Customer Reviews

Alohabob PC Relocator 3.0

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Buying a a new computer is fun. But as soon as you open the box, the nightmare begins. You turn on your new PC. It's fast! But none of your software is there. The Desktop is different. You can't find anything!

After a week of reinstalling all of your software, trying to remember all of your settings for Word, and all of the rest, you are almost back up. Hopefully you copied key files to floppies or backed up to cd so that you can reinstall al of them on the new pc.

But what about all of your e-mail and address book entries? Do you know all of the tricks to backing those up and copying them to the new pc? What about all of the passwords that the old PC has memorized?

40 hours later, you still are not back to where you used to be. If you are like me, it had gotten to the point where it was not worth buying a new PC. And you still have two programs that you can't find the "Key CD disk" for so they will not run. Tech support has gotten you mostly back on-line. Your e-mail is mostly back up and working.

Buying a new PC is like buying a nicer, bigger house. It sounds great until you have to move and unpack. It wil be a year before you can find everything again.

Then along came Aloha Bob.

You connect your old computer and new either through the included parallel cable or better still through a network. If it is on a network you will have to set up the Network Neighborhood Properties for the new PC. Load Aloha Bob on each PC and run it.

What happens next is amazing. Aloha Bob carefully copies all of your software, data, and settings from the old PC to the new. This includes what you have on your desktop and all of those cool settings you have made in Word and all of your other programs. Your e-mail works. You log right into your internet connection.

You are completely moved in and unpacked and everything is right where you want it.

I do not work for Aloha Bob or have any afilliation to them. I just have never seen anything like this product. It is amazing ...

If you do not have a network it will probably take all night to copy over every file and program from the old computer to the new computer. They key thing to note is that you get to sleep.

You got your new computer. Everythings works. You did not lose a month out of your life. Your spouse didn't divorce you.

All because of your new best friend, Aloha Bob.

I used it to move my Windows 98 machine to Windows XP Home. It worked like a charm. Set up the source and target over the network, and 3 hours later all my files and setting were on my new PC. I highly recommend this product for any one wishing to migrate to a new PC. It was as simple as click and go.

I got this product free after rebate a while ago, and decided to use it to transfer a Win ME system to a Win XP system. I ran into very little trouble, although there were some things it could do better with.

In short:

pros - transfers EVERYTHING including settings/cache/bookmarks/etc automatically; once you have the computers connected everything is done automatically (no prompts are given) so you can leave; it works! all programs transferred and ran well from Windows ME to Windows XP (note the instructions though about program versioning), i expected there to be some problems but there weren't any

cons - transfers EVERYTHING (I say this because it could be a con for some, you should do a manual sweep of uninstalling programs or deleting files you don't want first); the only options are all programs or only files, it would be nicer to see more fine-tuned control, especially in being able to not transfer temp files

I had no problem installing the softare, downloaded the latest 3.x version from alohabob's website, and followed the manual for both machines. This brings me to my first point: this software will transfer basically EVERYTHING, including temp files, cookies, cached content, etc. So, save time by doing first a manual sweep through the old system, uninstalling programs and deleting files (especially temp files) that you don't want to transfer.

After connecting, the target PC scans the drive of the source. The program was crashing here when browsing the Temporary Internet Files folder of WinME. I had to manually delete the browser cache on the source machine for it to continue. However, once that was done, everything transferred easily, and all settings were on the new PC! It took a lot of time with the parallel cable, but you don't have to sit and watch it. It saved a lot of time over swapping disks or CD-Rs back and forth.

In summary, the software is relatively easy to use (though not for complete beginners) and works fine if you follow the instructions. You need to do some manual work beforehand as in uninstalling unnecessary applications (and uninstalling virus-scan software so it doesn't transfer), preparing machines that have different versions of programs on them, and deleting files. After it's set up, it works fine though and you'll have everything transferred nicely =)

I recommend this but you should look for it at a cheap price, as I said I got mine free after rebate =)

THIS SOFTWARE DIDN'T WORK FOR ME! IT CRASHED BOTH MY COMPUTERS! DELL RECOMMENDED DETTO'S INTELLIMOVER. I CALLED THEM TO ORDER THE SOFTWARE AND IT WORKED LIKE MAGIC.
INTELLIMOVER IS THE WAY TO GO IF YOU'RE GOING TO TRANSFER FILES FROM YOUR OLD COMPUTER TO YOUR NEW ONE.

