Thinking about upgrading

[DocGo]

Have been a longtime Mac user and early this year, I got a Surface pro and loved it. Now I am thinking of upgrading to the Surface Pro 2. Would like to know if there's an easy way to transfer everything from my current Surface Pro to the Pro 2? I mean, for my Mac, I just restore from my TimeMachine backup to a new Mac so it is easy. I wonder if there's a similar thing for Windows?
Sorry for this Windows newbie question.

 

[oion]

There's Skydrive syncing for all sorts of Windows settings and app settings: How To Sync Your Windows 8 Settings Via The Cloud

Now, there is File History, which is the Windows 8.x file backup system, but I don't know if it works on a new machine: How to Back Up and Restore your Windows 8 Files to a hard drive
Theoretically, you might be able to pull a file history save from your Surface Pro onto a Pro 2, but I honestly don't know if anyone's tried that. A drive image wouldn't be a good idea because of the differences between Pro 1 and Pro 2.

Desktop software will need to be reinstalled regardless, though.

 

[mtalinm]

I use SugarSync for all my files (~200G), so I just did a fresh install of the apps and then pointed SugarSync at the drive. Did take a couple days to pull everything down though.

Next time I might just drag the Documents/Music/Videos/etch folders to an external hard drive, and copy them to the new machine from that. Would be much faster than pulling it all down from the cloud.

 

[Omni]

Use Windows Easy Transfer. Install your apps and updates first then run the Easy Transfer file and that should hopefully be it.

 

[LinkRS]

Have been a longtime Mac user and early this year, I got a Surface pro and loved it. Now I am thinking of upgrading to the Surface Pro 2. Would like to know if there's an easy way to transfer everything from my current Surface Pro to the Pro 2? I mean, for my Mac, I just restore from my TimeMachine backup to a new Mac so it is easy. I wonder if there's a similar thing for Windows?
Sorry for this Windows newbie question.

Hi DocGo,

As others have stated, your settings (wallpaper, user icon, screen saver, etc....) settings are synced to your Microsoft Account by default. When you login to a new device using the same account, it will adopt the same look automatically. Your Modern (or Metro if you will) apps can easily be reinstalled from the store, but your desktop apps will need to be reinstalled from the original source. Others have mentioned using Easy Transfer or even third-party programs to transfer settings, but it is normally better to just reinstall desktop apps, as these utilities (even Windows Easy Transfer) are not 100% reliable. Plus, they tend to copy junk files and settings that you don't want on the new device. Make sure that you uninstall all the Modern (Metro) Apps from the old device before you wipe it. There is a device install limit for Modern apps, and if you wipe with out removing first, you may lose one of your installs on the old device. As for your personal files, just dump everything that is in your "Documents Library" (which includes the public and personal files) to your SkyDrive or USB drive.

If you have Office installed, I suggest you use Easy Transfer anyway, as that normally does a decent job of transferring the settings from Microsoft Office from one device to another, but note that it does NOT re-install the Office programs, you will have to do that yourself. It will (however) transfer the contents of your Outlook Mail, Contacts, and calendars.

Perhaps your best option (if available) is to take your SP to your local Microsoft Store, and have them transfer everything for you

Good luck!

Rich S.

 

[Omni]

What ever you do I wouldn't worry about uninstall Modern apps as the limit is now 81(!) and you can easily disable old devices from the store anyway.

 

[LinkRS]

What ever you do I wouldn't worry about uninstall Modern apps as the limit is now 81(!) and you can easily disable old devices from the store anyway.

Hi Omni,

Thanks for chiming in here. I wasn't aware of those facts. Thanks

Rich S.