Evaluating Migration Technologies

Whether you decide to migrate user state individually, as part of a high-volume deployment project, or not at all, you should evaluate the available options to ensure that you make the best choices for your environment. The size and scope of the migration project factor into your choice, as will the type and amount of user state data you choose to migrate.

The following sections describe the different options that Microsoft provides. Several third-party products are also available for migrating user state. If you're using MDT 2010 as your deployment framework, Microsoft recommends that you use USMT to migrate user state to Windows 7. USMT handles most common scenarios out of the box, and exceptional cases are easy to configure. Additionally, MDT 2010 already includes the pre-deployment and postdeployment logic for saving and restoring user state.

Windows Easy Transfer

Windows Easy Transfer is the Windows 7 equivalent of the Windows XP Files And Settings Transfer Wizard. This tool leads the user through a series of pages to determine how much data to migrate and which migration method to use (removable media, universal serial bus (USB) cable connection, or network). Using Windows Easy Transfer is not appropriate in highvolume deployment projects because it is a completely manual process. However, in bench deployments, Windows Easy Transfer can be a viable tool for migrating user state on individual computers.

Note Windows Easy Transfer can transfer user state data using a special USB cable available from most cable vendors. The Easy Transfer Cable includes circuitry that links two computers using their USB ports and can transfer data at approximately 20 gigabytes (GB) per hour.