Belkin's refreshed Easy Transfer Cable makes Windows 7 migration a little too easy
By Darren Murph 
posted October 8th 2009 5:42AM
posted October 8th 2009 5:42AM
posted October 8th 2009 5:42AM
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there's an executive over at Monster kicking himself about now...
monster cables suck so hard...
Now now, the cables themselves don't suck. Just the company that dictates the insane price does.
200%? Dynex Rocketfish Cables are much more discounted than that. An $80 Rocketfish HDMI cable costs employes about $6. But that's not the point, retail stores all mark up accessories like that and it's a necessary evil to be able to operate in physical space whether you like it or not.
Haha, a 2m network cable costs what? 2 Euro's where i live, and if at least one of the rigs features a Gigabit LAN Adapter, you don't need a crossover cable for connecting them.
Most NICs you don't even need them anymore. Standard works fine in a lot of cases.
Interesting how they couldn't take a real detailed picture of it and, instead, did some digital editing to connect pictures of real USB connectors. Does anyone else see it? The connectors have an actual texture, everything else is too perfectly glossy-smooth.
Just how I find humor.
Talk about a ripoff. Even if someone isn't computer savy, who doesn't know at least one person that can handle the Easy Transfer process?
Unless you plan on sharing this with a few people (I still call it a ripoff) that $40 could be better spent on a Windows for Dummies book...
Let's see how many people get the upgrade and slap this thing in two USB ports on the same machine to transfer data...
Thanks Belkin,
This make so much sense, I mean who in their right mind would want to use the step by step built in program in WIndows 7 to transfer data?
should make sense to release usb 3.0 transfer cable. guess they wanna milk more money and release that later.
So they could sell to all the millions of people with USB 3.0 capable machines? Right...
Microsoft really needs to work on an automated user file transfer mechanism. There are install logs, so windows knows what is an application file for the most part, and every windows application should be forced to create such a file. Then Microsoft could just make a list of all files that do not need to be transferred and only locate those that do, shove those in a series of folders, and let you choose what you want to do with those.
Right now, windows applications allow placement of files anywhere and as much as I try to stay organized, I've inevitably got files in the wrong places.
I like that they add what's basically just a plastic case with a light in it (is that a light?) to make it look like there's some super secret brains in there doing a lot of encoding between the two computers. Although, it should be noted that USB cables by themselves are sold at best buy for what's essentially the same price. I've gotten stuck in that trap once before when I bought a printer from them. *sigh* companies suck.
I bet if you crack open that hunch in the middle if the chord there is a bunch of little trolls waiting to transfer shit.
Elves...Not trolls. Elves.
Actually if you'd open the box there is a cable going right through it without any interruption, the box just has two holes through it. Genius.
I'm going to be that guy who points out that you could buy Snow Leopard for less than that. (However, I'm ignoring the big price difference between Apple hardware and similarly-equipped non-Apple laptops.) :P
But seriously, sure OS X has had this feature built-in for the last several revisions, at the cost of a simple firewire-400 (or 800 if both machines have that port) cable, and sure, Windows has yet to implement some kind of simple transfer process that doesn't involve third-party something-or-other...
But really, Belkin? Really? I haven't gotten myself a copy of Windows 7 or read any instructional information (manuals, etc.), but I imagine the manual probably says something about how a simple network cable will do the trick (and if it won't, a crossover adapter to snap on the end of one costs maybe $5). Who doesn't already have an ethernet cable they can borrow from their internet box (besides people without wired internet access)?
And if an ethernet cable won't do the trick, I say boo to Microsoft. (I don't know, because I've never bothered upgrading between machines like this; I always just reinstalled everything. Seriously.) Sure ethernet might take a while to transfer data over, but really, I imagine Microsoft would be forward-thinking enough to include ethernet access as a viable method for data transfer in this style.
So, really, just ignore me. I had to contribute meaninglessly to an online comment thread just once this year. It was just too tempting to hop on here and be a dick for once. I normally pass up opportunities like this.
Um, so they want $40 to do something Windows already does. It's called the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.
Oh god, it's the dreaded USB A to USB A! Noooooo, it'll fry your USB controller! ;)
Does this thing work on a mac?
On a Mac you can just connect the two computers with a firewire cable and use Migration Assistant.
If it would transfer my Apps from XP to Win7 then it would be worth the price. Apple's been transferring apps for years.
Can someone please tell me what this does that the $1 option here:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030303&p_id=5888&seq=1&format=2
doesn't do?
You guys realize that this cable actually does something useful. The thing in the center is a USB bridge, you can normally connect two USB type A plugs from different computers together since they will generally short out the power supply across the two computers. This is probably what would happen if you tried using the USB cable that @Nelson mentions. A to A cables are usually for specialized purposes. You can make fun of Belkin all you want, but really it will be the people at Belkin making fun of you.
From the USB FAQ on USB.org:
Q6: You mean I can't make a direct cable connection like a null modem?
A6: Correct. In fact, if you try this with an illegal A to A USB cable, you'll short the two PCs' power supplies together, possibly destroying one or both machines or causing a fire hazard. Even there were no danger to the machines from the problem with two power supplies, there still wouldn't be any way to get the two PCs talking to each other, since USB doesn't support that particular kind of communication. A reasonably priced solution to handle this need is the USB bridge.
I'm probably a fool for admitting this, but I truely didn't know this information. It's not something I've tried, or researched. It's a good thing I didn't try it. Thanks for the tip :)
Of course, I only have my one PC that I'm upgrading to W7, so I'll just be using my flash drive/burnt cds to transfer stuff (I'm already running RC, so I'll just be transfering the apps I can't redownload/install or music/video) so I doubt I'll need this.
I know this is a dumb question, but I just installed a new 1 TB WD internal hard drive and I should be able to transfer all my existing files on my current main HD to the new one and be able to do a custom install of Win 7 (Have to because going from Vista Ultimate to Win 7 Home Premium). The installation shouldnt touch my other internal drive with all my files, because I am just installing windows on main C: drive right?
Any follow up comments would be great.
Yeah it wont touch your other hard drive.You have nothing to worry about.
A USB crossover cable for $40??? WTF?
Another dumb question: I have an HP latop with 2 x 320Gb drives installed with 4GB RAM. Can I leave all the files and folders etc on my C drive and clean up the second drive (D), and load Windows 7 on that drive only?
Will that give me the option to select which OS I want to use, or will it create errors and conflicts?
Any information will be appreciated.
Try googlin' "dual boot"
As it turns out, since most Netbooks and Laptops don't have gigabit ethernet, the USB 2.0 bus is the fastest way to transfer data to/from these computers. Because of the way USB 2.0 is designed, you can't use a straight cable to connect two computers, so bridging electronics are needed. However, you can often get these cables on ebay or from google comparison shopping for far less than $40.
Our company also makes a software program designed for this cable, called "Easy Computer Sync". It lets you quickly synchronize data with your Netbook or Laptop, and works great for anyone who already owns an Easy Transfer Cable (any brand).
Visit http://www.EasyComputerSync.com for more details.