Q. Recently you recommended the Alohabob program to transfer programs, preferences, settings and files from an old computer to a new one, via a cable. Doesn't Symantec make a similar program called Ghost? Are there any advantages of one over the other?
A. They sound similar, but they do significantly different things. Ghost is designed to clone an entire hard disk onto a second PC. It doesn't distinguish among files and programs, it just copies them all. That's not usually what you want to do with a new PC, which normally has a newer operating system and other pre-installed features you'd like to preserve, rather than overwrite. Alohabob, which is aimed narrowly at setting up new home PCs, doesn't copy or transfer every file. It moves over programs, files, preferences and settings, but carefully preserves your new operating system and other items installed on the new PC.
From the WSJ Mossberg column |
