPM)

PCmover Profile Migrator (PPM) migrates applications, files and settings between user profiles on the same computer. This tool automates the process of transitioning users from Local

Active Directory Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems as a set of processes and services. Initially, Active Directory was used only for centralize ...

to Azure Active Directory.

PCmover Home

PCmover Home was released in May 2009. It allows users to migrate all of their files, personalized settings and applications from an old PC to a new PC. PCmover Home has several limitations: the old PC cannot have more than one drive or partition, it only moves the logged on user, it does not support in-place upgrades, and it cannot restore an old PC image.

PCmover Express

PCmover Express automatically transfers old Windows files, user and personalized setting from an older Windows PC to a new Windows 10 PC. One limitation is that it does not move applications. Microsoft made PCmover Express free to users in 2015 for one year to encourage users to upgrade to the latest versions of its operating systems.

PCmover Image & Drive Assistant

PCmover Image & Drive Assistant allows a user to create an image of an existing hard drive and restore that image to a new PC. It can be used to restore an image of an old Windows PC or hard drive to a new PC that has a different Windows operating system complete with all files, settings and programs without overwriting anything on the new PC, including the operating system.

PCmover Windows Store Edition

This edition of PCmover provides support for Windows 10 S for users who want to migrate to or from a computer operating in this mode. The software can be downloaded from the

Windows Store Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform apps ...

free of charge but is limited to transferring 500 MB of data.

PCmover Express for Windows XP

In March 2014, Laplink partnered with Microsoft to offer

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...

users a free data migration tool to move from a Windows XP computer to a Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 computer due to Microsoft's deprecation of

Windows Easy Transfer Windows Easy Transfer is a specialized file transfer program developed by Microsoft that allows users of the Windows operating system to transfer personal files and settings from a computer running an earlier version of Windows to a computer runn ...

. PCmover Express for Windows XP will transfer files, settings and user profiles, but will not transfer applications.

PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant

PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant was released in October 2009. It allows a user to perform an in-place upgrade from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7. PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant will automatically restore any selected files, personalized settings and applications from the old Windows operating system to Windows 7 without overwriting the new operating system. All compatible applications are also installed.

PCmover Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant

PCmover Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant was released in January 2012. It allows a user to perform an in-place upgrade from Windows XP, Vista or 7 to Windows 7 or 8. PCmover Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant will automatically restore any selected files, personalized settings and applications from the old Windows operating system to Windows 8 without overwriting the new operating system. All compatible applications are also installed.

Reception

Laplink's PCmover software has been reviewed by publications globally. ''Tech Radar Pro'' stated they were impressed with the software because none of their files were missing and all of their applications worked right away. ''PC World'' said that the pros of PCmover are that the software migrates data and applications “like magic” and that it includes a data transfer cable. The cons are that it doesn't handle complex migrations gracefully and has unclear instructions. ''Barron's'' gave PCmover Professional 5 stars for its ability to make moving from an old computer to a new one quick and easy. ''Windows Report'' called PCmover the best tool for moving from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

References

{{Reflist Utilities for Windows File transfer software Backup software