This product really works! If you bought a new computer, this is an essential product to have....it brings all your applications, desktop setting and files over. And it was so simple and easy. Highly recommend.

It's a great product and does EXACTLY what is says it does, however the product ships with a Parrellel transfer cable and doesn't know how to handle two machines having Mircrosoft Office (even if they are the same versions, PC Relocator installs the MS Office from the old computer onto the new computer even if the new computer has MS Office already installed). Maybe version 4.0 addresses this issue. But overall, great product and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND anyone looking to transfer their "old computer" to their "new computer" to obtain this product. Just be sure to have a USB File Transfer Bridge Cable and appropriate drivers installed on both computers for a faster transfer.

We tried to transfer just files (not programs or settings) 4 separate times; twice our computers locked up; twice we received a message advising the transfer had taken place; it hadn't. The second time we received the message it came up after only 5 minutes! We followed the directions at the website and faxed a refund request form to the manufacturer twice; we also e-mailed them twice. NO REPLY! Their website has a line that says:

Our Mantra:
OUR CUSTOMERS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THE WORLD TO US

That's an out and out lie. I think they need to exchange the word, "people" with "suckers".

If this product works for you, wonderful. If it doesn't, don't expect any help from the manufacturer.

--This review is for Version 4.0--
I transferred some graphics programs (Photoshop, Quark, etc.) from a Windows 98 machine to a Windows XP system. Everything copied perfectly and all of the programs work.
Just follow the prompts and read the directions while you use this program. (When you first install the software you will need an internet connection to download the latest version. I made a copy of that update file for the installation on the newer computer.)
When you select programs to transfer, I recommend copying one program at a time - it takes longer, but to me it feels safer to test each one after installation. If you do it this way, plan on spending a while copying each program depending on the speed of your computer.
I saved some PC Relocator files to a CD and others to a USB microdrive - both ways were fine. PC Relocator saves your previous computer settings in case you need to revert to them, but I didn't need to. This program worked really well for me.

Windows XP has a Files and Settings Transfer Wizard now. I found this out, after purchasing
AlohaBob PC Relocator version 3. Microsoft bought Alohabob in 2005, probably to use the
technology in their Wizard that is included with SP2.

I read about this, better late than never, while I was looking to get AlohaBob PC Relocator
version 6, because the version 3 that I bought here and tried to use, was not getting along
well with my XP systems. Thank you, Michael J. Golpe, for writing about the Files and Settings
Transfer Wizard, in your Amazon review of, AlohaBob PC Relocator 2005 [Old Version].

I spent yesterday and today, searching for a Serial cable to connect my computers, because
The Wizard did not see, or care to look for, the Parallel cable that came with the AlohaBob
PC Relocator version 3. After about 10 hours or so of Internet research using Google, I learned
exactly what serial cable is wanted by the lazy Wizard. M$ suggests that we use a Null Modem
cable with specific pin crossovers.
Pin Outs: 1+6 <-> 4, 2 <-> 3, 3 <-> 2, 4 <-> 1+6, 5 <-> 5, 7 <-> 8, 8 <-> 7, G <-> G

Eventually, I found the exact cable M$ called for, but it was only a 6' cable, and at a $10
minimum order place. I found a few more, then this one here at Amazon, in the 10' length I
wanted, and at the best delivered price.
Serial Null Modem DB9 Female to Female Molded 10 ft (Crossover)
Molded 10 ft (Crossover)
Price: $2.72 Ships from and sold by SFCABLE.

The facts: archaic, very-difficult-to-comply-with activation/registration feature (even worse than Microsoft's, if that is believable). Reminder and Activation screens are not minimizeable while in process, website was down, and no one was at the office(it was after business hours) and there is no automated registration line. And, oh, did i mention that if you do not activate/register, the program automatically "undo"s everything you transfered?
Timing: parallel cable, 1.5 gigabytes of data (technically 1.58) screen and guidelines in box estimate 5-6 hour transfer time per gigabyte. Estimated rate of transfer 50+ kilobytes per second. Actual time 19 hours, rate of transfer fluctuated between 30-40 kilobytes per second.
Features: did not use, transfered data files only.
IF: more honesty from the company, better expecations, and better customer service, THEN adequate product. BUT given the failure of the first tenets, this product is worthless.
Check out PCSYNC from Linksys