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CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide

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Migrating and Retiring Systems

Seasons change and so does the state of the art in computing. At a certain

point in a computer’s life, you’ll need to retire an old system. This means you

must move the data and users to a new system or at least a new hard drive—a

process called migration—and then safely dispose of the old system.

Microsoft offers a few tools to accomplish this task, and because it’s

important to know about them for the CompTIA A+ exams (not to mention

for your next new computer purchase), I’m going to go over them.

User State Migration Tool

If you’re the sort of computer user who demands maximum functionality and

power from your operating system, you’ll probably want to use the User

State Migration Tool (USMT). The USMT’s primary use is in businesses

because it has to be run in a Windows Server Active Directory domain. If you

need to migrate many users, the USMT is the tool. If you only need to

migrate a few, Windows Easy Transfer, described next, is the way to go.

NOTE USMT is extremely handy for large-scale Windows operating

system deployments. Microsoft provides a detailed overview that includes the

benefits and limitations of USMT. Take a look here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/usmt/usmt-overview.

Windows Easy Transfer

Windows Easy Transfer enables you to migrate user data and personalizations

quickly. In Windows 7, it is located in the System Tools subfolder of the

Accessories folder in the Programs menu. To locate it in Windows 8/8.1,

open the Start screen, type Windows Easy Transfer, and then click on

Windows Easy Transfer from the results. Unfortunately, it is not available in

Windows 10.

The first screen of Windows Easy Transfer simply gives you information

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