PCmover Image Assistant – Interview with CTO

We sat down with our Chief Technology Officer Jack Wilson and asked him what he thought were some of the most import features of the new and upcoming PCmover Image Assistant. Here’s what he said:

“Many times in the past people have contacted us saying that their computer died but they have an image of the hard drive – and how can the image be restored to a new PC.

“Often, this can’t be done easily. Even when the imaging software supports a “hardware independent” restore there can be problems. Sometimes it is because the computer is different or the image expects the hard drive to have the same format, partitions or size.  PCmover Image Assistant will give you complete independence by allowing the PC user to take a disk image (or even the actual hard drive itself) from any computer and restore it to any new computer, regardless of the hardware or the operating system on the new machine.”

Jack continues, “These users are often stuck with two choices:  either restore everything including the old operating system (and then upgrade the OS) or painfully copy folder by folder and reinstall all applications.  Of course, if the image is of a PC that was running Windows XP, then restoring and upgrading to Windows 7 isn’t an option because Microsoft doesn’t support that scenario. In this case, PCmover Image Assistant is really the only option.”

“I am thrilled that we have a solution for the PC gone bad. We all have had a PC fail unexpectedly, but in many cases the hard drive is still okay. The problem is how to get everything to a new computer – especially when the operating system is different (and without running into legal licensing issues). PCmover Image Assistant solves this problem – and even allows for ‘selective restore’ where the user can choose to not restore certain applications, files and settings.”

“The selective restore is a great benefit that PCmover Image Assistant provides. Most people don’t realize how much time this will save them. Searching for old serials and transferring old programs, files, settings, pictures, videos and emails off an old hard drive is a process that can take weeks of effort. Even after you think you have everything, most people will still keep that old hard drive around just in case there is something they missed. With PCmover Image Assistant, all this work is handled automatically.”

“PCmover Image Assistant will change how we think of disk imaging software because it offers a solution for image restoration and hard drive transfers without regard to operating systems and accommodates selective restore processes.”